Christmas Fun

Well, after most of the gifts were exchanged and the wonderful meals cooked and eaten, my dad, sister and I decided to sit at the table and do some sketching! Mom and Dad gave me a new sketch pen and sketch book, so I used the pen. The sketch book is the perfect size for my purse! I used larger ones for these sketches, however.

I had the newest scavenger hunt list from Wetcanvas, and we drew some items from the list. My favorite things were the tools that my dad brought out for us to draw. They were his father's clamps and a London Screwdriver, and they are over 100 years old. You can click on the pictures to see larger versions with more detail.

The larger clamp is about 24 inches on the longest side, and the screwdriver is maybe 14 inches long- very hefty. I've never seen another screwdriver like it.




I don't have scans of anyone's drawings but mine, but my dad and sister did a great job on theirs! My new pen contained non-permanent ink, so I used a waterbrush to blend the lines and add shading, and added a touch of watercolor as well. I had so much fun!

One more item from the list is below- a sweet potato. There are several more, but I hate to bore you with posting them all! It's the most I've been able to participate in one of the scavenger hunts in ages, and I really enjoyed it.



I hope you all had a very pleasant Christmas, and are looking forward to a blessed new year!

Bur Oak, otherwise known as Mossy Cup Oak...

Thanks to all who emailed us with the answer to our question of what type of acorns Jon found! We also googled it and found the same thing- these acorns are from the Bur Oak, and are the largest and sweetest of all acorns. They are also sometimes called Mossycup oaks, and the moss-like fringe certainly shows they are aptly named!

With our Christmas preparations this week I've only now had time to do a small sketch of one. I plan to do more, however! This one was fun, but the painting doesn't show the mossyness nearly as much as it should. I'll work on that in the next one.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!

hairy acorns

The other day, Jon came home from work with the most interesting looking acorns we've ever seen!! We'd love to know what kind of oak tree they are from if anyone knows. I'm posting two pictures- one that shows the top of my favorite one pretty clearly, and one including a nickle so you can see the size of these things! Do let me know if you can identify them. If you click on the image you'll get a larger version.

They immediately beg to have faces drawn on them- they look like little Russian fur hats!!

We've had a couple of good school weeks and I have decided it's now officially Christmas break. We went light on the decorations this year, and we've let David decorate the tree with mostly home made ornaments. I think he enjoyed it!

We've shopped some and wrapped some, and I think we're about ready. How about you? I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!! Travel safely if you're on the road.

Holiday Art Sale

Well, I've been busy this week doing school with David and getting ready for a local art sale this Friday. I've decided to have another set of note cards printed and hope to do well with all three sets and some prints at the sale. I'll also be bringing my original paintings and some things to work on while there. The sale is from noon to 9 pm, so I need to have something to do!

I am planning to paint another floral to replace the butterfly one in this group, but until I get that done I am going ahead with it this way.

This Sunday night we'll be playing our Christmas music at church, which should be good. It's one of my favorite services of the year. I love this music and the joyous occasion it commemorates!

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had as pleasant a holiday as we did. We visited my sister, and she and I did most of the Thanksgiving cooking since Mom has done it for so many years. She was right in there with us, though, and the three of us had a good time.

Football was good, and the turkey was delicious! David certainly enjoyed it, and I thought you might like to see a picture of the main meal...

Football this past Saturday was ESPECIALLY good- WAR EAGLE!!! :) Go Tigers!

More pictures of David

I thought I'd upload a couple more pictures of David during the Expo last week. He and I took a break (or gave the other exhibitors a break!) for a couple of hours on Thursday and went out to the beach. I was so cold! I was wearing jeans and a light jacket and still wrapped up in our towels while David played. I also brought a small sketch book and did a couple of drawings while sitting there. Just about the time I started really getting into them and enjoying the opportunity to draw some Laughing Gulls, David got cold and we had to go in.

I thought you might also like to see the view from our window of the spectacular sunset that night! Wow. Isn't God's creation magnificent??!

