Wintery, Arty

I have been knitting.  The kids and I are still going to Fiber Arts days every other Saturday with our local fiber guru.  Last year, she decided I needed to learn to knit.  I didn't want to knit (because knitting is boring, obviously), and I had a slow start, but now I feel I've got it and I am really enjoying it.  I knit while the boys practice their reading beside me each morning while the baby naps.

Last Saturday, I asked her to show me how to make a dishcloth with a particular method in which you increase to a triangle and then decrease the other triangle to make a square.  I finished this in three days.  It's about 10-11 inches on each side.  It's a rather large dishcloth, because I dislike tiny ones.  I have yet to use it to find out if this will fit my standards.  I have another knitting project started that I will share later.

We are currently plunged in super-cold arctic temperatures, so this morning I took these photos of the frost inside my bedroom windows.

And the super-moon setting in a purple dawn sky:

I also have one other creative endeavor.  I started a trial membership to Skillshare (TWO months free!  If you are interested, let me know and I'll send a recommendation so we both get free months).  I figured I can watch a lot of art class videos in two wintery months.  

The technique uses gesso to make textured mountain shapes, then paint in with watercolor.

This first on is pretty "blah".  I found that my gesso is too runny and didn't yeild much texture.   I did two more with a mixture of gesso and texure paste, which worked better.

Tried for a sunset effect on this...

I am not very happy with the paint on these.  It's a fun technique, but mine needs work (IF I decide to try again, or move on, not sure).  My one complaint with this class is that the reference photos which the artist occasionally flashes on the screen are not available for me to look at as I paint.  I would like to be able to see what I'm painting rather than just trying to copy the instructor.  As a result... these are "out of my head" and not very exciting.

And then, to increase my frustration, the class disappeared and I wasn't done!  I assume it's a technical glitch, so maybe it will appear and I can add finishing details.  I really would like more info about making clouds, but I am not sure if the instructor goes into that.

I'm going to try out more classes on Skillshare and I'll keep you updated.