Big 'n' bright Granny Goose...

Here she is, in all of her painted glory! I got to the point where I was ready to call her 'done,' and this is it. Toward the end of the painting, I still wasn't happy about the balance and decided to add a few kernels of deer corn, just like what we've fed her over the winter. Looking for these three kernels reminded me of the time in college when Buddy Centini was looking for 'perfect' popped corn to serve as models for a soft sculpture we was making. Hey, that was only 37 (!) years ago! Eek!

The frame came from a mirror I bought a few years ago. It broke, but I just stuck it in a magazine rack and forgot about it. When we were having new furniture delivered, I came across the mirror and frame, tossed the mirror and discovered the frame fit my painting perfectly. I added the bright yellow-green, and voila!

I am happy to have it done. There are other processes I'd like to try, like much wider brush strokes and more impressionistic color. But there's time for that. I absolutely love this artist's (Morian - a sample of her pet portraits process) style and credit that excitement for starting my own painting. I plan to meet with her this week about something unrelated*, and will take Granny Goose with me. (*I won a giveaway from her blog.)

In the bag...

Another project I started and finished last weekend was a tote for a new friend of mine. Kara recently graduated OKC-OSU with a degree in Sign Language Interpretation. As it happened, a day after she gave us her graduation announcement, I came across fabric at Quiltworks that was the ASL alphabet! I wanted to spell her name from it and apply it to something I'd make. It took a few weeks, but this past Saturday, I finally got serious about it and put this bag together. Fortunately and I had the fabric and materials I needed on hand here at home. I used one of those magnetic fasteners and installation was quite simple! It took the whole day, but was glad to get it finished by evening. I gave it to her the next day and was thrilled with its reception. Tah dah, another project done!

SmartHours update...
As I mentioned in a recent blogs, we've signed up for SmartHours through OG&E, and I relay my experiences on my blog.* I've been receiving updates on the amount of energy we're using, via weekly reports. Our usage continues being quite high compared to our neighbors, so it will be interesting to see how the SmartHours plan works when it OFFICIALLY begins on June 1. Thus far, our thermostat settings on our new thermostat have worked out pretty well. With a few of these already too warm days, I've adjusted some of the immediate settings for comfort. Once we get into June, I'm sure I'll have some more thoughts about our experience! We're looking at highs of 90˚ all week. Here comes summer!

*This is a sponsored post. As always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.