what a blessed life!!!!

I have been spending most of my evenings by the fire.
The children specially enjoys to have their reading time sitting just as I am here or in one of my milking stools that I keep near my wood stove. Our entire kitchen is so cosy and smells diving....
Thank you Lord for all the blessings that you gave me today!!!!*grin*

I am just about done roasting these 2 birds on my copper kitchen. You have no idea what a TRUE roasted chicken tastes like until you try this.... ohhhh, it is delicious!!!! I marinated the birds with lemon and lots of herbs.....mmmm, I can't wait for supper.....*grin*



Although I have a desk in my room, I have been working near the fire. It feels so right and all comes to me like...... music! yes, Music!Harmony!
I have moved Hershey ( my dairy and very pregnant cow) to the pond pasture so I can see her with the sheep and feed her everyday. She is with a calf. Soon, I will be milking her again and making all kinds of goodies.... mmmm, I can not WAIT!


John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Sir Frederick Minor

I have this feeling that does not go way- I need to draw ! All my life I have worked with oil paintings only and when I did that I never draw prior painting . I used my brush to mark the subjects and get the proportion right but oil painting is very forgiving because one can layer and adjustments can be made during the process.
For a long time I wanted to illustrate books using wool as my *palette* , I wrote two children's book and did the illustrations and when I was ready to send out to get it printed , I changed my mind. Since then, I have only wanted to draw and I think is because I want to use watercolors for my medium and drawing is very important, in this case.
The illustration above came to me one day when my daughter , Kate, told me that she was planning to write a children's story. Kate has written many poems and stories. She helps me translate my own stories and she does much editing as my English is not good enough. I believe that she is very gifted with both composition ( music ) and writing (stories). She is not very interested to write, at this point of her life . Kate is very different than me, she focus on one thing at a time , and I like that on her!
Anyways , although she is not planning to write a whole story soon ( one never knows, ) she wrote a summery about her first book . The story is about a musician mouse named Frederic Minor, well, he is better know as Sir F. Minor! I can't tell you more (yet) but I am hoping Kate will begging to write soon... As she read it to me , the picture above was formed in my head and I told her : "Wait! I have to draw!"
One would think that I have plenty to do already ... it is true .. I am making dolls, painting , making animals and yet this desire does not go way ... so I am following my heart!

I am adding a picture of my new little creature - A hedgehog! He is waiting for his Pixie to be ready and both should be on eBay shortly!
* picture was taking at night , not in his favor, I must add!

Writing and illustrating children's rhyme

One Saxy Mouse!

Among my favorite things to do, it is to turn pots. I learned to turn pots about 5 years ago. I usually turn during the Autumn season . There is something about that time that makes me feel happy. I can go to my shop at any cool evening , light up a small fire on my wood stove, place a tea pot with water and wait for my favorite tea, while I get things ready for the turning. I like to listen to Christmas music too... I think is because there is a strong scent that comes from my apple trees and it reminds me of my own farm back in Brasil and because is during this time that I make my gifts to family and friends.
Most of my children enjoy to do pottery too but I think my youngest is the one that never leaves me side.*grin*
I have not done any crockery for about a year and a half . I am always very busy with the marionettes and now with my porcelain BJD that it did not allow me to get the time aside to do the pots; however this is the first year in 4 years that I was able to finish school with the children in June. Time seems to be in my favor now. My days are so wonderful and much relaxing. I so enjoy to be with my children , tending for the garden, weeding my flower beds, baking whole wheat bread for my family, making cheese from Hershey's milk and so much more.
Kate and I go for long walks and during that time we talk about the marionettes, future plays , her music and we laugh and enjoy the amazing nature that our Lord has so graciously blessed us with it.*grin*
It is during late afternoon and after milking that I get to work on my art . It is never work , it is always an exciting thing to do and I feel so blessed to be able to create as much as I do.
Just recently I start drawing. Fairytale is what is in my heart. I think my eyes are my best tool. As I get older , I think my work improves because there is no urgency feeling like i used to feel when I was younger. I am enjoying each and every moment...*smiles*
I started drawing this little mouse one day and the idea of have him on a thread spool was an immediately thought , but it was my new dear friend Anita, that suggested me ( without have seen the mouse) that I would give him a crown. Anita has a lovely blog called castles crowns cottages and I hope you will visit her as well.


I loved the idea !I went mad hunting for a picture of a crown. well, I stopped for a moment to think and found the *perfect* crown as a model - Anita's blog picture !*smiles*

I loved , loved him so much that I decided to give him more attention....

I am not sure which one I like better ...perhaps the sepia....

I was already working on few new crockery doing several tests to permanently fire an image to the pot. That means , firing an extra firing so the image wouldn't ever fade and still be dishwasher, oven safe.

I did a full kiln of pots and experiment with different glazes , some new ones and others familiars ones. The stoneware I used was little more darker than I expected but the results are definitely great; however I will use a white stoneware next time so the image can show up better.

I am looking forward to make more cups, plates bowls and have my *One saxy mouse* in it! *grin*

Another thing that I did was the sentences. It was fired the same way as the image.

Here you can see some other things that I did. This picture was taken on my kitchen table and the light is not a true light so the colors are not favoring the real thing.

I hope you enjoyed visiting me today . Would you care for some tea?*grin*

Musician Mouse

Some of you that knows me , thinks , based on what I have said in the past that my first art was oil paintings. Honestly it was not , because the first time I used oils , I was about 8 years old. You would *think* now, because I am sharing my latest drawing that it was drawing- no, not that either!


I am sure I drew a lot of pictures but what sticks to my mind (as far as memories) is sculpting.


I remember vividly one day , I think I was in kindergarten , but it may have been first grade, when the teacher called my momma and told her that I was a problem . My heart was beating and I couldn't remember if I had done something wrong . Well, momma came home with her hands full of little soldiers that I had sculpted from chalk. I remember that the tool I used was the lid from a pen. There were 23 of them. The teacher told my momma that I was not paying any attention to the class and now she knew why.Opps!


Momma was not happy about that but it was not long after that she let me do arts.


I don't ever remember doing much of drawings. I have always been afraid to try it... I don't know why. I have done many , many oil paintings... so many that my walls does not have any space left, grin, but I never draw before I paint , it comes from the brush. I do need some guide and my best work will be if I use a picture rather than the real scene because the lights and darks are determined. I believe the artist improves as its eyes improves. I often need to leave what I am working on and do something else so I can truly be refreshed . If only work with one medium, you would be seen much less work from me.*grin*



Anyhow , I faced my fears and worked on few drawings. When ever I finish something I look and I just about always not sure if I like it or not, or it should be changed or not , so my way to know is I start showing to the children and watch their first response. The body language tells me a lot and I have to be careful because my children tends to *love* everything I do, however Gabriella is very honest about her feelings so I normally show her first.*grin*
This little fellow received all the " ohhh, awww, so cute, I love it " comments !
I hid him from my eyes for few days and today I picked him up and looked and fell in love... what do you think? ( I would love to hear from you)
Now I wonder if I should paint him or not! Decision, decisions!*smiles*