Michigan

[M.sue]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/album/6177731/id/5022163/sort/display_order
Here is a pic of the lone survivor. It's a BCM silver laced cochin cross. From my daughters chicken. Pretty cute. Hope its a girl so she can keep it.

So sweet.

 

[Juise]

WHY does everything have to be so complicated?

I can say, oh we need new tile on the bathroom floor...it becomes a
"you cant just lie tile, you have to tear up the this, and fix this...add this..blah blah blah..."

Well, you could do those things without doing the others, as long as you don't mind redoing them every year!

Sounds like the problem is not over-complicating things, the problem is not doing them at all!

I'm going to get him to help me put downspouts on the house if I have to trick him onto the roof and take away the ladder until he does it!

Sad morning.

TotalColour - me painter

Well, fast drying can be a disadvantage too! Sometimes I like to spend time blending and if it dries too fast . . .not so good. But for me, the main issue is how the colours change when they dry. Acrylics dry darker, so I'm never sure exactly how dark they will end up. Plus, I think oils have much more vibrancy (most acrylics are opaque) - I can get some really gorgeous skies (and water) by layering transparent colours over one another.

I bought some alkyds, because they are a modified oil paint with a polymerized resin so they dry much faster than oils but have the same transparency. But, it feels like you are painting with honey - so if/when I use then, it's just to add to the oils to speed it up a bit. I gave all my acrylics to my SIL, I just was never happy with the results - guess you need to practice with whatever medium one chooses.

If you find your acrylics dry too slowly - do what I do - have 5-6 paintings going on at once!​

I was okay with acrylics until I tried oils, never want to go back! It was like magic to me, all the things I struggled with in acrylics, blending and shading most especially, were so easy with oils! Now, oils take a year to be "fully" dry, although they are touchabley dry long before that. If you don't like how long it takes to dry, there are now "water soluble oils" available that clean up with soap and water and dry much faster. I found them to be comparable to oils, though not quite the same, it is very nice when it comes to clean up time, though. I agree with TotalColour, though, the best solution is simply to have more than one piece going at a time.

P.S. Both acrylics and oils suddenly turned heavenly after I worked with gouache!

 

[Juise]

Quote:

Opa, do you think her step father would use one of those one of those little ovens that sit on the countertop? I'm not sure, but don't some of them have timers on them? Or mabie this is just his way of fenagaling her into coming over and cooking, for company?

We have a toaster oven, I love it! We have had it for years now, and it has cooked everything that fits in it just fine, the only thing I have found to be a problem in it are deep quiches, I think it is just too close to the heating element to cook them through well. That wouldn't matter, either, though, if you are using it to reheat. It does have a timer and turns itself off when the time is up. Not only that, but it is far, far more energy efficient than a full sized oven. I would think if he is primarily using his oven to reheat one-person meals, a toaster oven would not take terribly long to pay for itself in electric savings.

Problem is: I'm not really a work on it a little bit here and there kind of gal. I'm an all or nothing gal. A paint until I fall over from exhaustion because once I start something I don't want to stop until it's finished kind of gal. I'm not good at moderation. I'll start a quilt and be sewing through an aching back and pounding headache twelve hours later because "just this one more thing before I stop..." I have a hard time switching back and forth between different projects. It's definitely one of my weaknesses; or strengths depending on how you look at it, I guess.

Well, in that case, work big! That way you can move to another area of your painting if something needs to set a few minutes.

 

[NovaAman]

Can you hit FFH or TSC tomorrow and buy a few buddies? Poor little loner..


WELL! My nephew calls me up today and says, "Auntie Nova, you doing yard work today?" Well, heck, I was not planning on it, but my side yard really needed a good raking, and I am not turning down offered help. He's a good kid that one. Going to go to Bible college next year after he graduates. He was going to have an almost free ride to Hope College Seminary, but his step-dad passed a way 2 years ago June from stomach cancer, and he hadn't worked long enough. SO, he's got a 1/3 of it paid for, will have to come up with the rest off student loans or grants... And then there is Joseph, who can not possibly afford to go to hope, so, they are going to a college in California... Bummer. BUT their church is going to do fund raising, and thats the college the church is sending them to. Well, anyway... Got my side yard cleaned. Got the fire smoldering on it. AND I have it covered in chicken wire to keep it where its supposed to be. I use the chicken wire with the one inch holes. Works great as fire containment. And to keep them stupid chickens of mine out. Yes, they are that stupid. Last time, when it was dying down and just a few hot spots here and there, they were getting in it!

Well, anyway....

Juise, how's the pullet?

 

[Elliemae 77]

Thank-you. Poor little thing just cries and cries unless you hold her. I thought maybe she was cold, so I put a thermometer in the brooder...temp is good. I put our smallest 4 week old chick in with her and she has quieted down quite a bit. My daughter has already named her Jewel.

 

[babigyrl22]

Thank-you. Poor little thing just cries and cries unless you hold her. I thought maybe she was cold, so I put a thermometer in the brooder...temp is good. I put our smallest 4 week old chick in with her and she has quieted down quite a bit. My daughter has already named her Jewel.

Try putting a mirror in there with her. You'll find that she will cuddle with her own reflection and it will calm her down. That or run to the feed store and pick up a chick for her to cuddle with...if you don't want to do that, a stuffed chick toy would be nice. Just some ideas

 

[Totalcolour]

I was okay with acrylics until I tried oils, never want to go back! It was like magic to me, all the things I struggled with in acrylics, blending and shading most especially, were so easy with oils! Now, oils take a year to be "fully" dry, although they are touchabley dry long before that. If you don't like how long it takes to dry, there are now "water soluble oils" available that clean up with soap and water and dry much faster. I found them to be comparable to oils, though not quite the same, it is very nice when it comes to clean up time, though. I agree with TotalColour, though, the best solution is simply to have more than one piece going at a time.

P.S. Both acrylics and oils suddenly turned heavenly after I worked with gouache!

I clean up my regular oils with soap and water. You don't need solvents. After all, you wash dishes with soap and water, even the ones with OIL salad dressing on them! (I learned that from the Master at an atelier I went to a few years ago - he won't allow solvents in the studio)

One caveat; I only use oils with NO additives, (extenders, fillers or siccatives), so it is pure pigment and pure oil. Drying time varies - for me it is fairly quick since I use very thin layers. And of course, some pigments dry faster than others.

I know what you mean about gouache though - but it's not too bad with an airbrush!

 

[Opa]

I like doing bas relief carving and use oil paint to "wash" a hint of color into the wood. I was considering acrylic paint but after reading what has been posted I think I'll stick with oils.

 

[RaZ]

The little chicks are doing just fine out in the garage/coop. The little roo has settled down quite a bit since he has more room to move and the ducklings keep him in his place. One of the ducklings has quacked already.

It is certainly a nice day, if my back would cooperate I'd be out there doing something. At least mow the lawn, it needs it again.

 

[Olive Hill]

Opa - That's very pretty.

Total Colour - I tend to use thin layers, too. Maybe I'll have to give oils a try soon.

Juise - That's what I do now, work in different areas of the paintings. But it's a rare problem with acrylics anyway. They dry pretty quickly unless you get them real thick, and even then... it doesn't take long.