Mini Murals

I finished another little painting in Joey's room.  This one is from Lu and the Swamp Ghost, written by, strangely enough, James Carville.



I've done quite a few of these over the years.  Luckily, Joey's still excited to come home from school and see that I've finished another one. 





All of the mini murals I've done come from her favorite storybooks.

 

I scanned the pictures, played with them in photoshop to show as much of the basic outline as possible (I think I used the stamp effect), and then printed them up on overhead projector sheets.  You can cram quite a few of them on each one.



Then I projected them onto the wall and traced them in pencil.



You can barely see the penciled versions unless you're right up close.  That way, I can finish them when I have time. Though this technique may have given me way too much time, since I've been working on this project for like ever.  And there are still more pencil drawings than finished paintings.

Our favorite part is deciding where to put everybody.



Like this little guy who is in the corner, behind the door.



And this bunch who are all hanging from a long rope I painted in.

I use plain ol' acrylic craft paints, thinned with water, letting it dry between coats (sometimes speeding things with a blow dryer).  This allows me to more easily do shading on the sort of difficult pieces.  I traced quite a few of them at the end with a super thin, black marker.



The Wild Things' hair and scales were done mostly with the marker.  It gives you a lot more control that way.

People Eggs

It's almost Easter.  Which, around here, means it's time to add to our collection of blown eggs.

So how about some cute little people eggs?



I did the first version of this 13 years ago, when Joey was just a baby.



As you can see, I've improved on my technique somewhat.  Having the Pysanky supplies instead of the crap-tastic wax crayon in the kit helps, but so does having Photoshop and my own printer.  (The original was done before I had a digital camera or any type of processing software.  I snapped several pictures, dropped off the film at Walgreens and used whatever came back in that envelope.)

No real tutorial on this, just some tips.

Tips
-Print out the pictures of the faces before you start drawing on the body.  It really helps to get the sizing right.
-I printed one page with lots of cropped faces on it, doing several of each person because I expected to screw most of them up.  Surprisingly, I didn't.

-Before I cut anything out, I lightly sprayed the entire paper with a matte fixative spray.  This does two things: it sort of protects the ink and gives the paper a little more body so it stands out from the egg.  You could alternately print the pictures on paper that's a bit stiffer.
-Dye the egg with little bodies and no heads. 

(If this looks uber impressive to you, you have got to get yourself some Ukrainian egg dyeing supplies. It isn't difficult at all.)

-You can also put names on the back of each egg, like so. 
 
-When they are completely and totally dry, attach the heads using hot glue or Museum Wax.  You really don't want to use water based glue because it tends to warp the paper or make the dye on the egg run.


Good luck.  And as usual, send me a picture if you make these yourself.

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Related Posts-
Easter Prep (for Blown Eggs)




Ukrainian Egg Dying

Less Frustrating Ways to Dye Blown Eggs

Egg Drying Rack

Hanging Blown Eggs

Indoor Easter Garden

Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Costume

Here's something we threw together before school in like 20 minutes.

Hope you all have a fun and safe day!

My Not So New Job

Ever since I started this job, Joey's been giving me grief for not telling you all about it. I think she feels I'm somehow being dishonest for not sharing such an important aspect of my life (and the possible reason why my posts are sometimes months apart).

So what is it that I do?

I'm on the ground crew for an airline, babysitting planes and chauffeuring baggage. The pay isn't great, but my whole family (Jeff, kids, parents) and I can now fly for free. Once we can synchronize our schedules, that is. Since I got out of training 6 months ago, Jeff and I haven't had a single day off together.


(Last plane of the night, getting ready to push)

In theory, I got this job so we can fly for free. In reality, though, Jeff is the only one who's actually gone anywhere.

It does give me a chance to take pictures with my phone, most of which are of sunsets. Cause man we have some nice ones out there.


(After a particularly fierce rainstorm, when they called a ground hold for lightning.)


(Leaning out the galley door. This is the place where I most often crack my head.)


(Pulled over while running bags to photograph the sunset. Because I have my priorities.)


(While gassing up my tug. I love how the sun is shining straight through the windows on the closest plane.)


(Waiting for international bags in the bowels of the airport. Just out of frame is a family of chuds.)

Jaden and Joey

I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people.
-John Lennon

Homemade Mozzarella

I made cheese!



And served it with the first tomato of the season.

Note- Despite a couple of hailstorms, our garden's still growing. Not going crazy or anything, yet not completely dead. And as I read about Finny's first tomato(es), I began to think that maybe I ought to be making special plans to welcome mine.

So I ordered myself a cheese kit. As one does.

When I told my brother (all excitedly I might add) that I had successfully made my own mozzarella, he asked if that was before or after the barn raising.

He thinks he's funny.

But I get it. It does seem old fashioned and maybe somewhat pointless. Cause you know, Wendy, they do sell cheese at the store.

But I have to say that as the milk transformed into actual curds it felt like magic. Like I should have been waving a wand over the pan to create such a miracle. It starts as milk, then I add a couple spoonfuls of special ingredients, wait patiently (or not very patiently, in my case) and BAM, it's cheese.

The English language (well, every language really) should have a word specifically to describe the satisfaction involved in curds/whey separation. I'm just sayin.


(this is totally what it was supposed to look like as it separated.)

It's that simple.

Except when it isn't.


(This is not at all what it was supposed to look like.)

This is one of my early attempts without the kit. The stench of failure was so great that it took me almost 3 years to give it another shot, despite a very thoughtful (and moderately optimistic) present from my love.


"One of these times it's gotta work."

Anyway, back to this time. The one that did work. Once it's been cut and heated on the stove, you ladle it into a bowl, heat it in the microwave and then stretch it.







And then you form it.



It looks like cheese, smells like cheese and tastes like cheese.



I'm almost entirely convinced that it was actually cheese. It may not look as smooth as what you get in the store, but it smells and tastes much better.

Next time, I plan to make at least a double batch. One for me and one for everyone else to share.

Nighttime Pictures

Joey decided to take pictures last night. Outside. In the rain. Under an umbrella.