Our Family

Art Competition

My mom and I decided to paint the same image into an oil painting.
We were not allowed to see each others' work until we were done.
this is the result:

Claudia's Interpretation --------- Leni's Interpretation

We concluded that we both did very well. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. We discussed those in length (things like depth, light, shadow, scale etc..)and learned a lot too. This was a fun and good exercise. And we produced some good work too.

Here are some details of mine:

34"x34" oil painting.. 'Feeding Time'

And here are some details from my Mother's:

this was the original image:

Christmas Eve at Claudia's Parents

Gabs representing the sheep

Jake F. representing the wise men from the East

Gabs and Daddy Jake

The shepherd goes to visit the baby Jesus

The Angel announces Jesus' birth

Elana representing Mary

The wise men come bearing gifts

Time to open our gifts.

She has been wanting these plastic snakes for a long time.

Elana just found out she got 30 plastic snakes.

Jake

Camping gear!!

Sarah loves her new Pet-Pillow

Claudia opening her gifts

Dad Claudio gets some pjamas

Gabs gets lots of gifts this year

Everyone gets a little something

Claudia's Mother absolutely loved her new portable DVD player from her son.

With her pink phone.. she is ready to stay connected

Gabs loves clothes.. she is a girly girl.

Pizza

Louis Armstrong.. a classic

Lucia gets a 3-in-one slow cooker, perfect for how she likes to cook.

Mary riding on the donkey

This is piece of the Christmas skit when Mary was riding on the donkey.

Christmas morning with Jake's family

Just a "few" more gifts to open.

We all eagerly anticipate opening our gifts.

The boys are especially excited

This is a tool for stretching canvas I've needed for a while.

Gifts for Jake

Gabe and Dylan helping mom open her gifts

Melanie got a special gift from little Gabe. This was his own idea. He even decorated it. (It is for her to keep her cans in instead of all over the house.)

Video games!!

And this is when the battery in my camera ran out..

Thanksgiving

As usual, thanksgiving arrived with lots of food to go around. This year was different, Jake wanted to use his smoker to cook the turkey, so he did, and it turned out wonderful. Jake is not too fond of turkey because the meat is usually dry or lacking in flavor. Well, this time it turned out juicy and full of flavor. The smoker added, of course, the smoky flavor; and the brine and flavor injections added flavor to the interior of the meat.