Ended Official BYC Mini Contest - "WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY?"

[feathermaid]

There were some attempts at using the potter's wheel (epic fails). The only other bit that turned out was an earlier trinket box where I was testing some techniques. Again, that whole grey-on-grey with the glazes is tough. I really want a kiln <sigh>. I'm even having my electrical service upgraded from 100amp to 200amp so that someday if it happens, I'll be ready.

I know what you mean, I took a few ceramics classes in college and loved it! Also totally failed on the wheel -I don't know how people make it look so easy. But I did manage to get a few nice pieces and I even made a trinket box too. I used a sgraffito technique on this one. I totally agree that having your own kiln would be awesome, and if you're already upgrading your electrical, I bet you'll have one before long!

Board gaming!

Holy Moley!!! I remember you mentioned liking board games in your introduction thread but...... MY DEAR GOODNESS! I hope you don't develop the same compulsion with chickens... of course that would only be normal

Hobby #1—Photography
I'm not very good, but I have fun. I've gotten into the BYC calendar twice, but as a general rule I don't do competitions or sell prints.

WOW!!!
Those are amazing. You know, years ago I never would have thought that a photo of a chicken could be beautiful... I guess they seemed like goofy animals to me (which they are and i love that about them) but now I have so much admiration for a nice photograph, especially after having to chase them all over creation to just try and snap a good shot. Nicely done!

 

[feathermaid]

My hobby is training horses.
I buy horses that aren't being used and sitting out in pastures going to waste. Then I work on riding them, teaching them to be respectful to their owners, lunging, trailering, desensitizing them to whips, plastic bags, traffic dogs etc. Them I match them up with people that are looking for good family horses!

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. truly! I am very impressed with your horsemanship skills. It looks to me like you have found your true calling!
I had only one horse in particular that I ever felt a true accomplishment with. Similar to your Lightning.... afraid (more like terrified) of everything... ropes, halters, spray bottles, blankets, any sudden (or normal) movements. I think he was abused and the people who sold him probably had him drugged the day I bought him because I couldn't catch him again for 2 weeks! I spent a lot of time with him in the stall just putting the halter on and off and doing jumping jacks, nothing more, until he could trust me. Once I finally broke through that bubble of tension everything changed, I'm sure you know how it is. Small victories gave way to a true partnership, then nobody ever believed that such a solid dependable horse was ever once such a wreck. I miss him terribly.
You seem to have a real understanding of every horse you take in, I hope you can turn your hobby into a career someday!

my stepdad (who later adopted me - MUCH later, I was 36)

Interesting, I'm really quite happy to hear about someone else who was adopted at such a late age. I never knew my biological father, and my step-dad (who I actually only think of as my real and only dad) came into my life when I was 4. He was a hippie from the 70s era and didn't believe in all that legal mumbo jumbo, so when I entered school, my parents just said my last name was his. It wasn't until my 20s after a few years of filing tax returns that the IRS was wondering why my birth certificate name was different. All that mess did get straightened out, and over the years I think my dad's views on things changed, along with writing a will and thinking about inheritance etc. he finally wanted to make it official and adopted me when I was about 34. Then I got married. And now he always jokes that I should have hyphenated my last name instead of just taking my husband's.

Mostly I write stories...stories of my family, of funny or sad events, and I keep them in a treasure box. Someday my kids, when they go through those boxes, will find stories of things they did when they were little, or things their mom did when she was little.

You have just given me a great idea! What a lovely gift to leave behind.
Your stories are so entertaining and heartfelt and informative... you're a great writer!

Last fall, my mom and I got our machines together and worked for a few months to make a quilt for my dad for Christmas. He had numerous old T-shirts from events that he had participated in or that pertained to his hobbies that he told my mom to toss. She hid them instead until we could do this. We even made 2 pillows to go with it. And this year, I modified a giant old Teddy Bear into a Halloween costume for my son lol

This is a fabulous idea!! Once you get the hang of it, sewing really is a lot of fun.

Wow, small world! I was out on JI in the 90's contract work, testing the emissions on the BRA incinerator. I miss that island.

Yes, it IS a small world!! I see so many things I have in common with other people here. It's incredible. No wonder I love this site! And this is an amazing thread.

