Monday, February 29, 2016

New Blue on Leap Day

Leap Day

This is a Leap Year so we get an extra day: 29 days in February. As I read somewhere this morning - maybe you did, too - we should make a point to put it to especially good use:
Give thanks for 29 things.
Smile 29 times (an hour).
Walk an extra 29 minutes.
Junk 29 useless or toxic things in the closets and cupboards.
Spend 29 minutes doing something special you've intended awhile.
Don't make your To Do list 29 items long, just for a break for today.
Read for 29 more minutes.
Call someone and let her talk to you for 29 minutes.
Read Psalm 29, and Proverbs 29.
Go to bed 29 minutes earlier.

I've got half that list checked and am trying for a few more before the day is done.

Blue Boy

Mary, this is for you. I did another sketch of your little Sweetie. Because I was working on colorful colors today, I decided to draw this new face this time in non-standard colors. This is done in five colored pencils, three blues and two purples. It still, I think, gives the effect of warm and cool tones. What do you think?

It is actually brighter than this, but the weather today is awful and the light is gone.

Contest Coming

Watch for information about a contest in March for Lent. Another one will follow, D.v., for Easter.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the Leap Day list. When I woke up this morning I thought we needed some unique way to mark the day.

    Are you working up to a painting of the little guy?

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  2. So nice to know there is a live person looking here. I guess it is our (yours and my) personal communication device? Oh, well, I should have known "social media" was not for socializing, but only for occasional anonymous peeping in the clutter of electronic smog. Not sure I should be contributing to it. sigh...
    Anyway, I enjoyed that list of 29's today; and yes, I am hoping to get to further works of that cute face.
    By the way, I saw Instagram today, and enjoyed your photos. (Don't know how to comment there.)Great pizzas.

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  3. I look at all the posts but don't always have time to comment.
    I'm sure Katie does look too. We have a feed on our "dashboard" that shows us when there is a new post so we don't miss them. There are always the silent lurkers too. Sometimes blogging can feel like talking to yourself. This blog doesn't have a large audience (intentionally) and that is why there are few comments. Back when I blogged regularly I got to a level of 70 or more hits a day (readers) and still had few comments. Don't worry about it and only write a post when you really feel like you have something you want to share.

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  4. Pam, you are the one who is probably the most involved with this little venture, so no criticism was directed at you. I was merely lamenting, with Socrates, the decay of civil discourse - and we know how much good that doesn't do. I know I am very behind the times on all things electronic, especially "social media" (which is anything but - such are the lies we let ourselves believe.)I have been informed by a brother that "nobody has time for blogs anymore." Though I do suspect that most people at least scan their favorite "super bloggers" posts regularly, I am also aware that everybody and her sister has a blog and Instagram and other things whose names I don't know, so it is truly impossible to keep up with them. So Facebook took over extended discourse, first by the young people, and now evidently by the old folks and businesses, so it isn't cool and trendy anymore. The short attentions gravitated to mini quips on Twitter, but a son has recently informed me that even that is being taken over by politicians and commerce, so the young folk now have their trendy new thing for non-existent attention spans, Snap Chats, which disappear before their eyes. And I regretted the demise of pen and paper and postage stamps, that would usually at least get you a reply someday.....
    I may go on talking to myself in this blog awhile, but may not, too. Anyway, today, around horses and writing and baking, there is no time for art, so no post by me.
    I guess old folks always fuss about the changes coming too fast to keep up with them, but the frenzy is wearing on everyone, I think. Any one want to join me for tea and crumpets and conversation in the garden?
    Oh yes, and is your chocolate-cherry-cookie recipe secret or share-able? They look heavenly.

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  5. I love the sketch! It seems to capture the "little boyness".

    And I do read here and I love it and look forward to it! Every day! As I eat my breakfast before someone starts fussing (hopefully). I also have a post or two knocking around in my head, but they haven't become reality yet, sigh. I have a little creative project I am working on, but it is slower going than I intended, and I don't really want to post it until I'm done.

    As for social media, well... it is changing for sure. I'm not even sure that blogs count as "social media"... more like "a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce." :-D The only blogs that are popular any more are heavily ad-covered, and full of click-bait and annoying topics. I used to read blogs all the time, and now this is the only one I read every day. And the only blogs that anyone reads any more are also posted to all the social media sites so that people will see them and click over to the blog (to be bombarded with ads).

    See, now that we are all posting from our smartphones, it's just so easy to snap a photo, write a few lines, and post to Instagram. But for a blog post-- so many steps! Take a photo with the camera, hook it up to my computer, open Lightroom, import, edit, export, upload, write, post... I'm being somewhat facetious, of course. It's all true, but what ninnies we have become about what constitutes "convenient". Anyway, wasn't it Plato who lamented when it became common to write things down with pen and paper? It was the beginning of our downfall, for sure.

    And I say "Yes" to tea in the garden.

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  6. Both Plato and Socrates in these comments!

    Sarah, I have communicated with you more, and we have seen more of each other's doings (and all the lurkers have too) in these last few months, than we have in the many years of off internet communications that came before! I look at a couple other blogs but this one the most regularly. I also agree that a blog is not social media, especially one as private as this one.

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  7. Katie, dear, that was well said and I take it to heart. Thanks. I think when you arrive for tea in the garden, it will be spring here - so let's.
    I was surprised though by what you said about people not reading blogs regularly anymore. I thought "everyone" did.
    Anyway, I am finding out about all this stuff, rather late, but it is useful for some things - like what's on today's post.
    I'm looking forward now to seeing your project.

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  8. If it's a following with interaction you're after, all ya gotta do is get yourself a smartphone and start posting photos with little blurbs to Instagram all the time. You'll be deluged, I promise. (for the moment, anyway, until the next big thing comes along.)

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  9. Pam (I think our comments overlapped and I didn't see yours until now, the next day), you are right about our increased communication after the start of Little Bird. I think, Katie, that I will pass on the posting to Instagram though. It sounds exhausting.

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