Welcome to Thursday's Art Date! Today our theme is December Holidays: Christmas Present. Bugs Bunny is relaxing by the Christmas tree, opening Holiday cards. He just received a very special one from a good friend!
I decided to go with a landscape drawing this week for Christmas Present. This charcoal drawing describes my life in the present on my land! The full moon is in a few days, I live in the woods and I hear coyotes howling every night and every morning!
I published a real-time video of this tutorial if you'd like to try it out! Click the image above or this link.
My latest Spiritual Rain video is up on YouTube as well. I made my annual Ice Lanterns for Yule. They are so easy to make and I wanted to share that with my friends in this video. Problem is, we are having a wee bit of a mild spell and they have nearly melted already!!! I'll have to make some more when the weather is a bit colder!
Last Friday we had our annual Tree Trimming day and breakfast! We went with an artificial tree this year. After transplanting and caring for over 25 trees last fall, we didn't have the heart to chop one down!
I made a yummy Egg Nog. I also tried an Eggless Egg Nog and I have to say, it tasted SO MUCH like the real stuff, I'm hooked! Of course this was "sweetened" with a little rum and brandy!
I also made Alex's Grandma's "Toasettes"...that's toast with Homemade Cheez Whiz, an egg or two, all baked in the oven. So delicious!
In between heavy meals (like this cheese fondue!), we've been trying to eat light, and some days just some fruit smoothies to try to ward off the holiday weight gain!! (The key word here is TRY David...but trust me those snowshoes will be out as soon as we get some snow again!! 😀)
Baby Oscar had to visit the vet this week, he has an ear infection in both ears, sigh...he'll be okay in a few days! The other furries are all doing fine!
🔥🌙 Wishing you all a BLESSED YULE!! 🌙🔥
Today's featured Blogger is my friend "TB" (short for Toirdhealbheach Beucail) from The Forty-Five blog. TB is a wonderful person, he is a thinker, a very intelligent thinker and he often shares posts that provide wonderful food for thought. He also shares images (such as the above image) on his posts - just to get you thinking! And of course, he's a movie star (in-joke) lol...I posted once that I was an extra in a Kiefer Sutherland movie, and TB told me he was an extra in a Goldie Hawn movie! Please visit his blog!! 😊
LEAVE A COMMENT AND YOU MAY BE NEXT WEEK'S FEATURED ARTIST/BLOGGER!
(If you do not want to be featured, just let me know in the comments and I'll respect your wishes!)
That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more "Christmas Present" creations! See you soon!!! 💗 💗
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Upcoming Art Dates For Rain's Thursday Art Date: click on the links below for a description of the theme and inspiring images!
December 23rd: December Holidays: Christmas Future
December 30th: December Holidays: Santa's Workshop
This art date is all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 🎨
Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please revisit to make sure you don't miss those who join in a little late! All spam and non-related links will be removed! The link gadget expires Friday at midnight (EST).
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We just put up our tree yesterday too. And of course that meant making the kitties' eating area festive too.
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations to TB for being Rain's featured blogger! Good choice, Rain!
...I wish you a warm and wonderful Christmas. Tom ☃️ 🎄 ❄️ 🎅🏼
ReplyDeleteLove your winter art! And poor Kitty that must be sad having a double ear infection. We just got a couple inches of snow overnight but melting a bit today. You must be in the mild area of the country?
ReplyDeleteLooking very festive, Rain! Have a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeletemy mother used to make toasettes! thanks for the good memory! oscar looks so cute!
ReplyDeleteyour icy lanterns looks amazing. I might steelthe idea if it gets colder. We have warmer days right now. :(
ReplyDeleteTake care!
Fun and lovely art for Christmas present! The food looks so good and all the best to baby Oscar.
ReplyDeletePoor Oscar. I am glad that he will be, and your other furries are fine.
ReplyDeleteYour food (and beverages) have me drooling. I adore your drawing too.
Best wishes for sweet baby Oscar.
ReplyDeleteAnd I enjoyed reading this Post, full of Christmas mood. Merry Christmas to you and your Family, dear Blogfriend.
Hugs,Heidrun
You are a dynamo Rain!
ReplyDeleteThat is some great art work.
ReplyDeleteWe had a tinsel tree one year, we were moving 12/26. It looked good, we hung Christmas ribbons and bows.
Lovely art.
ReplyDeleteLovely food.
Healing wishes for baby Oscar ...
All the best Jan
Oh, I can hear those coyotes HOWLING!
ReplyDeleteMy Dear Rain, I now feel like I have officially arrived. Thank you ever so much for the kind recommendation!
ReplyDeleteI love the coyotes in woods! We have them both at New Home and here at The Ranch. I begrudge them a bit, but they do play an important role in the cycle here.
We have done an artificial tree this year as well for two years running as our kit A The Bold really enjoys climbing the limbs and I do not think a real tree could take it.
I actually debated whether to join in this week, but decided I had to because I have NO idea about next week's prompt.