I'm seeing so many great hobbies here, I might have to start a few new ones!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Most of my hobbies are arts and crafts related. There are SO MANY THINGS that I love doing, but my first passion in life was drawing... think I started when I was old enough to hold a crayon. My parents used to enter me in coloring contests and I always took art classes in school. I really meant to go to college, but life happened, dance clubs, horses and other stuff... and after 20 years of being a florist and shop manager, I lost my job unexpectedly.

My husband and I had been trying to have a baby for years, but my workload and holiday stress level never seemed to allow it. Losing my job felt like the worst thing in the world just happened, but turned out to be the best. Unemployment paid for me to go back to school full time for graphic design. Shortly after I started school, (approaching 40 years old) I got pregnant! Then my hubby got his dream job. Anyway, after I had this lovely sweet baby girl growing up without me at the babysitter's, I never did finish my degree... just decided to be a stay at home mom.
Oh well.

Hobby #1 is Drawing

My favorite media to work with was pencil and watercolor, I think because they could be erased or easily manipulated as the work progressed. These are from junior high school.
View attachment 1582874 View attachment 1582875

My first and only attempt at drawing anything mechanical. At the time, my husband owned a Triumph Daytona 675 (his pride and joy) so I drew this for an anniversary gift -with a mechanical pencil.
View attachment 1582898

Then I discovered charcoal, another easy-to-work-with medium, but very messy. This is a large drawing and I also used a white chalk pencil.
View attachment 1582896

Here's that sweet little girl I was talking about. She was the focus of many of my school projects.
View attachment 1582895 View attachment 1582897

mixed media: charcoal, graphite, pen and ink.
View attachment 1582903


not a drawing, but I had to draw the outline before I could cut it out of paper.
View attachment 1582899


The following are a few sketches from last year. I tried doing a couple drawing challenges which required a new drawing for every day of the month.

October's challenge was called "Inktober" and was supposed to be ink only, which I never had the confidence to really try before, but I pushed through. Each drawing was based on a specific prompt word for the day. I used Sharpie, sometimes ink washes with a brush, various ink pens and also some tinted markers.
View attachment 1582908 View attachment 1582906
View attachment 1582904 View attachment 1582907

"Huevember" could be any medium, just a dominant color based on a different shade every day from a color wheel containing 30 colors for the month of November. By this point I became pretty fond of ink, and most of these drawings were ink and colored pencil.
View attachment 1582910 View attachment 1582911
View attachment 1582913 View attachment 1582912

I know this post is getting really long but I just have to share this... because I also love coloring in coloring books and it's something my daughter and I can do together. My favorite books are by Johanna Basford.
View attachment 1582914 View attachment 1582915

This lovely author periodically has world-wide coloring contests, so we entered one on a whim. This competition was for the release of her new book "Ivy and the Inky Butterfly." She's based in the UK and has a beautiful website.
These are my entries
View attachment 1582916
View attachment 1582917
View attachment 1582918


And my 6 year old daughter Emily's entries
View attachment 1582919
View attachment 1582920

So as it turned out, Emily was one of 5 winners!
She won an enormous gift pack of art supplies and a personal note from Johanna Basford herself. Talk about a proud moment!
View attachment 1582921

You are an incredible artist! And your daughter, WOW! I know of no 6 year old with the ability to do that!

 

[N F C]

Most of my hobbies are arts and crafts related. There are SO MANY THINGS that I love doing, but my first passion in life was drawing... think I started when I was old enough to hold a crayon. My parents used to enter me in coloring contests and I always took art classes in school. I really meant to go to college, but life happened, dance clubs, horses and other stuff... and after 20 years of being a florist and shop manager, I lost my job unexpectedly.

My husband and I had been trying to have a baby for years, but my workload and holiday stress level never seemed to allow it. Losing my job felt like the worst thing in the world just happened, but turned out to be the best. Unemployment paid for me to go back to school full time for graphic design. Shortly after I started school, (approaching 40 years old) I got pregnant! Then my hubby got his dream job. Anyway, after I had this lovely sweet baby girl growing up without me at the babysitter's, I never did finish my degree... just decided to be a stay at home mom.
Oh well.

