Good News!

First off, let me thank all the kind people who offered me

their sage advice in dealing with a different kind of diet.

I tried the delicious recipes, ate lots of salads, went red meatless

and dairy free for two weeks, lost about 4 pounds, and feel better.

The good news is that the blood test for Alpha-Gal allergy was

NEGATIVE.

I have no idea what the hives were caused from and I am

sure I did not imagine them. Red spots and itching/burning

really happened. The good thing is that I actually began

to enjoy eating lots of veggies and fruits and I hope

to continue doing that.  So thank you, dear friends.

I did not do much art this week and none last week.

I am in my reading mood, not painting mood.

Here is all I have to offer.

The start of a spread in my journal in mixed media class. We
began by doodling over both pages. Then I took off on my own

using my metallic gelatos. This doesn't show

up well because of the sheen of the gelatos.

Then Thursday night I did this watercolor painting of a lily.

The photo I used was taken by my niece and used with

her permission. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY

and giving us the opportunity to enjoy lots of art.

Life changing situation

I got bit by a Lone Star tick on April 1 and had much

redness and swelling the next day covering half of my chest.

After being misdiagnosed and having rashes, I read online about this
tick, I now believe I have the Alpha-Gal allergy (red meat allergy),

caused by the Lone Star tick. Not only meat, dairy products 

also cause a delayed rash. Seeing an allergist on Monday for tests.

So, I know there are Vegans and Vegetarians out there. I've

read your blogs. Tell me where I can go out to eat and

what can I order. There are no vegan restaurants near me. 

I have been eating out 2 or 3 times a week and don't like to cook.

OK, now to the art. I didn't have watercolor class so

I have been doing a few acrylics/mixed media things.

And I am including one phone doodle.

Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting Paint Party Friday.

Let a smile be your umbrella.

I started with several shades of green for the background in

this class project. Next I added a magazine picture of a dress

and the word "FUN". The rest of the body was painted on. I used

 stencils for the flowers and added bits of painted papers.

Doodle from a very long phone conversation.

Late Posting

I can't believe I totally forgot to post for Paint Party Friday.

Here it is already Friday afternoon. But in my

defense, I have not been sleeping very well and

one night this week I didn't get to sleep till after 6 a.m.

Too much chocolate in the evening, I think.

Anyway, here is my class project in Watercolors.

and here is a card I made for a couple who just got married.

The next card was made using a watercolor background.

I bought a stalk of flowers at Dollar Tree and took

each flower off and reassembled them to use

on greetings cards. I have some embossed gold
on here along with the watercolors.

Miscellany

The watercolor class project this week was a yellow

iris. Shading yellow is tricky. I mistakenly added a 

purplish background and completely ruined my piece.

Once home, I added a dark blue over the purple and

did a bit more work on the iris. It improved it a bit.

Then I decided to do another yellow iris without background.

And  one more flower, a purple clematis.

Then just for fun I painted a face in watercolors.

And lastly a birthday card I made using a

Mary Englebret Inc. All Night Media rubber stamp

and some Prismacolors. I added my own lettering

and a few extra stars.

I'm hoping to be able to visit most of the artists

who are joining in on Paint Party Friday,

the weekly art exhibit hosted by Eva and Kristin.

Paint Party Friday

It's Paint Party time again, thanks to

Kristin and Eva, our hard-working hosts.

Both classes were cancelled this week so I

have done very little art. I am showing a

mixed media background I made on a

newspaper flyer. Love the colors and the

sparkle but not so crazy about the design.

I should have done something different

with those huge off white blobs. (Like cover them 

up with paint - which I may still do.)

I did make a bunch of cards to send out

from the church to the homebound members

and to the people who are sick and a few

who were having birthdays. I only took

this photo of what I worked on. It's

for a house warming occasion. I used a

patterned paper for a background, constructed

the house from other patterned papers, and

used raised stickers I got on clearance at AC Moore.

I did manage to obtain a photo of the family reunion

in North Carolina celebrating my aunt's 100th

birthday. It was a wonderful time of reuniting

and meeting members that I had never met.

I was the oldest there (after the honoree) and

am in the blue jacket right behind my aunt.

And my wonderful surprise at Easter was the 

gorgeous basket of flowers my son and daughter-in-law

gave  me to plant in pots for my back porch.

and a card size watercolor I did tonight...
(none of my screen colors look as bright and vivid as the real things)

Spring in Virginia

View from my livingroom window.

Project from watercolor class this week.

The fox may look better turned 90° to the left.

This is a mixed media piece I did today.

I used inks on a wet watercolor paper for the background.

I added some painted papers I had made with acrylic

paints, used stencils and gold and bronze paints,

and the die cut butterfly. The quote is by Naya Rivera.

Butterflies can't see their wings. They can't see how

truly beautiful they are but everyone else can.

People are like that as well.

 

Time to party. Join us at Paint Party Friday!

Google Troubles Today

If I haven't visited your blog today, I am sorry, but Google

won't let me comment. None of the blogs have a comment

link. I have tried to find a way to get help but so far

I am still in the dark as to how to fix this. I have tried

2 different browsers. Yahoo works ok and so does FB.

Anybody else having problems?????

Stormy Days

Some weeks go smoothly; some not so much. This

was one of those of the second kind, starting with a

tick on my shoulder. It was a female Lone Star tick, 

not a carrier of Lyme disease, so I felt I could ignore it.

She wasn't stuck in and was a tiny little thing. When the

top left half of my chest became red and hot, I went to the doctor.

She thought she could see tiny bubbles so prescribed meds

for both tick bite and for shingles. Still don't know but

the area is not as inflamed and doesn't itch or hurt now.

Then today we have been under a tornado watch until
just a few minutes ago. Now the sun is out!!!

I went to watercolor class anyway in spite of the itching

at that time. Here is what we did as our project:

The only other art I did since my Saturday class has

been cancelled till May is this card I made using

one of the backgrounds I showed recently.

And this phone doodle:

Thanks to hard working Eva and Kristin we have

this wonderful art gallery every week called

Paint Party Friday. It is always such fun

to visit my internet artist friends each week.