Snipes DO exist

Getting ready.
Caught one!
Here it is! Look close he's a wiggler.
Caught another one.
Fearless snipe catchers.

I know, I know, you are thinking I am just some crazy camp leader who got carried away but I caught one! On camera! Oh yes I did. And just to prove it I am going to share with you and the world my photo of a real live baby snipe. It was brown and moving a lot so it is a little blurry but it is there nonetheless. Emily caught it. She is so brave. But she had toothpaste on her face and undies on her head to keep it from biting. We were so lucky. We caught three but the mom started to get mad and was peeing on us from the bushes where she was hiding so we let the babies go and ran away. Some of the girls in our cabin couldn't sleep for fear that the mother would smell us and find our cabin. What fun girls camp is.

Goodbye Sunshine

This past Easter the Easter bunny brought us three little baby chicks. Two of them were Aracaunas (one of those was a rooster) and lucky us, one was a white frizzle bantam coachin.
Bantams are dwarf chickens. They never get very big and frizzle means they have soft curly feathers. We named them Coco, Chanel, and Sunshine, because she was yellow. We loved them and played with them every day since we got them. They are our pets.
Well, the most horrible thing happened last week. I was in my room and I heard a "WOOF". I thought, "Oh no, Sunshine is out of her pen". I came running to the back patio only to see a huge dog chasing our poor little frizzle coachin around the chicken pen. I opened the back door and called to her to run in the house. She's done it before.
She ran right in, but so did the huge dog. I tried to stop him but he was too strong and ran past me. He chased her around the family room while my two girls screamed at the top of their lungs, but he grabbed her in his mouth and I thought he had swallowed her. My husband grabbed a shovel and hit the dog on the back of the neck and he let go but it was too late. She lay there motionless, a soft fluffy pile of feathers and love. I feel like I failed her and my littlest monkeys who played with her everyday. We were all crying and had the most somber day ever. It's one thing to lose your pet but to see a huge dog just eat it right in front of you is just not right. I'm sorry girls. Goodbye Sunshine. We love you.

Alla Prima

Alla prima means "All at once" or something like that. Anyway, alla prima painting is to do a painting from start to finish in about 2 or 3 hours. Number 4 monkey was doing a lot of reading lately and so I thought I would make use of her stillness and paint her. All at once, right now, hold still. I did this today in about two hours. It is not perfect but it sure was fun. I also found out that it is hard to photograph wet sloppy paint. It is too shiny and reflective. This painting is small, 12x16. That way I can easily frame it. I think #4 likes having a painting done in 2 hours. I know #5 is still waiting for hers and it has been 2 1/2 years.

What do you think?

#7 monkey posing as my 5 year old English immigrant great- grandmother
Louisa Sheen


Drawing I did from the photo of my monkey and the photo of Louisa

Louisa Sheen 1856. Okay, I am the world's worst procrastinator and that is why I have this blog to try and force me to do some painting. I missed the deadline of getting this painting done for my family reunion (sorry Tryons) and now I have the International Church Art Competition deadline looming over my head. Any way, my Dad found this old photo of Louisa herself and I shot #7monkey in a bonnet and plain dress. I wanted to use a straw hat but they are expensive and I just sewed this one in like, 15 minutes. So here is a drawing I did yesterday while Rex eats Chex was getting his hair cut. It only took about a half an hour. Here are the photos (and drawing).