Yesterday's adventures and today's painting

 Yesterday was such a fun day! It was just a few simple things that made yesterday quite an endeavor.  I figured out that my first painting didn't work out that well is because I needed to put liquid white oil paint on my canvas first to make things go smoother for my oil painting. So we decided to go all the way back to Frederick today and drop by Ac Moore again. We hadn't even left our neighborhood yet when we saw something unusual on the road. Was that....was that a turtle? What in the world was a turtle doing crossing the road in our neighborhood? We never have turtles around these parts! I wish I had gotten pictures, but I didn't have my camera *mentally slaps self* I've been trying to get better at taking my camera wherever I go for experiences such as these.
I hopped out of the van and walked over to him. He was a gorgeous, medium sized turtle! He had mixed colors of mottled brown/ green and a bright orange/ yellow. I gently picked him up by his back shell hands on either side. He hissed when I first started to bring him off the ground and struggled to be put down. I softly put him back on the road and picked him back up again. There wasn't any place that was ideal for him to go, but anything besides the road was a good start. So I walked into a fourth of my neighbor's yard and put him in a shady area near their ditch/ waterway.
It was so cool!  I love rescuing animals.

Also on the ride up to Frederick, we were at a stoplight and Mom suddenly exclaimed "Stephanie!! Is that a butterfly on the edge of the road? Sure enough, it was. I've really been needing one for my bug collection for biology in the fall. There wasn't anyone else at the intersection and no body behind us, so I hopped out of the van again and picked the beautiful blue butterfly up by both of it's muscular wings. It had only been dazed- I'm assuming it got hit by a car and just ended up on the side of the road. Because it started fluttering in the van. And I don't know why...but I freaked out and jumped on my seat and squealed whenever it moved. It was definitely a very different experience. In a way, I rescued it. But in another way I'm just waiting for him to die so I can put him away with the rest of my bugs. He has a very luxurious death awaiting him though. I got our old butterfly 'aquarium' out of our storage shed and grabbed a few sticks, leaves, a rock, some flowers and cut an orange in half and stuck it all in the tank. We have a screen lid so the butterfly can still breathe. I went back to the van and got him out with a butterfly net. He's just hanging by his feet on top of the screen. I hope he eats. I think I'll make him some sugar water today and put it in an old juice cap. Maybe he'll drink that?

Anyway, at Ac Moore I got a canvas, liquid white oil paint, and a standing easel.  I put the easel together as soon as I got home. But I was very disappointed with it. Sure, it was only $12, but I was expecting a little more out of it. It was hardly even stable. I was going to try and work with it, until Mom convinced me that it just wasn't worth it and that we'll go look for a better one. So I'm going to return it tonight when we go up to the Frederick Walmart. The money I'm getting back will go towards a better one and Mom suggested paying the rest with homeschool money.

Anyway, so I gave a go at another painting, but this time I put on liquid white oil paint and I got a MUCH better result.

What do you think?

My favorite part was the mountains.

It's all done in shades of gray and a little white here and there.

I'm pretty pleased with it.

Since this is only my second painting on a canvas, so it kind of gets me curious and excited to see how much I'll improve in just a couple months. This painting is already definitely an improvement from my first painting!

 

Well, I'm going to mow the lawn today. I absolutely loveeee mowing.

I love the fragrance of freshly cut grass.

I've been toying with the thought of drawing a tree today.

Maybe I'll do just that.

 

-Stephanie