RJ Treleaven

Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts

Happy Friday, My Lovelies! It has been a gorgeous spring week here in Central Alabama. I hope it has been nice in your neighborhood, too.

Home renovations are not for sissies. No. They. Are. NOT!

We started the process a little over a year ago, and then we put the brakes on when my mother had to be hospitalized. We eventually finished our daughter's room and the library (for the most part) before Christmas. Then after Christmas, my mom was better, so we decided to continue with the kitchen reno. About two weeks in my mother declines rapidly and goes on hospice care.... while we were in the middle of the kitchen reno.

Because the upstairs went so well, I was expecting the same for the kitchen although it required a different crew.

The kitchen reno was not very delightful (the drawers had to be redone three times), and we're still waiting on a couple of things to be fixed. But in the interim, I wanted to share a little bit of the kitchen with you.

We have a new backsplash. They are Moroccan Zellige tiles, and the color is oat.

from Tiles of Ezra

Another improvement is we raised the upper cabinets all the way to the ceiling to give us more storage and display area for our MacKenzie-Childs collection.

One thing that I'm having to get used to is the electrical under the cabinets. You can barely see the strip in the first kitchen photo. Most new kitchens either have them like this or pop-ups on the counter. I chose to go up rather than down!

I hate seeing cords, so I purchased cord covers.

I wish I could capture the color of our walls with my phone, but I can't seem to be able to do it. They are Benjamin Moore's "vintage taupe," which has a lot of pink in it.

New bar-height stools

The kitchen island was also repainted in Benjamin Moore's "Gobi Desert."

Probably the best thing we did in this kitchen is organize it. Our kitchen lacks cabinetry, and we do not have a pantry. So what we did was add Rev-A-Shelf organizers in EVERY single base cabinet. It has changed my life! The organizers do take up more room, which means there's less space to ~~shove~~ organize your stuff. I had to make some tough choices and only keep the things I use. So far I have not missed one thing that is no longer in here. I will post more about kitchen organization in a later post.

Because I was so busy during the end of March, I didn't really decorate for Easter this year. I did put out a few spring pretties, though.

I also bought a couple of maidenhair ferns. I love them, but I always kill them. If you have any pointers on how to keep them alive, please share!

Hopefully soon I will be able to get my act together enough to share our library here on the blog.

On Monday I will be sharing some special book mail, so please come back then!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Home Renovations Are Not for Sissies

Friday, April 10, 2026

Hello, My Lovelies! It is with deep sadness that I write today's Tales of the Traveling Tote post.

Our beloved Jenna Meon from The Painted Apron blog has passed away. She was a very sweet friend to me and a fellow artist. I was fortunate to know her not only virtually, but in real life. I enjoyed getting to know her, and I am missing her so much.

Jenna, Emily from The French Hutch Blog, and I enjoyed getting together and do the "ladies who lunch" thing.

The top photo is at the carousel at the Galleria.

The Christmas tree at the Grand Bohemian has our totes nestled underneath

The last photo is a picture of Jenna and Emily in Jenna's backyard.

This is a photo of my mug at Jenna's house. I took it for the "Where in the world is...." post that we Traveling Totes ladies shared in 2019. Emily and I traveled to Jenna's house!

These are a few of Jenna's colored pencils and alcohol markers that I took at her house.

Here are three things that I want you to know about Jenna:

1. She was kind, and she was an encourager. Jenna was very thoughtful, and she liked to share. She cared and listened to me during trying times. I also loved how she encouraged me in my pursuit of art.

2. She was a gifted artist. Not only did Jenna and I have collecting MacKenzie-Childs in common, we also had art in common. I will miss her Fearless Friday art posts, and it's fitting that her last post on October 17 was a Fearless Friday post.... and it was about wine!

3. She had a wicked sense of humor. She made me laugh, and this year especially as I've faced challenges with caring for my mother. She always wanted the "tea" when I visited her, and her commentary was always laugh-out-loud funny.

The last time I saw Jenna was in September, and I was telling her all about my art teacher's opening reception for her show at the Canary Gallery in downtown Birmingham. This was probably our last conversation, actually. Jenna would probably want me to share it with y'all because she was always all about sharing art.

