Watercolor Wednesdays

A class assignment utilizing wet on wet watercolor techniques.

For the last 11 weeks I have been teaching watercolor classes at the local Arts Center.  As the second round of classes comes to an end, I am excited and inspired by the progress in my students work.  I want to keep the motivation and inspiration going both for my students and for myself.  Each Wednesday I am dedicating a blog post to a watercolor I am working on.  I will share what I am learning from my current project, both strengths and weaknesses.  I created a Flickr Group for others to reciprocate and share what they are working on.  The Flickr Group is a place to exchange encouragement and helpful feedback for those dabbling in watercolor painting.  It is my hope that my students and others who are interested will submit paintings, in any stage of development, to the group.  If you are posting a picture, use the comment section to write about what aspects of the painting are challenging, what is working out better than planned, or anything that has been learned from the process.  If you are viewing others work please leave kind and thoughtful feedback.  

I am including in this post the things I have been working on over the last two months and a little about what I've learned from each.  Seems there is either time to paint or time to write blog posts....I'm attempting to balance the two....

Swans at Lago di Fimon

I used masking fluid on the swans and the light reflections in the water.  The masking fluid worked great....except on the small places I did not have full coverage....but for the most part I was able to work it in.   

The crocus painting I just enjoyed.  I played around with very wet paint in the background. I like painting flowers, it's more of a fun exercise than a learning experience. 

Autumn Crocus in the Afternoon Sun

Having learned my lesson on the swans, the next time I used masking fluid I used gobs, unfortunately, despite what the package said, masking fluid over painted areas does remove some of the paint.  In the Italian Farmhouse painting I wanted to darken the sky just a bit after the trees were painted.  I covered the trees in masking fluid and repainted the sky.  I was happy with the results, until I pulled off the masking fluid and some the pigment with it...not to mention small bits of paper.  It was all so frustrating, I had to set this one aside for a week or so.  To add to the frustration I had used all of the purple color I was using in the dark shadows and couldn't recall exactly what I used to mix the color. 

Italian Farmhouse

 In the end, I just made a new purple and I went back and darken the trees.  This farmhouse is on the way to my daughter's pre-school.  On winter mornings the tree shadows created on the front of the house are so striking.  I am not sure the painting does it justice, but I just don't know where to go from here. (The color in the top picture is closer to reality than the second picture.)

Italian Farmhouse with trees darkened...the photo is a bit on the yellow side.

Having learned a great lesson on keeping track of what colors I mix from the farmhouse, on the Poppy painting I made notes on the watercolor tape as to exactly what proportions I used when mixing colors.  This came in handy when I ran out of green before the painting was complete. 

Poppies, complete with color mixing notes. 

Poppies without color notes.

So tonight I started on a painting of a yellow calla lily.  The sketch is almost complete.  I'll share the progress next week, until then..... Join the Flickr Group and Happy Painting!

Red Poppy Love

I had a list of things to do....but I got distracted by poppies!  

These are from the road side. I noticed yesterday they are starting to bloom in the wheat fields, so I'm sure there will be more poppy pictures....

....just thought I would share a little bit of the red poppy love today. 

Foraging for Pungitopo

Ruscus aculeatus, Pungitopo in Italian, or Butcher's Broom in English

I love foraging in the forest.  Finding wild edibles is loads of fun.  So when my neighbor asked if I wanted to go in search of pungitopo, I said of course!  Ruscus aculeatus, pungitopo in Italian, or butcher's broom in English, is very common in these parts.  An evergreen shrub, pungitopo has small sharply pointed leaf-like protrusions from it's stem. Traditionally, dried pungitopo was placed in food stores to deter rodents.  It's name in Italian means "the mouse poker."  Those pointed leaf-like protrusions become very sharp when dried. During the Spring, the pungitopo grows new tender shoots which are gathered and eaten here by the locals.  

pungitopo shoot

The new shoots hide among the evergreen stalks of the mature pungitopo.  It's fun, but a bit prickly, to find the little treasures.  Every once in a while you find other treasures tucked in to the pungitopo, too, like this little birds nest!

Four tiny eggs in a nest tucked into the pungitopo.

Giovanna and her shadows. 

Orsetto, the wild pungitopo hunter.

So when you are out walking around the woods, a few flower pictures are bound to be taken...

Once back at home I washed and prepared the fresh pungitopo shoots for cooking.  Some of the younger shoots where a beautiful bright purple in color. 

