Let's face it...

I've been very interested in the blogs I read by artists who do a variety of faces and after taking a wonderful class with dj pettitt where I learned a lot about shading and highlighting etc., I felt ready to give it a try. Here's my first real attempt since the one I did in her class. I painted another today and will post that in a day or so, after it is dry enough to scan. I'm learning that I can be patient or continually clean the scanner. More will be coming as my sketch book is filling up with a cast of characters.

This mixed media piece features a cut out of the old ranch house right after it was built in 1916. The end of the veranda, where the man is sitting, was enclosed years before we got here and is actually where I am sitting right now. The other end has also been enclosed and is our bedroom. I can't stop looking at this photo, I wish I could step into it and visit with the man on the porch (whose last name is, coincidentally, the same as ours) and his wife, standing in the front. He was the CEO of a new company called California Edison and he built the place as a hunting lodge and weekend get away for his family. From what I can tell, it was later used as a retreat and hunting lodge for Edison execs and was eventually sold to the family we bought it from. I'm going to try to come up with a good label that might attract someone who can tell us more about the place. I'll keep you posted.

Today, I got to participate in a miracle. It's a long story but it is just one of those things you pray for and believe with all of your heart can happen, then it does, and you get to be part of it. So, I wish you all a peaceful night and days filled with miracles.