Clare Davis Etheridge

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Through The Lens Thursday #43. Spicy.

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 pick them and store them in the freezer until I need them. Home grown chiles all year round.

How is your garden? Is it hanging on in there or all shut down for the winter. Of course if you are in the southern hemisphere, you are gearing up for wonderful spring gardening!

I Love my New Waterbrush

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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 to use it, it came with no instructions and I thought you filled up the chamber of the brush with mixed paint and I couldn’t understand how this was any more use than a regular brush. Still confused, I left it in the drawer again.

Turns out, you fill the chamber of the brush with water then dip the wet brush into your paint and paint something wonderful, clean off the brush with a few strokes on a paper towel and go to the next colour. You can blend different colours, shades of the same colour and with plain water to get all kinds of lovely subtle effects.

The brush can make lovely ombre effects just by the fact that the paint will naturally run out on the brush and be replaced by plain water, making the colour fade gradually and beautifully. I discovered this when I painted a circle bigger and bigger until the paint on the brush ran out.

I have been using the brush with tube paint so far, but it would be ideal with a pan set too and how perfect for travel. You would only need one paintbrush and this beauty carries its own water supply.

What have you recently discovered? A new utensil? Art supply? Recipe? Exercise? How much do you love it? As much as I love my new water brush? I hope so!

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

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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 stomach ache? After some research (thanks Pinterest), I made some ‘Spicy tomato pickles’. I am supposed to wait six weeks before eating them, so I hope they are not a disaster!

4. Another job this week was Halloween decorating which my ten year old happily takes on. I brought up the decorations from the basement and we invested in a selection of bones for the occasion. I decorated the porch and he made this rather ace graveyard which has already caused consternation among the neighborhood dogs!

So Autumn is here with Halloween around the corner and cold nights and mornings firmly in place. Almost time to carve the pumpkins and make soup from their innards!!

Happy Monday x

Through The Lens Thursday #42. Plant.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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 the centre when I started, so I used the skinny spaces around the outside to draw witch’s brooms in. Just go with the flow and fill in the spaces, in whatever order works for you.

Then I added witch’s hats and under them, some monster eyes. Sometimes I draw it all in pencil then pen over, or I will just go for it in pen.

Fill in some shapes, outline some shapes in thicker pen, make some jack o’ lantern faces, add some colour, a few creepy spider webs… Fill in all of the spaces for a super cool Halloween mandala, then erase all of your pencil marks, stand back and admire your hard work!

Mwahahahahaha, happy Wednesday!

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

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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 mushroom (that is a terrible thought, teeth with beards…) and my most favourite – bearded hedgehog mushroom! I love the idea of hedgehogs with beards, especially big white beards!

3. We found a marble in the creek! Another one for the collection.

4. The woods looks so pretty when it is cool and green about to turn red and orange. Leaves are just starting to coat the woodland floor and we will soon be crunching through leafy paths.

I had to include this bonus photo for Isabel at Nanjing Nian who is also the glamourous host of ‘One+Four=Life’. I used the mitten shaped aubergine of posts past, along with this new one and some homegrown tomatoes and peppers to make Bharta and it was delicious! I am so excited to have found a recipe using aubergine that I like. I have to give recipe credit to Tracie at Beets and Birch as she recommended it to me and I thank her for that! Now I am hoping I get a couple more aubergines before the garden retires for the winter.

Happy Monday! Have a fab week ahead.

Through The Lens Thursday #41. Number 8.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I love a spot of vintage and I have had these fab ‘Phonics Key Cards’ from the 1950’s for a while now, waiting for the perfect use for them.
This one is number 8 so it fits the prompt nicely and they have such lovely graphics. I wonder what the extra pencil symbols at the top right are? Shorthand? Secret code? I don’t know, do you?

Halloween Doodling.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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 of ink and add your centre drawing. The pens I used are Pigma Micron pen in black, size 005 which is super fine so that you can get all the details in there like the wings and tiny legs. For the yellow I used a Koi Brush pen which come in all sorts of fabulous colours. I used ink for the splats, but you can also use paints with some water to make them nice and runny and splatable.
I drew a window in the middle but it could be a door too which might be cool.
Here are some things to add to the splots and splats –
Insect legs
Spider legs
Legs with boots or shoes
Feet
Wings
Ears
Make them into eyes (don’t forget the creepy veins)
Tails
Tentacles (with or without suckers)
Make a line of splats into a snake
Make a slug
Make a bat

On your window or door you can add –
Wood markings
Cracks
Scratches
‘Beware’ or ‘Keep out’ sign
Spooky handle
Curtains
A bottle marked ‘poison’
A spider on his web
Spooky face
A witches hat
A broomstick
Black cat
Bats
Pumpkins

I think I want to make more splats and windows and maybe try a door! I would love to see what you and/or your kids make, feel free to share here or pop the pics onto Facebook, my page is Girl Fifteen or Instagram where I am also Girl Fifteen.
Happy Wednesday and happy splatting!

I am joining in with Maxabella Loves for Weekend Rewind with this post.

One + Four = Life. Weekly Photos 40/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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 lots of big garden pots which will be perfect for my garlic this year. I was undecided about the yellow bird shelf which was a whopping $5.00, but my mind was made up for me when my youngest came dancing across the road proudly holding the bird/shelf which he and my husband had bought for me! I also bought a jug for flowers and paintbrushes (not at the same time), a 1970’s cookbook, a mid century wooden recipe box and a French butter/cheese dish among a host of other treasures. I do love a yard sale!
3. I found this little elf hat on the back steps yesterday, I assume a tiny fairy person dropped it on the way somewhere very important. Or of course it could be a plant part, a seed pod or a flower case. I am going with elf hat though.
4. We found these ‘Jack Skellington’ hats this week at ‘Five Below’ and my youngest decided he had to have one! It is now his signature look (his words, not mine!). I am a little jealous that he can rock a beanie, I love the idea of hats but I look like a right wally in them.

That was last week, I wonder what the coming week will bring? More lovely cooler weather I hope, even cool nights is a step in the right direction. Now the mornings are colder and darker, getting up is proving to be a challenge though, especially persuading the kids that getting up and going to school is a very good idea!

Happy Monday!

Through the Lens Thursday #40. Lines.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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 no, no ‘big girl camera’! I am on my way to the gym, I don’t carry it with me everywhere. Shall I come back later? No, the shadows will be moved or gone completely later. So, I pulled out my phone and took a couple of pictures, thinking that I really should use my DSLR (big girl camera) to get a photo, because the whole idea of TTLT is to use the DSLR on manual making it a weekly practice to improve our photography skills.

Well, as I walked to the gym and subsequently home, I ended up snapping a few shots of ‘lines’. Don’t you find that once a theme or an idea is in your head, if you give it a little bit of space, it will take off and you will start to notice all kinds of things related to it.

The pressure was off, I still had a little niggle that I really should be using my BGC, but the niggle was being shushed by all the things I kept spotting and the ideas coming along. I happily photo’ed a few random ‘lines’ related bits and bobs and I chose these four to share.

I mean pretty much anything has a line, is in a line, has a line around it, so I could have gone on and on, but I didn’t (phew, too much of a good thing!).

I didn’t edit the photos at all, except a crop to get rid of my shadow on the bridge. Yay for taking the pressure off!

I carried the theme (‘pressure off’, not ‘lines’) over to dinner and I am making pizza dough and everyone can decide what they want on their pizza, without me making them and getting all the toppings wrong and heading to Moanville via Idon’twantthattown at the dinner table.

Hurrah for phone cameras and hurrah for pizza!

Happy October!