September Creative Writing Meetup Part 1

So last month, I went to a creative writing group.  It was a blast.  We were given 3 different prompts and then allowed to share if we wanted to.  With all the different writing styles, it was a blast!

Prompt # 1-
  We were given 7 common saying that we had to make up explanations about.  If you knew the true explanation, you couldn't write it down.  These had to be fictional.  Feel free to add your own stories in the comments!  It gets hilarious!  We only had 10-15 minutes to do as many as possible!

1.  Bite the bullet- "This comes from the old cowboy days.  One of the cattle ranchers was annoying everyone with all his whining.  The other cowboys started to make him bite down on a bullet every time he complained too much, getting gun powder in his mouth.  Eventually, he learned to confront the worst pain in silence."

2.  Break the ice- "People were so bored while ice fishing, they used to pick at the ice to pass the time.  Eventually, the ice would become so brittle, it would break with them on it.  The goal became to come up with an interesting conversation before someone broke the ice."

3. Butter someone up- "This came from the tradition to keep a stick of butter in your purse or bag.  If you needed to impress someone, you could show how much butter you had in hopes of having the most butter.

4.  Mad as a hatter- "In old England lived a man who made and wore 2-3 hats everyday.  He refused to wear any less and insisted it was extremely stylish.  Eventually he started adding hats to his shirts and even his shoes.  The townspeople warned their children to stay away from him and eventually no one bought anymore hats because they were too afraid to speak with the crazy hat maker."

5. Cat got your tongue- (my favorite)- "Once upon a time a young woman was cursed to never be able to tell people the truth.  If she tried, a tiny cat would appear in her mouth and bite her tongue giving her awful hairballs.  Eventually, the young woman stopped speaking and began to be known as the silent milkmaid.  One day in the woods, she saw a giant wolf.  She decided she would rather die than continue this curse.  She stood in front of the wolf and tried to yell, "I want to die!" As soon as she began trying to yell the truth, the cat appeared.  Seeing the wold, the cursed cat tried to run.  The wolf, seeing the cat, changed his target and attacked.  Giving the girl time to run.  Finally, the maiden was able to speak freely again.

6.  Barking up the wrong tree- I didn't have time for this one!

7. Turning a blind eye- "A store keeper once saw someone breaking into a neighbor's store.  When he tried to stop the robber, the robber stabbed him in his left eye, rendering him blind.  The next time he saw an act of violence, the keeper turned the left side of his face towards the crime and pretended he couldn't see it.

YOUR TURN!

Working on Trees

So I'm doing a few days of being "unplugged-ish".  Obviously, I still have my computer.  What else would I be typing on?  I took a break from TV, text, and social media.  So, that means no painting classes from youtube or netflix.  Back to the old book!  Haven't done this in a while.

So in the book, I found some of my old attempts like this mess.  I don't even know what happened here!  This was done about two years ago.

This is fun to look at!  The left painting is from about two years ago.  The right was from today!

Here are the rest of the silhouettes.  Not perfect, but definitely improving!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MidnightOilPaintShop?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Fall Love

Fall is my favorite season.  I adore the colors, temperature, and scarves. You can see the before shot.  I like writing prayers on my paintings before I start.  I got the idea from theartsherpa on YouTube!  I wish I had shown more of the sky and put the mountains lower.  I still love how it turned out.    It is available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/482171447/fall-love?ref=shop_home_active_1

Bushes class 1

Long story short, bushes are one thing I just cannot paint well.  I'm going to try to take more classes just focusing on how to paint bushes.  Here's number 1!

Bob Ross Episode 3

https://www.etsy.com/listing/465435263/mountain-pond

Bob Ross Episode 2

Not my favorite, but I do like the shading.  The background ended up a lot darker than I expected, Hence the very bright sky.  I stopped paying attention and started doing my own thing after a while! 😂 This is available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/451819990/hidden-cabin?ref=shop_home_active_7

Bob Ross Season 1 Episode 1

So Bob Ross just came on Netflix.  I have a ton of acrylic paper, so I figured this would be fun to start going through his series!  This is also the first painting I've gotten to do on my new art desk!!!