The trip to the Twin Cities

At the beginning of August we had to go to the Twin Cities again.After we had the important part of the trip done we decided to have some fun going to that pretty little town of Afton again.They have such a beautiful garden place there with the most beautiful garden ever.Here I want to share some pictures of the trip:
1.Driving through Hastings,MN 2.The bridge over the Mississippi River 3.Flowers in the garden place in Afton 4.The pond in the garden place in Afton. 5.A cute little fellow in the pond. 6.Cool landscape 7.A cool pot I wish I could afford to buy.

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the sleepover is over.sigh of relief.sometimes it's upsetting when your child does not act like herself in order to impress.it will take awhile before we do it again. i had a lot of hopes for this Saturday.they were right about the temperature.it was high 63F but i do not remember about the wind.strong and cold.i was planning to go on my first bike ride today but it did not happen.i bought one e-book for my Nooky,instead and started to read it.it's The Secret Life of Bees.i remember how pleasantly surprised and fascinated by the movie I was,when i watched it on TV not long ago.i have to buy it for my collection. these pictures were not taken today.they are from another warm winter day not long ago. the first one was taken by my daughter.

Two new ones-16 and 17 of my summer challenge

These two were painted with gouache Faber Castell on watercolor paper Strathmore.Their size is about 4 1/2 x 6 inches.

Hurray!I Am Done With My Challenge!

I am finally done with my watercolor challenge and I am so happy about that.Now I am free to start something else, like an acrylic challenge for example.
This one is watercolor number 15.I am impatient to post it because I like the way it turned out.I still have one more to post but it is a nude and I did not want to post them together.Actually the nude was the first watercolor I painted on that sketchbook but at that time the idea about the watercolor challenge was still too vague.
I am not going to post one of the watercolors because it was not very successful.That is way they will be only fourteen.Anyway completed this challenge with the satisfaction of a job well done.I learned a lot and I dare to say i improved my skills in this media.

watercolors #9 and #10

These are the next two watercolors I completed as a part of my challenge.I did not have much time for painting the last week or so.I was too busy at my day job and also my daughter was sick for more than four days so I had to take care of her and there was no spare time at all.
In the first painting I tried to use limited pallet of colors and to achieve realistic water reflections.In the second one I was inspired by the city of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria,which is famous for its picturesque view because its location on the slopes of several hills.I have always wanted to paint it in acrylics or oils and it will be my next project in one of this media.