Hobby #1 is Drawing

My favorite media to work with was pencil and watercolor, I think because they could be erased or easily manipulated as the work progressed. These are from junior high school.
View attachment 1582874 View attachment 1582875

My first and only attempt at drawing anything mechanical. At the time, my husband owned a Triumph Daytona 675 (his pride and joy) so I drew this for an anniversary gift -with a mechanical pencil.
View attachment 1582898

Then I discovered charcoal, another easy-to-work-with medium, but very messy. This is a large drawing and I also used a white chalk pencil.
View attachment 1582896

Here's that sweet little girl I was talking about. She was the focus of many of my school projects.
View attachment 1582895 View attachment 1582897

mixed media: charcoal, graphite, pen and ink.
View attachment 1582903


not a drawing, but I had to draw the outline before I could cut it out of paper.
View attachment 1582899


The following are a few sketches from last year. I tried doing a couple drawing challenges which required a new drawing for every day of the month.

October's challenge was called "Inktober" and was supposed to be ink only, which I never had the confidence to really try before, but I pushed through. Each drawing was based on a specific prompt word for the day. I used Sharpie, sometimes ink washes with a brush, various ink pens and also some tinted markers.
View attachment 1582908 View attachment 1582906
View attachment 1582904 View attachment 1582907

"Huevember" could be any medium, just a dominant color based on a different shade every day from a color wheel containing 30 colors for the month of November. By this point I became pretty fond of ink, and most of these drawings were ink and colored pencil.
View attachment 1582910 View attachment 1582911
View attachment 1582913 View attachment 1582912

I know this post is getting really long but I just have to share this... because I also love coloring in coloring books and it's something my daughter and I can do together. My favorite books are by Johanna Basford.
View attachment 1582914 View attachment 1582915

This lovely author periodically has world-wide coloring contests, so we entered one on a whim. This competition was for the release of her new book "Ivy and the Inky Butterfly." She's based in the UK and has a beautiful website.
These are my entries
View attachment 1582916
View attachment 1582917
View attachment 1582918


And my 6 year old daughter Emily's entries
View attachment 1582919
View attachment 1582920

So as it turned out, Emily was one of 5 winners!
She won an enormous gift pack of art supplies and a personal note from Johanna Basford herself. Talk about a proud moment!
View attachment 1582921

Flappy, I'm speechless! Your work is

And your 6-year old, wow!

 

[N F C]

@Sally Sunshine I know this is a contest, but I'm loving how it's giving us all a chance to know each other better. Somehow, this seems like more than just another contest.

Thanks for spearheading this!

 

[perchie.girl]

I love them all. I envy people who can mix color do Water color and paint...

deb

 

[Shadrach]

I make things from firewood; mostly lamps but some other stuff as well.
Below are a few pictures from a local art exhibition I was invited to attend in the local village on 03/11/2018 (last weekend) I sell a few at various festivals around Catalonia and more recently I’ve been getting a more commissions.

This thread is about the stuff I make.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/shadrachs-lamps.1272460/

 

[N F C]

There's your pretty lamps! Glad you shared them here @Shadrach

 

[WVduckchick]

So my hobby is obvious given my screen name. I have loved fishing since I was a kid, from stream fishing for trout to pond fishing for blue gills and chasing bigger fish as I got older. Husband and I have gotten boats of many types and sizes over the past 16 years and our latest is finally big enough to share trips with multiple other people at a time. We camp every weekend and a couple of vacation weeks near the shores of lake Erie where we chase walleye, we fish the lower Potomac river and Chesapeake bay a couple times a year when visiting family and friends and the Atlantic seaboard (near shore so far, no overnight offshore trips yet) once or twice a year when visiting boating friends further south.
Best thing about the hobby hasn't been the 'free' fish (scaredy how fast expenses can add up! LOL).... it has been the time spent with friends and family while chasing them! With our latest boat we have expanded our trips to include folks from a disabled veterans group we have been involved in. They usually stream fish but many expressed interest in boating so we have been taking them out for walleye 2 at a time. I think 22 lake erie trips in the last couple of years. Most rewarding trips wehave ever done, hands down!
A few pictures from our adventures...
View attachment 1582786
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Walleye!

My husband and I started fishing more and more last year. We both fished some over the years, but getting more serious about it has been super enjoyable. Going out every weekend has been a huge stress reliever for me! And him too. Lol
Walleye aren’t so abundant down here, but we have saugeye hybrids. Our favorite has turned out to be crappie fishing! And crappie eating! Yum!

