Vacation - of sorts

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Kansas to visit with my family.  I've seen my family but hadn't been to the house I mostly grew up in since my mother died in 1996 so it was an emotional journey as well as a physical one.  I still couldn't stay there and thank my sister for letting us stay at their house.

It was wonderful to get to see my father and my four sisters and many of their family members as well but it's also tiring to drive such a long way.  It's also really hard to get any one-on-one time with anyone in such a crowded setting!

We didn't do anything much except eat and talk but it was like old times for us all to be together again.

Most of our trip was overcast but I did manage to photograph this chicory (I think!) flower growing wild at a little roadside park.  The one thing I wish I'd gotten was the "smoke" as we were driving through the Great Smoky Mountains!  I've lived in North Carolina for nearly 35 years and have driven through those mountains countless times but this was the first time I'd seen exactly why the mountains were called the Smokies. 

Yes, I've seen the billowing mists that hover over the mountain peaks and drift down along the sides and yes, it does look like smoke arising from those mountains.  But, yesterday as we were driving home, I saw white columns of mist that looked exactly like campfire smoke dotting the mountain sides!  It was truly awesome and I wished I could have gotten to my camera to document the event.  Unfortunately, my husband had packed the camera in its bag in the trunk as he was loading everything from our night in a motel and I didn't notice until I reached for it to try to photograph that "smoke"!

Anyway, we're back and I hope to catch up with everyone soon!

Black Cat Time of Year

I don't know about you but we're beginning to see lots of spider webs, a few falling leaves and some signs that fall is nearly here in spite of our 90 degree temperatures.  It's still a little while before Halloween but I thought a black cat might be appropriate right about now.

This is Leonie and she seemed very appropriate for the season even though she isn't solid black.  She was painted in gouache on Arches rough 140# paper.

Art Spectrum's Colourfix Suede Paper

I think there are several readers here who use Art Spectrum's Colourfix paper.  A while ago it was announced that they were introducing a new paper - Colourfix Suede.  Being the art supply junkie that I am, I had to find out all I could about it.

I received the following email today concerning the availability of the new paper here in the US.

Hello Jan,

Thank you for your interest in Art Spectrum 

Colourfix Suede Paper.   It is so new
that it has just arrived in the United States 

last week for the first time!!!  Right
now it is available in just a few select 

stores, but we have recently shipped some
to the following store and you will be 

able to order it by mail in the near future:
 
Dakota Art Store, 1-888-345-0067, 

www.dakotapastels.com 

Please let me know if we can be of further 

assistance.

Kind regards,

Lori Villalonga
Armadillo Art & Craft 

Armadillo Art and Craft is the US distributor for Art Spectrum products and I'd like to thank Lori for her prompt reply to my query about the suede paper.

I don't have any idea about the price or anything much else about it but have heard it will be available in 8 colors and 2 sizes.  It's supposed to be a "softer" version of the current Colourfix paper.  Hmmmm, don't know exactly what that means but it sounds somewhat like a PastelMat competitor.

If anyone tries it, please let us know how you like it!

No Sense of Humor

We went to Jerry's Artarama yesterday and I got a literal handful of items and spent nearly $40!  The nice clerk told me I'd saved $50+ dollars but I didn't stop to debate her.  Just glad I didn't pay what they said was full price!  Jerry's was crowded but that's probably usual for a holiday weekend.  People are off work and want to pursue their hobbies or just relax.  I wanted to play with my new toys too.

Most women don't get holidays off though.  As a matter of fact, my husband asked me this morning if I was going to wash clothes.  He said he was out of underwear.  I said I had just caught up all the laundry and surely he had clean clothes.  He said rather sarcastically that he did wear a pair of underwear a day after all.

My husband usually is very good-natured and funny but scowled and stomped off when I suggested that he cut it back to a pair every other day.

Sometimes even the funniest men just don't have a sense of humor!