I'd Like to Rest My Heavy Head Tonight on a Bed of California Stars

So, tonight I thought I'd do the Saturday Scavenger Hunt one day late. Once again, this has been a crazy busy weekend, so I figured I'd just write about what I did on Friday and combine it with the Scavenger Hunt. Alien CG picked the word this week and he chose Alien, of course. It was a great word.

Remember how I took a half day off on Friday? Well, I ran and that was great, but then I took on a little project. Stinky had a bunch of canvasses that my friend Bob and his Wife Allison had stretched for her 9th birthday. She had started paintings on several of them, but never finished them. I asked her if she was going to or if I could take some Gesso and try to get them light enough to paint over them. She told me to have at it and I did.

By Friday evening, I had at least five canvasses to work with. I took the girls to a show at United Action for Youth where a bunch of high school bands were playing and went home to paint. The only time I've ever set foot in a painting or drawing class was when I was modeling for them in college, so the whole thing was kind of alien to me. I figured the best way for me to learn was by doing and taking the tiniest baby steps in the world. The first painting I did was of that photo I posted on here last week - the one my friend took of the Sequoias.

I don't pretend to know what I'm doing. I use Acrylic paints because they're less toxic and less expensive and easier to use. When I first flirted with the idea of trying to paint, my friend Sara came over and gave my girls and I a tutorial about all the ways you can use Acrylic paints and it was really helpful. I'm sure all my paintings will have a cartoonish or comic book quality about them, because that's what I know. Anyway, it was fun messing around with texture and color and stuff. I'm sure I'll do a lot more. I still owe Coadster a painting based on a photo I took of her years ago. I just wanted to get a few paintings under my belt, so I wouldn't mess hers up too badly.

So, that was my alien experience this weekend. Happy Easter to any of you who celebrate it, and happy 3rd Iowa City tornado anniversary tomorrow for myself and my neighbors who's lives were disrupted by it.