We're reading Menolly’s stories from Anne McCaffrey's Pern books (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums). Who doesn’t fall in love with the fire lizards?

Menolly's Fire Lizard Song
The little queen all golden
Flew hissing at the sea
To stop each wave
Her clutch to save
She ventured bravely.

As she attacked the sea in rage
A holder man came nigh
Along the sand
Fish-net in hand
He saw the queen mid-sky.

He stared at her in wonder
For often he'd been told
That such as she
Could never be
Who hovered there, bright gold.

He saw her plight and quickly
Looked up the cliff he faced
And found a cave
Above the waves
In which her eggs he placed.

The little queen all golden
Upon his shoulder stood.
Her eyes, all blue
Spoke of her true
Undying gratitude.

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!

Make way, make way...

Date night means shenanigans with paint brushes. The artist, Wayne Thiebaud, had a way of layering paint that produced some spectacular effects in his paintings of desserts.

I made some effort of that with Hei Hei and though it’s not a match for Thiebaud I still love the little guy.

I want to add Forest Spirits to every woodland painting I do now.

“What I want is for the humans and the forest to live in peace.”
- Ashitaka, Princess Mononoke

My favorite painting so far. I love the colors. The photo makes it look black, but the darkest color is a deep purple.

"I also believe that you met the King of the Forest, Mei, and meeting him is a sign of good luck. But there’s no guarantee that you’ll see him all the time.”
– Tatsuo Kusakabe, My Neighbor Totoro

"I wear a stetson now. Stetsons are cool."

I can no longer look at those cowboy silhouettes and not see the Doctor standing there.

The loops and circles of Gallifreyan text reminded me of peacock feathers.

Clara: But how is it doing that? How is that possible? It’s an oil painting. In 3D.
The Doctor: Time Lord art. Bigger on the inside. A slice of real time… frozen.

The original painting was a stack of stones in a zen garden-like setting. Had to use the worst small brush in the world. I'm bringing my own brushes from now on.

“You will be assimilated.”
The Pandorica Opens – Cybermen

The original painting had a wolf howling at the moon. The modification of a Weeping Angel was obvious.

“Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had, all your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy.” – The Doctor