Reunion Place

This is what I was hinting about yesterday in my post.  The bridge named after my husbands family.  Just past the bridge is the "camp ground"  where the reunion takes place every year without fail.  This year was the hundred and twenty-first annual reunion.  As you can guess there are the old folks who know each other and lots of young people that only a few know.  Unless you go every year, you're in the dark as to who belongs to who.

Many years ago I started a painting of the bridge, and never finished it.  The clouds are finished, but the lower part is just an under painting.  It's in oils, and I just haven't had the inspiration to finish it.  MY BAD!--as they say.  I went ahead and hung it anyway.  I mostly finished the bridge, but I need to finish the trees, grass, and road.  I have a picture of the bridge that I took years ago that I was going by, where the floor of the bridge was just boards.  It's paved now, and I can't remember if there were guard rails in that picture or not, but here it is, as is, with my hubby standing on it looking over the edge.

And one with the light off.

You can see the Finley River in this picture.  The water level is a little lower than normal.

Our baby daughter is taking pics on the bridge here.

Here's a view looking north from the other side of the bridge.

My handsome hubby.

Looking into the water from the bridge.

Now, looking down river to the west from the bridge....

and to the east, up river.

Here's the camp ground which is just past the bridge.  There is a well by the pavillion.  They bring in stoves, refridgerators, food, cooking equipment, and a cook. 

Also a portable bathroom or two. It takes place in August, and

it lasts for a week, and many bring their tents, etc., and camp on the grounds. 

The kids play in the river, and float it on inner tubes.  Sometimes they have hayrides, and things like that.  Sometimes they have a little entertainment.  There's a big dinner every night where the local family members contribute dishes for pot luck to add to the meal.  One cousin has a motel in the nearby town where many stay; he is also a state representative. 

On Friday night before the meal everyone lines up on the long north side of the pavilion for a picture, and they use it to send out invitations for the next year on a post card.  It's a pretty big deal.

After the meal on Friday night they have a business meeting which includes read obits of those who have passed on, skits, songs, plus many other business type things where they elect officers for the coming year, collect money, and so on.

My hubby's father is pretty proud of his family's traditions, never misses, and knows alot of the people.

Paintings

This is an oil painting that I painted for my in-laws.  It's a barn that my Father-in-law worked at in 1934 before he got drafted into the Army and disabled in WWII in 1945.  This is what the place looked like in the early 1970's--I painted it from a photo that we took in the 70's.

This is another picture (below) that I painted in oils.  I used to do a lot more painting than I do now.  I think I got burned out on painting when I painted these classrooms.  I may take it up again sometime--we'll see.  I have kind of wanted to do a painting or two of cows ever since I saw this post on DustyLu's Blog.  I just have too many hobbies.

Above are a group of paintings that I have in our Guest Room.

The picture below is another oil painting I did for my In-laws.  It's of a windmill that was close to the farm that my father-in-law grew up on.  My FIL actually saw a man who hanged himself on this windmill, and my MIL wanted me to paint this very windmill for his birthday--so I did.  (Hmm, very interesting.)  I know this windmill looks short, but it actually was short--not like most I've seen.

The picture below is an acrylic painting I did for my Mom, who is no longer with us, and I miss her.  She wanted a painting of old milk cans by a gate.  I see so many things I would change if I were to paint it now.  The problem with being a painter is you have to look at your paintings, and see lots of things you would like to change in most of them--especially the older paintings.

Below, this is another acrylic painting I did for my Mom.  She was my biggest encourager in my painting endeavors.  I would like to change a lot about this painting too.

And here's a close-up.  This is actually one of the first acrylic paintings I did.

This next small painting was one of four that I made alike in size and frames.  I sold one of them and I'm not sure what happened to the others.  They may be in my attic.

The following acrylic painting I did for my dad--I miss him, too.  We all had so much fun as a family--so many wonderful memories.  I was so blessed with wonderful parents.

This, below, is a close-up of the large oil painting in the group of paintings photo above.  It was one of my first oil paintings.  I think my actual first paintings that I painted I threw away--ugly.

I have more that I could show you, but I need a new scanner to show them to you.  I no longer have the paintings, someone else does, but I have photos of them made from negatives--remember those?  I've done some watercolors also, but other people have them, and I'm not sure if I have pictures of them either.
I am linking with Punkin Seed Productions and Fireflies and Jellybeans.

Painted Classroom

A few years ago I painted the interior of two modular buildings.   My daughter Erin helped me that summer.  I used silver metallic paint and white and greys.

 
The picture below is suppose to look like blocks falling out of the sky.  An interior decorator sketched up roughly what she wanted on the walls, and then I drew it up, and Erin and I painted it.

The following picture shows a checker board look with the perspective of looking at it from a distance.

I designed a wheel of wisdom for a teaching tool.  Our son-in-law, Jeff, built it (he's so handy) using a bicycle wheel on the inside of it.  I painted it in all kinds of faux finishes.  It's quite the amazing contraption.  It spins real well.

We have new computers picked out, but we have to order them, so it may be a while before we get them.
Our daughter, Erin helped us shop for them on-line, but I'm so old-school that I want to go to the store and order them.  I will be blogging about things in the past, until the new computers are up and running.  I miss my printer-scanner-copier, and my picture program on our desktop--Whaaa!  I may have to learn a new picture program since we will be updating our computers---I'm not crazy about that idea, but what do you do?  I guess my mind needs stretched some more.