Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

Through The Lens Thursday #43. Spicy.

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This week has been like summer here in the Mid West!  It got to 92 degrees yesterday and I am browsing boots online while wearing sandals. Last week we had a couple of nights of frost, I know, the weather here is bonkers!  My chili plants are in pots so I hauled them all into the basement to hide out until the temps crept back up.  They seemed to be happy with the arrangement and are growing and blooming all over the place.  They had better hurry up as winter is just around the corner and the weather here can turn on a dime.  I deliberately planted them in pots this year so that I can move them into the basement and hopefully I will get some chilis from these flowers. The top picture is a Santaka Hot Asian chili and the bottom is an Ancho chili, so the Santaka will turn a vibrant red and the Ancho has some growing ahead of it as this is a tiny new chili.  Once the chiles ripen, …

I Love my New Waterbrush

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Are you the type of person who thinks everyone knows how to do something except you?  I am.  And when I do learn I think I am the very last person in the world that knows how to use whatever the new thing is.  So, here I am with this fab new art supply in my life and I want to run about and tell everyone, so here I am, running about, telling you! I bought a waterbrush a couple of months ago as part of a class I had signed up for, but I didn’t end up using it, so it  has sat in my drawer since. Yesterday I started a class at Skillshare called Watercolor Lettering Essentials which solely uses a waterbrush for the projects.  Hurrah I thought as I grabbed the brush, I can use it at last. Well, hurrah indeed, once I had got used to using the brush, I fell in love with it. I think the reason I left it for so long was that I didn’t know how …

One + Four = Life. Weekly Photos 42/52.

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    1. Ikea has recently opened in St Louis and I went to check it out this week, I haven’t been to an Ikea in over ten years, so it was nice to have a look around and get stocked up on Elderflower cordial and Swedish chocolates.  The cookies/biscuits in this picture are like mini ‘jammie dodgers’ which makes them a winner! 2. My purple hair is fading rather nicely I think and I have had many conversations about the radical application of colour on top of grey/white rather than bleaching to start with.  The lady in the post office informed me helpfully that a very popular colour to dye hair at the minute is grey, so that is handy to know! 3. Over the weekend we had our first ‘frost advisory’ in the weather forecast – be advised, there may be a frost.  So I picked some of the green tomatoes from the vines and I chucked a tarpaulin over the rest.  What to do with green tomatoes which won’t induce a nasty …

Through The Lens Thursday #42. Plant.

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  Plants plants plants, they are hanging onto the warm afternoons.  Tomatoes are ripening, chilis are getting fat alongside the aubergines, all for harvest before the first frost.  Nights and mornings are in the 40’s and by mid afternoon we are in the mid 80’s and the poor plants don’t know what to think.  It is ‘boots in the morning’ and ‘flip flops by the afternoon’ kinda weather! This little barrel cactus lives on my kitchen windowsill, he is an indoor cactus whereas the rest live outside in the summer, and they all squeeze into an inside spot like a shelf or a clearing at the table for the winter. As the nights are getting colder, the plants are starting to jostle for space inside as I bring them in gradually. As usual, they are all a little bigger than last winter! Next week’s Through the Lens Thursday prompt is ‘Spicy’.

Halloween Mandala

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Halloween mandala!  Betcha didn’t see that coming did you!?  Okay, maybe a little bit as I drew 100 of them for ‘The 100 Day Project’ earlier in the year. I took a few ‘along the way’ pictures so that you can see how I made this mandala, the main thing is to use your imagination, don’t think about it too much and go for it! You could make one with Halloween stickers or stamps too. To start the mandala I usually make a pencil outline.  For this one, I grabbed my ruler and drew lines which all crossed at the same point in the centre but I didn’t measure, so I ended up with uneven sections for my Halloween mandala.  Then I used my compass and made some circles of different sizes getting bigger and bigger from the centre.  This is your base to fill in the sections you have created. When I have drawn mandalas in the past, I normally start in the centre, but to be honest I couldn’t think of anything for …

One + Four = Life. Weekly Photos 41/52.

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1. I picked up this feather in my garden this week and decided to have a go at painting it in watercolours.  I thought I might use this tube of white paint, but I was very wrong.  I bent and ripped it in half thinking I might get a squeeze of paint from it, but alas it is all dried up. 2. Look at this fabulous mushroom!  We were out exploring in the woods and my youngest called me to see a ‘photo’ mushroom (he is trained well!!).  A photo mushroom indeed, this is a beauty.  It feels almost spiney, not soft at all and apparently they are edible.  Would you eat it?  Pop it in a stir fry? Pasta? I am not sure I would eat it, what if it really isn’t edible, that would be a big mistake.  I was happy to admire it and snap a photo to share.  I almost forgot to tell you what it is called.  ‘Hericium erinaceus’, otherwise known as lion’s mane mushroom, pom pom mushroom, bearded tooth …

Halloween Doodling.

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Halloween and ink splat art go together like tricks and treats! Add a spot of doodling and a fun picture is soon made,  to use for a card or for an impromptu gift and you feel all clever and spooky. For this picture, I used watercolour paper which holds the ink nicely, but it doesn’t matter what paper you choose. I used post it notes to mask off a rectangle in the centre which becomes the window. Of course you could use painters tape if you have some knocking about, but I have none which is why I hacked up post it notes for the job. Then comes the fun part, dip your brush into the ink and splash it about, tap the brush and splat the whole brush down for nice big splotches! I did this outside so that the ink didn’t get everywhere, which it did, but the grass doesn’t mind! Once it is all nice and dry, remove the mask in the middle and start to add spooky details to the splats …

One + Four = Life. Weekly Photos 40/52

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I am joining Isabel and a host of pals over at Nanjing Nian for the weekly ‘One + Four = Life’ project where we share four photos to sum up our week. 1. The days are getting cooler and shorter and the clouds are hiding the sun more regularly. I still have some green tomatoes which I hope will ripen on the vine and I have a couple of aubergines growing fat and purple. I am pleased with my veggie crop this year and who knew I would ever grow aubergines! My Grandad would have been proud. Now I am planning my garlic crop which I will be planting soon. Are you growing anything for Autumn or Spring? 2. This weekend saw the local yard sale extravaganza through three local ‘cities’. The annual first Saturday in October where everyone can set up shop in their own yard or garage and sell their crap! Out came our crap and some sold, but the highlight was our neighbor’s sale which was chock full of vintage goodness including …

Through the Lens Thursday #40. Lines.

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I have taken a slightly different approach to Through The Lens Thursday this week. A whole more casual approach. It happened by accident and I am pleased with how it all turned out. As usual I had been thinking about the theme ‘lines’ for a couple of days, you know trying to come up with something artist and cool, putting the pressure on myself, trying to make sure I get a great photo.  Then I grabbed my green yoga mat and took myself off to yoga class followed by pilates, yes, Thursday is my over-achieving at the gym day! On the way to the YMCA I always cross the same bridge and today they were painting the walkway of the bridge.  Half of it is painted and drying and I assume that tomorrow they will paint the other half to make a matching bridge.  The shadows were making lots of lines for me, combined with the line of the paint and the wood slats so I thought it would make a great ‘lines’ shot.  Oh …