ReplyDeleteBugs looks good by that delightful tree, Rain. I always love your drawings. I was watching a show on TV a few days ago about wolves. They seem to be at their best in winter, and I can almost hear those yelps and forlorn howls they make in the moonlight. This is a charming drawing.
Your fondue looks wonderful and so do the toasttes. I made egg nog once and never again. Took forever to cook it down, then it has to cool, etc.. Never again.
Poor little Oscar. I bet he has medicine for those ears, now, and you have a big vet bill! He is really cute.
I love your tree, I wish I had a way to have a regular tree without moving a bunch of furniture. Instead, I'll just appreciate yours.
Have a super week, Rain. I hope all else is well in your world.
I have enjoyed your blog all the way in Christmas mood.
ReplyDeleteThe food looks delicious.
A very Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones.
Greetings Irma
You make lovely art. Nice coyote drawing. Yummy food. Poor Oscar, hope his ear infection recover fast.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a blessed Yule, too. My birthday is on the 21st, so I'm a solstice baby and that's good. I will join in again when I am feeling better! Hugs, Valerie
ReplyDeleteFabulous charcoal, Rain! I know you are in the deep woods, and that's where they belong. But they are even in the horse pasture behind me, it's quite unnerving, can't get away from them UGH! Love your tree and that's quite a collection of liqueurs on the shelf! You cook with them so much. Always love an egg on toast! Wish I could still drink eggnog but it's just too rich for me egg or not. Hope Oscar recovers soon! Happy Yuletide to y'all!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteHello Rain,
ReplyDeleteCute Bugs Bunny toon, I love the coyotes howling at the moon.
Your ice lanterns and tree are festive and pretty. I hope Oscar is recovering well. Take care, enjoy your day! Merry Christmas to you an your family.
All the very best for Christmas and the New Year, Rain. Let's hope the blogging community continues to flourish.
ReplyDeleteI love your red Christmas tree. Very unusual and very bright and cheery. Your cheese fondue brought back fond memories of my 3 night stay in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969. My very first experience eating cheese fondue!
ReplyDeleteFantastic art as usual an some delicious looking food. Wishing you the very best for Christmas and the new year.
ReplyDeleteLove the coyotes, beautiful painting Rain.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm I left a comment early this AM but I don't see it. errggg goggle. It went something like how much I like your tree and the breakfast. Poor kitty. It's just one thing after another isn't it? Love your art. I will be over to see the new YT too.
ReplyDeleteI missed the linky as late with my post but joined in anyway :) Thanks for keeping the art dates going, it brings so many creative people into the light :)
ReplyDeleteThat is some great art work.
ReplyDeleteLove this post dear Rain - watched the tutorial and found it so special with your gentle voice, and the doggie snoring in the background, lol!
ReplyDeleteMay your holidays be merry and bright - and not too much snow!
Christmas hugs.
Baby Oscar just grabbed at my heart. He has a good deal of my Marmelade Gypsy look about him. I hope he's all well and happy soon!
ReplyDeleteYour tree is lovely and I think your drawing is one of my all-time favorites of yours. I love the wonderful shades and that it is symbolic of your life there all the more beautiful. (And by the way, you guys eat very well!)
Merriest and Happiest of Christmasses and holidays to you!
LOL, it looks like Bugs got one of your Christmas cards, too! That's great!! I need to check out your video on how to draw coyotes in the moonlight. I have black drawing paper and white charcoal pencils. It's time to do something with these things. :) But...I might have to wait until after the holidays. Have a fun Christmas, my dear!
ReplyDeleteBaby Oscar is so so so cute. Love your art - the coyotes in the moonlight,, amazing and Bugs Bunny - always a joy to see a new one of him. The food!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, Rain, there are the extras among themselves - you with Kiefer Sutherland, TB with Goldie Hawn, my husband in a BBC crime thriller ... and I with Austrian stars like Tobias Moretti and Ursula Strauss (who are probably both are not known in the US...) :-DD
ReplyDeleteOh, sweet baby Oscar! I hope his ears are fine again soon. Its fur is lighter than that of my beloved Maxwell was, but he looks a lot like him - and Maxwell always lay there so adorable, too.
When I read "Eggless Egg Nog" I had to laugh, but the recipe sounds really good - so you say it tastes good ... that makes me want it!
I like your works of art very much again - your charcoal drawing is particularly expressive. But coyote howling in the mornings and evenings isn't that enjoyable, I think?
I am very happy that you like the Tarot garden and share this with your tarot friends. Did you know that there is also a sculpture garden by the artist Niki de Sait Phalle in the US? >> Queen Califia in California: https://www.sculpturenature.com/en/queen-califia-niki-de-saint-phalle/ (Can I make it there too? Hope so!)
And now I wish you cozy Yule-days and a pleasant change into a hopefully wonderful year 2022!
All the best, Traude ✨🕯️❣️
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2021/12/advent-2021-bei-den-rostrosen.html
PS: By the way, it's great that you haven't felled a tree. Artificial trees last longer and real trees belong in nature ;-)
Wishing you a blessed Yule too Rain, I love that expression! I'm with you on the tree!
ReplyDeleteWren x