AGAIN, I Didn't Get to My 100 Book Goal for 2021, But...

...I improved on 2020, when I only read thirty!

Last year had a lot of the same issues as 2020, like That Knee That Wouldn't Cooperate, the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic mess, and another major appliance replaced.  Ugh.  The funk I was in at the end of 2020 let up for a few months, then came crashing back down on me later in the year.  But I read 57 books - a big improvement.

I read two of Betty MacDonald's (The Egg and I) memoirs; she wrote four, and I have read every one now.  All are well written and, at times, hilarious!  

Another set of memoirs - two from Beverly Cleary, who died last March at the age of 104!  She's the genius behind the books about Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, Ribsy, et al; they should be required reading for elementary-aged kids.  

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is basically a gorgeous picture book ostensibly for children, but adults will get something out of it, too.

The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu is about the struggle to collect and preserve the art, culture, and literature of Timbuktu in the midst of war and genocide - which nobody seems to hear anything about.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a novel based on the real-life "Blue People of Kentucky."  Search for information on these people who live way back in the hollers of Appalachia, and read the book.  There are a couple of anachronisms (on purpose) in the book, but they are explained in the Afterword.

Here are recommendations from my 2021 reading list:

• The Bridge Ladies - Betsy Lerner
• Onions in the Stew - Betty MacDonald
• The Plague and I - Betty MacDonald
• D-Day Girls:  The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII - Sarah Rose
• The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts - Joshua Hammer
• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy
• Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - Eric Metaxas
• On Writing:  A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King
• The Girl from Yamhill:  A Memoir - Beverly Cleary
• My Own Two Feet - Beverly Cleary
• The Diversity Delusion:  How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture - Heather MacDonald
• Irreversible Damage:  The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters - Abigail Shrier
• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - Kim Michele Richardson
• Tisha:  The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness - Robert Specht
• Dewey:  The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World - Vicki Myron
• A Single Thread - Tracy Chevalier

If you want to see the full list, click here.

#ArtWorkLivingChallenge 2021 - Day 5 (The Final Day!)

Well, I made it through the 5-day painting challenge.  My results were...mixed.  I took too much time on
about half of my paintings, but I painted five days in a row, didn't worry about a finished product (for the most part), learned some things, and had fun!

I may redo all my paintings, but in a bigger format, just to see what difference it makes to me, and to see what I've learned about critiquing my own stuff.  Painting such small things (3.5" x 5.5") is limiting in some ways, but freeing in others.

So anyway, this is a great blue heron with a snack.

Same stats as the other Challenge paintings:

Watercolor on Canson XL 140-lb watercolor paper.

The first thing I'm going to change is the paper I use.  I really, really, REALLY like Arches cold press watercolor paper, so I'm going to stick with it instead of trying to use up the wood pulp papers I still have on hand.  I can use them for things other than watercolor.

As a reward for finishing the Challenge, I ordered some tubes of better quality watercolors, so I'll be playing with those.

I've about half finished clearing out a bedroom that I want to use for all my artsy-fartsy-craftsy stuff, and for working jigsaw puzzles (it's a cat-free zone).  It's amazing the stuff that can be shoved into a room.  But I'm far enough along that I think that in about a week I can start moving furniture in and out and around.

Woo hoo!  I'm gonna have a STUDIO!!!  It's almost real!

#ArtWorkLivingChallenge 2021 - Day Four!

Well, today's painting went beyond the time guidelines, but I was enjoying it.

This is the backyard, where my sad sailboat has been languishing for 3 years.  I've leased my dock space, but here it sits.  I THINK we'll be able to get it out this year - FINALLY.

I don't think I've said anything about the SIZE of these little challenge paintings; they're supposed to be SMALL so you can finish them quickly and not get too wound up in the details (I have a problem with that - I tend to keep painting when I should quit!), so I've been working in space just barely larger than a 3x5 index card.  

Anway, here are the stats:

Watercolor
Canson XL 140-lb watercolor paper
3/4" flat brush, 1/2" flat brush, #10 round brush, #6 round brush, #2 round brush, #4 fan brush
40 minutes
3.5" x 5.5"