How to Paint Crappy Portraits

Hi Friends,

Those of you read my 100 Things To Do List may have noticed one of my goals is to have portraits of everyone in my family.  Well let's get real, those things are expensive!  Since money is not something that we're swimming in over here, I knew I would have to paint these myself.  Maybe like me some of you have too much free time and want to give it a go...

Start with a picture you really like.  I chose one of my sisters.  Print it out and draw a grid on the photo.  Then blow up your grid on the canvas.  It is important to be careful with this part because if your grid is off it will throw everything off.

Then, in pencil, sketch out your portrait.  The grid will make it 100 times easier since you can focus on smaller parts of the photo.  After you draw it, start painting it in watered down shades of brown.  It seems like an extra step, but think of it as a map.  It really will help to guide you when you start putting color down.

Then for the fun part!  It's kind of like a coloring book for adults at this point.  It's best to start with the background and work your way forward.

Voila!  I know it's not gonna win any awards, but for my first painting since high school art class I don't think it's too bad.  Hope this inspired you to get your creative juices flowing!

Happy Friday!

Hello Sunshine!

The rain has finally stopped here in England!  Doodle and I are excited.  We LOVE sunshine!!!  Can you believe we actually had the heating on last week?  I'm not even joking.  It was freezing!  But today finally feels like summer.

Can I get a hallelujah?!

I must admit all that rain is making for some spectacular flowers.  I love those perfectly sculpted bushes - it's probably not surprising that a really anal old man lives in that cottage... and Heidi likes to take shits in front of his house!  Awkward.  One time she was producing like a machine and I ran out of poo bags, and of course she pops a squat right in front of his gate - I tried to quickly drag her away, but he caught me!  He was all "I hope you're gonna clean that up!" and I had to explain that I was out of baggies so he got me one from his house and watched me with crazy hawk eyes as I pooper scooped it up.  So embarrassing...

Hope the sun is shining where you are today!  Thanks for all the good advice about making non-cougar friends yesterday!

Cougars on the Prowl

One of the things I miss most about being home is my friends.  Coming from a place like Cincinnati, you grow up with people, and I am lucky to have made long lasting friendships there.  But in England it's been a real challenge to find my niche.  Actually, our niche, I would love to have mutual friends with Nick, as this is something us long distance lovebirds have never experienced.

In order to solve this problem Nick and I recently joined An adventure, sports, and social group.  Membership isn't to expensive, and they have all sorts of activities you can sign up for - galas, dinner parties, hiking, caving, bungee jumping, sailing, walking with wolves, photography weekends, etc.  We thought there were some fun things and figured we'd try it out for a few months and see how it goes.

Monday night was the new members evening at a pub in the city.  All informal meetings in England occur in pubs - fact.  Nick and I walked into a room of full of chatty mature birds, a handful of youngish people, and a few men.  Nice.  Then the coordinator spent AN HOUR AND A HALF teaching us how to use their website and FACEBOOK.  Um is this really necessary?  Even my technophobic mother has figured out how to use facebook.  Clearly, this is not aimed at our generation.

But wait, they did highlight the Under 40 events for their young members.  I don't mean to be rude, but 40 isn't exactly young is it?  Or do I just need to give these mature birds a chance?  

The next morning I met this old guy while walking the dog - typical, right?  I mentioned how Nick and I were looking to establish our social circle here, and he said, "Well you're a bit young for it, but have you heard of Spice?"  As a matter of fact sir, I have!  

He then proceeded to tell me how you can do some fun things with them, but the club is mostly full of old divorced women looking to find their true love later on in life.  In case you mature birds don't know, us youngins refer to these women as Cougars.  

We're still going to give this adventure club thing a chance, but if our first impressions serve us right - it looks like we've joined a cougar club.  

How do you make friends in a new city?

I would love to make one good girlfriend who is my age.  

Any tips?

RIP Touchdown Jesus

Some times when you live abroad you get news from home that is unwelcome to say the least.  Today it seems many of my Midwestern friends' facebook statuses were dedicated to the "King of Kings" statue on I-75.  He is better known locally as Touchdown Jesus (for my international readers, this refers to the gesture the referee makes when someone scores in American football), and I think it is safe to say he will be sorely missed.

This picture does not do him justice.  He is massive, at 62 feet high.  Ironically, in what can only be described as an act of God, he was struck by lightening last night, and totally burned down.

I will always remember seeing him at the end of my long drives home from university in Chicago.  He seemed to welcome me home, back to my Christian roots, to friends and family who despite their love of Christ, always managed to have a good laugh at this statue.

He was most certainly an Ohio landmark, perhaps our equivalent to the Eiffel Tower, and I dare say not a soul, Christians, Atheists, Hindus or Jews, could drive past him without cracking a smile.

RIP Touchdown Jesus.

You will be missed.

Radish Leaf Pesto

Dear Friends,

Fat camp is going OK.  I'm learning how to eat healthy and seasonal food.  Yesterday I made radish leaf pesto.  I thought I hated radishes, but I gave them a try anyways.  Here is the recipe in case you were wondering...

Radish Leaf Pesto

• 2 large handfuls of radish leaves, stems removed
• 30 grams of hard cheese, like pecorino 
• 30 grams pine nuts
• 1 stalk of wet garlic, or one clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Then you just blend all the ingredients in a food processor.  And its done like - bingo, bango, bongo.

Tony Perkins said you can eat it with radish chips or thin it out with vinegar and oil and use it as a salad dressing.  Or you could make crepes with mushrooms and goat cheese and serve it like this...

It is surprisingly delicious.

In other news, it's been raining here so we haven't gotten to go off the blob yet.  But it was OK this morning and we went hiking.  I've also been doing arts and crafts. I will have to show you soon.  Hope all is well where you are.

Love,

Kelly

PS.  Send chocolate.