I'm so tired!

Today a neighbor and I tried to locate the buried black 

corrugated drainage pipe along my gravel driveway. He was

able to uncover quite a bit of the pipe and  worked for 2 hours

on my project. I took up where he left off. There are 54' that have

to be replaced because of damage. The drainage is stopped up and

water runs down my driveway making furrows. After about 7 hours

of digging with several different tools, I found the rest of the

pipe, buried down about 6" deep.  So tonight I rest.

Tomorrow I go get replacement pipe.

Saturday I assist a young laborer I have hired to replace it.

I don't know what to do with the debris filled old pipe!

Now for the art I have to show for Paint Party Friday,

that wonderful gallery of all kinds of art. PPF is hosted

by Kristin and Eva. Thanks so much.

Watercolor project for the week:

Two cards I made this week:

A repeat showing of an acrylic painting I made

last year (I think) using Valerie's photo (with permission).

A really old pastel painting I made of one of the participants

of Berkeley Plantations' Thanksgiving ceremony.

And finally, a photo of the praying mantis I found on my flower pot.

If anyone would like to paint him, be my guest.  I don't

think I can do him justice in a painting.

PPF - 8/17/17

 😢

I live about an hour east of Charlottesville VA.

I and all Virginians I know were horrified by the violence that 

occurred in that lovely town. Who in the world granted 

permission for the hate groups to march through the streets 

yelling abominable, hate-filled slogans?

Someone knew there might be violence, though, because I myself

heard on TV a representative from Charlottesville (the Mayor???)

urging the citizens of Charlottesville to please stay at home and

not to go out to protest the protestors, in order to keep peace.

We see that they didn't stay home as requested but went to

the rally armed with baseball bats and sticks to confront the

marchers, who were also armed with sticks. 

Could it be that both groups were from outside the area?

Prejudice is wrong. Violence is also wrong.

MLK did not use violence and his civil rights movement

made a huge difference in the places I have lived. And

I have lived in 7 different states and several areas of some.

The deep-seated hatred we saw last weekend will not be

easily eradicated. I have lived many decades in the south. 

I know that prejudice still exists here and also in the north.

In my own experience, however, I see people of all races interacting

 as equals at work, in churches, and in the marketplace, something 

completely unheard of in my youth. Although we have a way to go,

looking back over my 80+ years, I can categorically say that

race relations in the middle class are night and day different

from that which I grew up surrounded by.  The KKK and others

do not represent the majority of people in the south and definitely

not the majority of people in central Virginia.

Now to art. Here is what we did in watercolor class...

And here are 2 sky scenes I made at home...

Thank you, Eva and Kristin, for being so generous

with your time and hosting Paint Party Friday.

EDIT: Since posting this I have been made aware that 

there were not 2 opposing groups in C'ville Saturday.

There were 4 or more: Those I will call the haters;

those who wanted statues pulled down; those who

were there to express loathing for the haters; and

those who were there to oppose those who wanted

the statues torn down. Some other groups included

people who wanted to keep the statues but get rid of

the haters, and other various combinations of reasons to be there.

Also, noted: there were protestors and counter-protestors

who were local (in spite of the warning to stay home) and

others who came from other localities and other states.

Party Time!

This was painted in Monday's watercolor class.

This painted paper was made Saturday in mixed media class.

Most of the week was spent attending to various house

repairs and trying to get repairmen lined up to do the repairs.

Thank you, Eva and Kristin, for hosting the community of artists

that contribute to Paint Party Friday.

Paint Party Friday

This week was a little more arty than last week. I made a card

at a shut-in's home and left it for her after my visit. Sorry I

don't have a photo of that one or the other 5 I sent this week.

But I do have the double page spread I finished in my mixed media

class on Saturday. I used several painted papers and tore off a

piece from a collaged paper I had made a few months ago.

And here is what we did in Monday's watercolor class:

Inspired by the class watercolor, I made one on my own:

This is an older painting I have shown before:

One of my friends said she didn't like the dark tree 

in the middle of my log cabin I showed last week, so I 

lifted some of the dark green paint. Here is the result.

It's not often someone will tell you they don't like

something in your painting, but I'm glad she let me know.

I know it looks better than last week's version.

Thanks to Eva and Kristin for providing 

Paint Party Friday each week.