I've sold a number of my card packs already, much to my encouragement. Today I sat down and looked through other paintings and decided to have a few more printed to see how they look. If I like them I may print notes from them as well. I need to find time to paint! :)

If I don't post again before Thanksgiving, I hope everyone has a blessed one! Stay safe on the roads if you travel.

Note Card packs for Christmas gifts

After I sent out my last blog update, a friend followed the link to see my note cards on Greeting Card Universe, but wanted to buy them in packs to give as Christmas presents. Greeting Card Universe doesn't do that, so I decided to do it myself. :)


For now I've come up with 2 different groups, each composed of 8 note cards (2 each of 4 designs) and envelopes. I have several paintings not included in these, but plan to increase my selection in future if these do well.


The first set is all florals. The second one includes paintings of a monastery in Ukraine, so I'm calling it the monastery group. If you'd like to order some packs to give as Christmas presents, please let me know! thebrashers1@bellsouth.net Each pack of 8 cards and envelopes is $12.00.




We just returned from a home builders association's new product expo, where Jon had an exhibit of his invention, Storm Greeter. It seemed to be well received, and everyone who stopped and looked was very interested. We're really excited about it and expect it to take off very soon! For more information on this great product that will protect metal construction components from rust and corrosion, see http://www.missioncreekllc.com/.


David had a great time! He became the sous chef of the chef hired to demonstrate an induction stove for one of the exhibitors. One thing about David is that he is NOT shy. He got to know all the exhibitors in the hall and then cooked most of the day. The chef said that he made a wonderful helper, doing exactly what he was told and then able to recreate the recipe on the third time around. It was a really good experience for him!


I also got a chance to do a little sketching on two afternoons, and I enjoyed that!

Fun on the water

This past weekend we had a wonderful time visiting my family several hours away. My dad took us out fishing in his boat, and began teaching David to drive the boat on the way to the fishing spot. His expressions may not show it, but he was excited!

After going on the river for a while, we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the scarecrows.

Then we went to a local nursery to enjoy their pansy festival! What a beautiful and enjoyable day. The whole weekend was wonderful!

Last week we had our local county fair. David entered several things including 2 pairs of pajama bottoms, a wooden shelf, and a beautiful photo of a garden spider. He won a blue ribbon for each! We are so proud of him, and happy that he had the opportunity.

I haven't had much time to paint lately and I miss it! I'm posting a couple of sketches I did last year and hope to have something new to put up soon. The top one is David's fishing hat, and the bottom one is a green anole who visited our back patio last year. We enjoyed watching him and drawing him for our nature notebooks.

For you Auburn fans, check out my newly created cards in Greeting Card Universe. I have some cards made from photos I have taken on campus through the years. I hope you enjoy them! War Eagle!

Some new paintings

A couple of weeks ago I did some small paintings that I really enjoyed. I had so much fun I think I'll keep doing some this size. They are about 5"x7". I think I'm going to put the one with the butterfly up on my Greeting Card Universe store and Cafe Press. Neither of the originals is available for sale, but prints of the butterfly one are.

Please Pray for Noah

I have been receiving updates on and praying for baby Noah now for a while, and these last few days his health has taken a turn for the worse. He has undergone several surgeries in recent weeks and has developed a serious infection in the past several days. He is allergic to most antibiotics and is not taking in much nutrition. Please take a few moments to pray for this child, for his family and for the medical personnel who are working so diligently to try to help him.

Here is a link to the blog his parents are using to keep everyone informed. You will be blessed if you go and read a few of their posts! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourquiverfull/

Plenty from a friend's garden

Several weeks ago a good friend invited ds and me to lunch after a pleasant morning of blueberry picking together. Afterwards, she sent me home with bounty from her garden! It was wonderfully colorful, so I took pictures before we began to consume it.

This weekend I did a couple of small paintings from some of the pictures, and began several others. I think I overworked these tomatoes, but I enjoyed myself! I'll post the others when I finish them.

On a different subject, we've been on two field trips in two weeks! Amazing. Last year in school we barely did two field trips in a half a year. Anyway, we went to the Audobon Aquarium in New Orleans two weeks ago when we traveled with dh on a business trip, and last week we went to Callaway Gardens with the same friend who gave us food from her garden. We have really enjoyed both trips. I plan to do more field trips this year to help ds enjoy school more. He is such a hands-on learner that I think they are good for him.

