Podcast 009 - Our Furry Family

Total length of this podcast: 54:28

CLICK HERE to listen to Podcast 009. Right-click on the link and save it to your hard drive. Or better yet, so you don't miss future podcasts, subscribe using one of the links to the right.
You can download the MP3 audio file (which can be played in iTunes or other multimedia players) and skip to whatever segment interests you -- check the minute marker for each segment.

INTRODUCTION

Today's bumper music is John O' Dreams, an Irish song written by Bill Craddick. The melody is Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, The Pathetique. Here are the lyrics, although the bumper music is just an instrumental:

John O' Dreams
by Bill Craddick

When midnight comes good people homeward tread
Seek now your blanket and your feather bed
Home is the rover, his journey's over
Yield up the night time to old John O' Dreams
Yield up the night time to old John O' Dreams

Across the hill, the sun has gone astray
Tomorrow's cares are many dreams away
The stars are flying, your candle is dying
Yield up the darkness to old John O' Dreams
Yield up the darkness to old John O' Dreams

Both man and master in the night are one
All things are equal when the day is done
The prince and the ploughman, the slave and the freeman
All find their comfort in old John O' Dreams
All find their comfort in old John O' Dreams

Now lies you sleep the dreams come winging clear
The hawks of morning cannot harm you here
Sleep is a river, flows on forever
And for your boatman choose old John O' Dreams
And for your boatman choose old John O' Dreams

When midnight comes good people homeward tread
Seek now your blanket and your feather bed
Home is the rover, his journey's over
Yield up the night time to old John O' Dreams
Yield up the night time to old John O' Dreams

Here is my burst of creativity this week, an art quilt I call Funky Button Love! It measures about 12 x 14 inches, and was made with scraps left over from another project. The buttons are part of my huge button collection -- happy they found such a good home!

CLICK HERE to download today's Alice in Wonderland Redwork, The Knave.

THE FIBER ARTS SEGMENT [Podcast minute marker 6:31]

Titus and his kitty ball

The supplies you need

First make the rattle (optional)

The rattle assembled

Sewing the melon pieces (with Titus' help!)

Turned right-side out and ready to stuff

Sewing the opening closed using the ladder stitch

The finished kitty ball

CLICK HERE to download the free Kitty Ball project sheet.

THE PAPER ARTS SEGMENT [Podcast minute marker 11:56]

Simple Watercolor Tutorial

Titus Andronicus With His Kitty Ball

CLICK HERE to download the free Simple Watercolor Tutorial. The photos below help illustrate what I describe in the tutorial.

My watercolor supplies -- watercolor pencils, three sizes of brushes, container of water, paper towels, basic white acrylic paint (optional), photo of subject, and sketch of subject on watercolor paper (hard to see in the photo!) Oh, and my reading glasses for close work.

At left is a green circle. At right is a painting of a green ball.

My watercolor pear

Selecting the colors to paint Titus Andronicus

Lightly coloring in alternate wedges of the ball


Using the pencil tip itself to load my wet brush

Beginning to use the wet brush to paint the ball, keeping in mind the light sources and the perspective

The ball is done, and I've moved onto the eyes (don't they look weird without the pupils painted?)
I used three colors for the irises themselves.

The pupils are added. The inside of the ears, the nose, and just under the eyes are colored with pink,
and the entire body is colored with the lightest color for the fur.

Water has been applied to the pink areas and the entire body.

I have added another layer of color to the fur, one shade darker.

 

 Yet more layering and painting with a wet brush.
Remember to paint each layer before you add the next color, and allow the paper to dry a bit so the paints don't bleed.

Close-up of the coloring of the face and eyes.

 I'm pretty happy with the painting, but it needs a couple of final touches.

I dab a tiny amount of white acrylic paint on the end of my smallest paint brush.

I lightly dab two spots of white in the pupils (again, keeping in mind the source of the light).

And finally, I add the whiskers.

Here is a picture of two different watercolors I did, plus the original photo. The one on the left is documented in the photo series above, and the one on the right is the first watercolor of Titus I painted. I made his whiskers black in that one, using a super-fine permanent marker. But because Titus' whiskers are actually white, I tried the acrylic in the second one. I can't decide which I prefer. The second painting is close in color to Titus' coloration. I'll keep one and have the other one framed for Teddy.

And, to give Midi equal time, here's her photo and portrait.

Now I need to paint a watercolor of Graymalkin and I'll have our entire furry family memorialized!

THE RECIPE [Podcast minute marker 28:44]

Tasty Tuna Treats for Your Cat or Dog!

The ingredients. You can use any kind of flour.

The dough is sort of sandy. Just squash little bits together with your fingertips.
Don't make them too big.

Titus approves!

These treats are healthy and good for a cat or a dog, but they should not replace your pet's regular food!

CLICK HERE to download the recipe for Tasty Tuna Treats.

THE GRAB BAG [Podcast minute marker 33:17]

The following cartoon is from the December 21 & 28, 2009, issue of The New Yorker magazine. It's the story of my life!

And remember . . .

Creativity isn't a race . . .

. . . it's an adventure!