Pungitopo before cooking.

I was instructed, by my neighbor, to boil the pungitopo until it was tender, and after it was cooked to add olive oil, salt, pepper, and vinegar. I tried a piece before cooking, it had a pleasant with kind of a nutty flavor at first, that gave way to a wicked bitter taste.  After cooked and covered with the oil, salt, pepper and vinegar the bitterness was greatly reduced and the flavor strong, but not unpleasant.  I served the pungitopo as a side vegetable for dinner.  I found mention of using pungitopo in risotto.  Personally, I think I would have found the pungitopo more enjoyable used as an ingredient in another dish, however my husband enjoyed it as a vegetable side dish.  

Cooked Pungitopo

It's Bright Green with Dandelions.

About 9 years ago John and I found a decent couch at a near by thrift store.  It was light-blue and cream striped.  We borrowed a friends truck and toted it home.  Shortly after Bouncing Boy turned two I decided the couch had seen better days and decided to recover it.  I found a great brown with light colored polka dots. I painted the wall a lovely color of blue and was very happy with the brown couch.  Our current house does not have a lovely blue wall.  This winter everything got a little too brown for my liking and I decided we needed a little color in our home...or a lot of color.  Today I finally finished the new cover! Our thrifty couch gets another make-over and lives to see another year.  

...that was then...

...this is now...

Couch tester approved!

And now I'm off to make new pillows...and perhaps think about changing the art on the wall...

Visit to Parco del Sojo

Burrowing Owl,  by Serverino Morlin, 2005

Perched on a hilltop, just outside of Covolo di Lusiana, you will find Parco del Sojo.  With over 80 sculptures created by artists from around the world, Parco del Sojo is an exciting blend art and the beauty of the natural world.  Trails wind across the hillside with sculptures sprinkled through the landscape.  

Looking out across the valley

Parco del Sojo was featured on a of the fold of one of the brochures I picked up a couple of years ago at a "get to know the Veneto region" fair.  I was immediately intrigued, but it wasn't until this Spring that the timing worked out and we were actually able to visit.  As we winded our way up, up, up into the hills I was very excited.  I absolutely love this region, it is so beautiful, especially in the Spring.  

Female Heads by Severino Morlin, 2004

There is a small parking lot near the cemetery in Covolo.   The remaining journey to Parco del Sojo is made on foot.  Just up the road, past the cemetery is a sign marking the path that leads to Parco del Sojo.  Just a few meters after the path begins the first sculpture is spotted.  Sculptures are located throughout the park, some blend in with the natural surrounds, while others standout in contrast.   

The Gnome by Serverino Morlin 2005

The trail leads up hill to a small cluster of buildings where visitors to Parco del Sojo can purchase admission tickets, for a very reasonable 4 euro.  Visitors receive a map of the park, which includes the names and locations of all of the sculptures.  

Seeds by Gianluca Morlin

On the day we visited Parco del Sojo a dark rain cloud rolled in and it began to sprinkle.  We sought shelter from the rain under the porch where we purchased our tickets.  Here we meet Gianluca, and learned a great deal about the history of Parco del Sojo.  Gianluca's brother, Diego Morlin purchased the land that is now Parco del Sojo just over a decade ago.  Together the two brothers, along with their father, restored historical buildings, created sculptures, and recruited sculptures from all of the world to create what is now Parco del Sojo.  

Divine Hands by Severino Morlin, 2006

After the rain subsided we finished our tour of the park and said our "thank yous" and "good-byes" to Gianluca.  We took an alternate route back into the little village of Covolo, equally as beautiful as the walk in.  We had a lovely visit, well worth the drive!  We hope to return again this summer.  

Satyr by Severino Morlin, 2000

These whimsical rocks were a big his with the wee ones. 

This was one of my personal favorites, created with rusty nails and wire. 

View through the basket. 

Bonus Carnivorous Plant!

Squirrels, Birds, and Butterflies! Party Like You're 5!

Welcome to the Squirrel, Bird, Butterfly Party Experience!

This  year was a big step for us.  Almost all of my daughter's American friends have left Bella Italia. So, when it came time to figure out who to invite to her 5th birthday party she was pretty clear about wanting to invite her friends from school...there are 28 in her class.  We settled on the park near her school.  


My first challenge was creating the invitations.   I borrowed a clever idea from an invitation my son had brought home and made the invitation using the child's name with a little "si" or "no" boxes to check in place of RSVP.  This kept me off the telephone, and gave me some idea of how many children would be there, I find it extremely difficult to understand Italian over the phone.  