 

[BantyChooks]

Most of my hobbies are arts and crafts related. There are SO MANY THINGS that I love doing, but my first passion in life was drawing... think I started when I was old enough to hold a crayon. My parents used to enter me in coloring contests and I always took art classes in school. I really meant to go to college, but life happened, dance clubs, horses and other stuff... and after 20 years of being a florist and shop manager, I lost my job unexpectedly.

My husband and I had been trying to have a baby for years, but my workload and holiday stress level never seemed to allow it. Losing my job felt like the worst thing in the world just happened, but turned out to be the best. Unemployment paid for me to go back to school full time for graphic design. Shortly after I started school, (approaching 40 years old) I got pregnant! Then my hubby got his dream job. Anyway, after I had this lovely sweet baby girl growing up without me at the babysitter's, I never did finish my degree... just decided to be a stay at home mom.
Oh well.

Hobby #1 is Drawing

My favorite media to work with was pencil and watercolor, I think because they could be erased or easily manipulated as the work progressed. These are from junior high school.
View attachment 1582874 View attachment 1582875

My first and only attempt at drawing anything mechanical. At the time, my husband owned a Triumph Daytona 675 (his pride and joy) so I drew this for an anniversary gift -with a mechanical pencil.
View attachment 1582898

Then I discovered charcoal, another easy-to-work-with medium, but very messy. This is a large drawing and I also used a white chalk pencil.
View attachment 1582896

Here's that sweet little girl I was talking about. She was the focus of many of my school projects.
View attachment 1582895 View attachment 1582897

mixed media: charcoal, graphite, pen and ink.
View attachment 1582903


not a drawing, but I had to draw the outline before I could cut it out of paper.
View attachment 1582899


The following are a few sketches from last year. I tried doing a couple drawing challenges which required a new drawing for every day of the month.

October's challenge was called "Inktober" and was supposed to be ink only, which I never had the confidence to really try before, but I pushed through. Each drawing was based on a specific prompt word for the day. I used Sharpie, sometimes ink washes with a brush, various ink pens and also some tinted markers.
View attachment 1582908 View attachment 1582906
View attachment 1582904 View attachment 1582907

"Huevember" could be any medium, just a dominant color based on a different shade every day from a color wheel containing 30 colors for the month of November. By this point I became pretty fond of ink, and most of these drawings were ink and colored pencil.
View attachment 1582910 View attachment 1582911
View attachment 1582913 View attachment 1582912

I know this post is getting really long but I just have to share this... because I also love coloring in coloring books and it's something my daughter and I can do together. My favorite books are by Johanna Basford.
View attachment 1582914 View attachment 1582915

This lovely author periodically has world-wide coloring contests, so we entered one on a whim. This competition was for the release of her new book "Ivy and the Inky Butterfly." She's based in the UK and has a beautiful website.
These are my entries
View attachment 1582916
View attachment 1582917
View attachment 1582918


And my 6 year old daughter Emily's entries
View attachment 1582919
View attachment 1582920

So as it turned out, Emily was one of 5 winners!
She won an enormous gift pack of art supplies and a personal note from Johanna Basford herself. Talk about a proud moment!
View attachment 1582921

Wow!! You're incredible. Those are beautiful drawings.

I know what you mean, I took a few ceramics classes in college and loved it! Also totally failed on the wheel -I don't know how people make it look so easy. But I did manage to get a few nice pieces and I even made a trinket box too. I used a sgraffito technique on this one. I totally agree that having your own kiln would be awesome, and if you're already upgrading your electrical, I bet you'll have one before long!
View attachment 1582944 View attachment 1582941
View attachment 1582942 View attachment 1582943


Holy Moley!!! I remember you mentioned liking board games in your introduction thread but...... MY DEAR GOODNESS! I hope you don't develop the same compulsion with chickens... of course that would only be normal





WOW!!!View attachment 1582939
Those are amazing. You know, years ago I never would have thought that a photo of a chicken could be beautiful... I guess they seemed like goofy animals to me (which they are and i love that about them) but now I have so much admiration for a nice photograph, especially after having to chase them all over creation to just try and snap a good shot. Nicely done!

Haha, thanks. I've spent more time on my belly in chicken poop than I care to remember. They're so determined to only give you butt shots. Not helpful, guys.