The Fun, Fond, & Fascinating

After a long week of school district trainings and working in my classroom, I've been able to enjoy sometime in the comfort of my studio this weekend.  It really helps me to keep busy, since not only are my girls gone away to college, but my wife went on a week long business trip.  The dogs, cat, and I miss them all terribly.  May the Lord surround them with his angels of protection wherever they go.  Anyway, this week's projects can all be described with words starting with the letter "F."

Fun Gingerbread Decorations
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Summer
Ramona's Inspire Me Monday - Week 137
Julia's What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #272

Fun Christmas Cards
Freshly Made Sketches #149 by Rita
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Scratched Up
Manon's Paper Saturdays

The first two projects above are what I call plain old fun!  The first photograph features wall decorations I've been working on for my classroom.  Our school theme this year is "One Adventure After Another," so each classroom teacher selected a fairytale or folktale as their inspiration.  I went with the Gingerbread Man.  I will also have each student decorate their own paper gingerbread person to hang around the room.  The second photograph features more Christmas cards I made, since I know I won't have much time to work on them during the school year.  I used an original watercolor painting of mine as the focal point to make a clean card, as well as a vintage looking  card.

A Fond Moment
Alexandra's Sunday Sketches
Illustration Friday - Journey
Jenn's The Artist's Playroom #119
Karen's Word Art Wednesday #146
Eva & Kristin's Paint Party Friday - Week 24 Year 4

The next picture is of a commissioned watercolor piece I'm working on of a fond moment between a mother and daughter.  The friend that asked for the piece gave me an old photograph to use as reference of a time during which her recently deceased Mother was giving her advice about her life's journey.  Their faces and hair are almost done, but I still have a lot of work to do on the clothes, the sofa parts in view, and the background shadowing.  If you have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know.  I believe there is always room for improvement, since I consider myself to be in a continue journey with my artwork.

Fascinating Cactus - © Arnoldo L. Romero
Bella's 52 Photos Project - Somewhere You Visited
Denise, Roger & Leslie's ABC Wednesday - F is for Fascinating
Jen's In the Studio

Last, but not least, I have a photograph I took with y iPhone during one of our trips back from College Station, TX, this Summer.  I took it at a state rest stop off of I-10, where they have a short naturally xeriscaped trail.  I find the "Indian Fig Opuntia" a fascinating cactus, because it has been considered a culinary species since the times of the archaic natives of Mexico, which included present day Texas.  The fruit (tuna), minus the prickly skin, is very sweet and juicy.  It is marvelous when it's been chilled, but is also used to make jams.  The paddle shaped leaves (nopales), can be fixed in salads, in shrimp stews, scrambled with eggs, etc.  They are delicious and very nutritious too.

I hope you enjoyed my letter "F" inspired descriptions of my work.  I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a comment during my last post, as well as all my faithful followers for their patronage.  Blessings!