The second challenge was the weather.  The first Saturday after her actual day of birth was right in the middle of a very rainy weather streak. So we fortunately postponed the party for a week.  This concept was a little hard for a recently turned 5 year old to grasp, but we managed.  When  the party day finally rolled around the weather was PERFECT FOR A PARTY! 

We arrived at the park about an hour before the party to set up and decorate! We kept the decorations fairly simple with lots of colorful balloons and our well loved Birthday Banner that we have used for 4 years now! For each birthday I add a new piece to the banner with the child's hand print and the age stitched onto the hand print. 

Baby Girl helped create a few fun games for her party.  The first game we played was "Fly the Bird Home." Which was essentially a bean bag...well actually it was rice....toss game.  An IKEA box proved to be the perfect shape and size for a tree.  I cut a hole in the tree and painted a quick trunk and sky. Baby Girl cut out leaves to decorate the tree.  I cut out a butterfly, which she was more than happy to color and add to the sky.  I sewed three bags out of bird fabric for the "birds."  I told the children, in my best Italian, that the birds wanted to fly home to the tree.  The children then took turns tossing the birds into the hole in the tree. This was a big hit at the party, especially among the boys, some played more than 10 times!  

Our next game was "Give the Squirrel a New Colored Tail."  I drew a tail-less squirrel in a tree.  My son said it looked evil, and I didn't disagree, but once Baby Girl was finished with the coloring and the decorating, the picture as a whole was certainly more cute than evil squirrel.  She added ants, butterflies, a bird, a bee, a small owl, the sun and some clouds.  

The game began with a brown tail taped to the squirrel.  Again, in my best Italian, I told the children the squirrel wanted a new tail, one with some color!  I removed the brown tail and one by one blind folded the children, and they got to try to add a new colored tail to the squirrel.  
Yes, it is essentially pin the tail on the squirrel....but isn't a little story more fun!  Again this was a big hit, we even had some of the older siblings wanting to play!  And as you can see it was a very colorful squirrel in the end.  

Our final game was "Help the Bird Take the Eggs to the Nest."  I placed a big pile of plastic Easter eggs on the ground several meters from the "nest" (a large round basket).  I gave the kids plastic spoons and told them to help the bird move the eggs to the nest, but they couldn't touch the eggs.  The kids loved this and took the task at hand very seriously.  There was no real organization to the game.  All the kids had spoons and they all worked at taking the big pile of eggs to the same nest.  It turned out to be a great game for this age group, no waiting for a turn and completely cooperative.  Once all the eggs were moved all the bird helpers were all "rewarded" with gummy worms.  


I also used the gummy worms in one of the snacks we served.  We had a fairly traditional Italian Birthday Party spread, with little panini (sandwiches) and different kinds of snack chips.  The big hit however was the "Bird Food" I made.  It consisted of roasted sunflower seeds with chocolate chips and gummy worms.  This was something different!  Apparently roasted sunflower seeds are not usually eaten here.  "Bird Food" as enjoyed by parents and children alike. 


As requested by Baby Girl the Birthday Cake was a squirrel in a pink shirt.
  

The cake was made using a 9"x13" rectangle and a 8" round cake.  The cake was made using my chocolate zucchini cake recipe, but I replaced the zucchini with pears.  I left the rectangular cake whole and cut up the round cake to make the squirrel.  I cut and layered pieces of the round cake until I was happy with the shape and dimensions of the little squirrel.  Sticking with family tradition the frosting is cream cheese frosting.  I began with a white layer of frosting just to hold all the pieces and crumbs in place.  I stuck the cake in the frig for a couple of hours before adding the colored frosting.  The browns were made by melting chocolate into the cream cheese frosting.  The squirrel had a purple jelly bean eye and was eating half of a fresh strawberry.  

Baby Girl and friends were very excited about cake!  

We sang "Happy Birthday" in both Italian and English! 

After the cake it was time for the PINATA!  I spent more hours than I care to admit making a giant red bird pinata.  Both of my children helped in the making.  


 

How many Papas does it take to hang a pinata?  Not quite as many as it takes to rehang a pinata after the hook breaks after the second child takes a swing!   Opps!

Our 5 year old taking the first swing!

At the end of it all we had one happy 5 year old with a chocolate cake smile!

Who was more than willing to share chocolate kisses with her Mama!  

...and fun was had by all.