New Horizons

Well, I've been following a fellow artist's blog now for several months, and this week I noticed something new. It's a cool graphic that leads to a store for her images sold as greeting cards. Anita Davies So... I had some time tonight and decided to explore for myself. I've set up a card store now, and plan to add more images to both it and the Cafe Press store in the next few days when I take the shrink wrap and mats off my other artwork, scan it in with a higher resolution, and then re-shrink wrap them. :)

Meanwhile, I'm going to attempt to add the graphic to my blog tonight. I did a small watercolor sketch of some vegetables with my students in yesterday's art class and had a lot of fun. I'll scan it in later.

I've got a painting I really want to try to finish in the next week or so. It's been on my mind for years, and I actually began it a couple of years ago. I'm finally getting to the finishing stages of it, after working on it in fits and starts since I began it. It's of two little girls who are playing together on the steps. They appear as different as night and day, and when I saw them I couldn't resist taking several pictures!

Art class

This summer I am teaching a couple of children's art classes in my home, and yesterday after the scheduled lesson, I had the group draw an onion, which I set on the table. I sat down with them and drew it, too- here it is. I used pencil, colored pencil, and then went back in with a bit of ink.

I was planning to take ds to the pool today but it has rained off and on all day. I also need to grind some wheat and make bread! I'm behind on my housewifely duties this week. :) I'd love to ditch it all and just paint, but then what would we eat?

Commission finished and delivered

Here is a painting that I finished and delivered a few weeks ago, and forgot to post. The person who commissioned it seemed to really like it, but I never heard whether her husband liked it or not. It was a gift for him.

This commission came about because of the times I had my artwork set up at the gym. The client kept my card and called me later. :)

Cafe Press store!

Well, I've taken the plunge and signed up for a Cafe Press store to try to sell some of my artwork. I'm going to try to add a banner to this site if possible, but if not I'll at least put up a link. Y'all come on by and see what's there!

Here's my link- it's also now in the side bar. www.cafepress.com/leslie_brasher .

Recent paintings

My gym has customer appreciation days every so often, when they showcase a member's business. It sure makes it a friendly place! Twice during March I was asked to bring my artwork and set up a table, so I did. I didn't sell anything, but I did get one small commission and a LOT of interest. Gave away a bunch of business cards. Perhaps the best thing, though, was several uninterrupted hours to paint! I brought my work with me and set it up and got a lot done.

These are some of the ones I painted as I sat there in my gym, sort of wishing I was working out. I also began several others, and kept working on a big one that I've been working on for a long time. One of these days I'll finish it.

Bird Feeder Joys

We've had some wonderful visitors to our bird feeders this winter, and I just decided to try to take some pictures. Several of them have been quite unusual. They have a bright pink spot on their heads! I'm pretty sure there must be a research project going on somewhere nearby, because to me the spots look like they may be artificial and I can't find them on any birds like this in my bird books. Anyway, one came near enough to the kitchen window to take a decent picture today. I have to say I agree with Bob Sargeant, though- they are ALL beautiful!

I'm so proud!

Well, since I have a cold and didn't want to share my germs with anyone, I stayed home from Bible study this morning. Dh took ds to his Bible study and I picked him up. When he got to the car, he handed me a piece of paper with a drawing on it and asked if I knew what it was. I looked and immediately saw a submarine. I looked again, and Lo! it is a drawing of the Hunley! Several months ago we watched a show about the Hunley on the Discovery channel, and did about an hour's further research online afterwards. He remembered all that detail since then! Wow. I am so impressed.

Busy, busy...

Well, okay, so I have not been very good about keeping up with this blog! I hope to do better. Meanwhile, I'm fighting a cold and praying hubby and son don't catch it.

About a week ago, I got all motivated to paint, so I got out my stuff and did a little 9x12 painting of a scene in Ukraine. I took the reference picture in the summer of '05 from the window of a train. It's a monastery at sunset, and I would love to see the place in full daylight! It was beautiful at sunset.