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This journal is written by Kuma (Felis catus) and Kuma's owner Y (homo sapiens). We have moved from Japan to Australia in 2011.

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2017-06-27 22:08   My Drawing Project

Y (Kuma's owner)

What type of kid were you when you were small? I was a kid who always drew. I drew every day. If I ran out of paper, I would even draw on a small space of a newspaper. I had several aunts and uncles who were teachers. They knew I was addicted to drawing, so they gave me paper (mostly extra English examination papers), which they were going to discard. I was an animal lover (still am) and I loved to draw animals.

In Japan, there is an old saying that the soul of a child of three years old will be the same as when they reach 100 years old. In my case, it was true. I still love animals and drawings. The difference between when I was a small kid and now is that I don't draw pictures now. I have sometimes suddenly felt like I wanted to draw a picture but that feeling didn't last long. I don't know why I could draw so many pictures when I was small.

One day, I found a Twitter account of a professional artist who particularly likes drawing birds picture. Her name is Rachel Hollis; her drawings are amazing and I suddenly felt like drawing pictures again.
They say that if you want to draw pictures well, you should draw every day.

Long ago, I decided I would paint pictures every day but it didn't last long. At that time, I was using watercolours. It was a bit awkward every time I finished painting because I had to clean the pallet. Yes, I know, I was lazy.

Coloured Pencils

Then, I remembered that I have lots of coloured pencils. When I quit the company where I used to work, my colleagues gave me a deluxe coloured pencil set. I haven't even used them! I had thought that my favorite artist, Rachel Hollis, used watercolours but I read her website and noticed that she uses coloured pencils.

I have been taking lots of photos of birds. I have a water bowl in the backyard and take birds picture almost every day. Maybe I can use those photos. So, I have decided that I will spend at least 10 minutes drawing every day. If I make a strict rule for myself, I am not able to keep it.

| | Category Birds

2017-06-17 03:40   Challenging to make 1/12 scale breads 2

Y (Kuma's owner)

It's fun to attempt something new. My latest challenge is making 1/12 scale breads. Actually, I was going to make 1/6 scale breads but I learnt that the worldwide standard size of dollhouse is 1/12, so I decided to make 1/12 scale breads with polymer clay. I searched the Internet to find the common sizes of breads and divided them by 12. I could guess how small they would be, but I was still surprised to see the sizes that I calculated.

bread

My first 1/12 scale bread was a French bread (baguette). I don't know what it's called in French, a bread that is long and has a couple of cuts on the surface. Before I made the first one, I thought that making the shape would be the most important thing; however, I noticed that the colour is also very important to make it look real.
The picture below shows the bread of 1/12 scale. They haven't been painted enough, so I'm going to paint them a bit darker brown to show the burns. I bought two books that were written by Tomo Tanaka, who is a miniature creator. He says that it's important to paint a lighter colour little by little, so I'm doing as he says. If you are interested in miniatures, I strongly recommend that you see his creations. His creations are amazing! I hope I can make realistic breads, as Tomo Tanaka does.My challenge continues.

bread

| | Category Misc.

2017-06-11 23:26   Winter vegetable garden

Y (Kuma's owner)

I grow vegetables in the backyard and the veggie patch is covered by a net. My vegetable gardens had been giving me lots of fresh and organic vegetables, and had been worked well until before this winter came.

Recently, the temperature suddenly went down and I think wild animals are having a hard time finding food. Then, they found my vegetable gardens.

I have planted snow peas, kidney beans, lettuce, daikon and spinach and all of them have been bitten by something. I guess it must be possums.

Daikon

The reason that I thought that possums ate my vegetables is the spinach has been eaten. Usually, insects hesitate to eat the spinach because it contains oxalic acid. Another reason that I am suspicious of possums is my vegetables were always eaten at night. The possum is nocturnal.

Spinach

I searched on the internet to find the solution of protecting my vegetables and found out that it doesn't seem easy. The possum can climb trees and fences and they are clever with their hands. I found a spray for avoiding birds and animals but I don't want to use chemicals and hesitate to use it. Therefore, the only solution to protect my vegetables is grow them in the veggie patch that is covered by a net.

I like possums. They are charming.
I keenly realise that it's not easy to coexist with nature.

Veggie patch

| | Category Gardening