Another Harry Potter themed painting. I started reading the illustrated books to the girls and Quirinus Quirrell and his dark deeds in the Forbidden Forest made an impression on us.

"Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure and defenseless to save yourself, you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
—Centaur Firenze, HP Philosopher’s Stone

And now for something different…
I've done a few of these "paint day" events with the girls but not yet with another adult. This time I got the pleasure to join my friend Ulrike to make our own Harry Potter variation of this tree painting. We set up in her dining room while the kids played and were able to do our thing virtually uninterrupted. It was great!

I signed up for a Xmas craft exchange and have made six of these felted wool ornaments.

I signed up for a Xmas craft exchange and have made six of these felted wool ornaments.

I signed up for a Xmas craft exchange and have made six of these felted wool ornaments.

The maps were sorted geographically, starting with North America/US in one corner of the room, Canada above the door, then onto Central and South America. The next wall crosses the ocean to Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Arctic around the door. Even the light switch plates are covered. A significant amount of wallpaper paste was used to adhere these maps but I am wondering if I should apply a top coat of some sort to protect the whole thing.

My parents had a subscription to National Geographic for decades. When it was time to clear out the collection we saved the maps and turned them into a wallpaper project. The steps were to layout all the of maps into a general area. I then started overlapping and taping them into place each piece, cutting out the parts of the maps that I wanted. As I worked and finished up a section, my mom would come in behind me and start pasting down the map pieces. This was challenging when sections were taped together. The paste also would cause the map paper to wrinkle if it got too wet so some layers had to be done in sections, hours apart to allow for the bottom layer to dry first before the upper layer could be applied. It took two, very long days to complete.

Minor tweaks this morning and signed!

I'll have to look at this in the morning but I think it might be done.

I'm trying something very new for me. I've taken one of my favorite photos, run some filters on it via Photoshop, transferred to canvas via the grid method, and started to paint in blocks of color. I know this is in the early, ugly stages and this has been really, really hard. Though it looks way better on camera and from a distance. And squinting. With your eyes closed.