My sweet and beautiful art teacher Dori

The opening reception was a huge success, and there were lots of people in attendance. The gallery also sold several of Dori's paintings. Dori also taught a creativity workshop at the gallery in October in conjunction with her exhibition. I attended it with a friend of mine, and we had so much fun!

I know that Jenna would roll her eyes at this post (except for the part about Dori's opening reception). She would tell me to stop it and go make some art.

And I will do that today in honor of Jenna.

Please make sure you visit the other blogs in today's hop and enter our giveaway.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Bookish Dilettante

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Tales of the Traveling Tote: In Memoriam

Monday, December 1, 2025

Hello, My Lovelies! Welcome to the 44th Tales of the Traveling Tote. I have not been traveling much or even going to the lake recently. I have had family obligations keeping me busy, but my family held an intervention a couple of weeks ago and insisted that I get away for a quick weekend to my favorite city, Chicago. We planned to visit my two motherships: Wrigley Field and The Art Institute of Chicago.

We enjoy staying at the historic Palmer House because it's within walking distance to the Art Institute. Below is the pretty ceiling in the lobby.

On Friday night we ate at a fantastic Mediterranean restaurant called Avec. Everyone loved it, and we particularly enjoyed the family-style presentation.

Saturday morning, we ate breakfast at our favorite bakery and coffee shop, The Goddess and the Baker. They have the best breakfast pastries in Chicago! Then we headed to Wrigleyville. Shanley Belle and I visited a romance-only bookshop called The Last Chapter and had a ball. We like visiting Indie Bookshops while traveling.

After the bookshop, we met up with Christopher and Trip at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.

Unfortunately, La Countess de Monet is too large to get into the stadium. Miss Square Peggy and Miss Candy Max are also too large. The dimensions must be no larger than 16" X 16" X 8". So I carried Miss Check You're Out! because she is petite at 16" X 11.5" X 4". She loved the game!

Clark the Cubbies' mascot before the game. We had great seats behind the dugout on the third base side.

The Cubbies beat the Pirates 3-1, so the W flag was flown!

Saturday night after the game we ate dinner at our favorite pizza place in the city, Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders. They have the best pizza pie in the world! I always order the individual mushroom one.

Sunday morning we ate breakfast at The Goddess and the Baker again because we love it so much. Then we walked to the Art Institute for the Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World exhibit. Since we're members, we were able to visit an hour earlier than the general public, so we saw the exhibit almost by ourselves. For the Sunday before school started on Monday, there were few people at the museum. I think it might have had something to do with the flooding rains on Saturday night.

Gustave Caillebotte was an independently wealthy Impressionist. He was good friends with Renoir, and he painted pretty much what he wanted to paint. During this time, painters usually painted lovely young women, but Caillebotte preferred painting men.

One of the lions in front of the museum.

I wanted to share with you two paintings, one by Renoir and one by Caillebotte.

I chose the mums by Renoir for autumn.

Chrysanthemums

Pierre August Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

1881-1882

Oil on canvas

21 5/8" × 25 7/8 "

I chose the Caillebotte painting (below) because I thought the perspective was neat.

The Boulevard Seen From Above

Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848-1894)

1880

Oil on canvas

25 3/5" × 21 3/10"

We enjoyed the member's lounge and a late lunch of Giordano's Pizza. Before heading to the airport, we went to the world's largest Starbucks, the Starbucks Reserve. The four-story shop is truly something. We had the Chicago blend, and I brought some home with me.

I also purchased a beautiful book of the Van Gogh bedrooms because we saw the exhibit in 2016 at the Art Institute. I was so happy to have a lovely reminder of that trip, too. The Caillebotte brochures were really large, so I didn't buy one of them.

I love how the page folds out to show all three bedroom paintings.

This book is so nice, and it also features other paintings shown at the exhibit.

I hope you enjoyed my post on my whirlwind trip to Chicago. I literally have nothing else to share!

I'm sure the other Traveling Tote Ladies have much more interesting posts than mine, so give them a visit using the links below!

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Bookish Dilettante

This TTT giveaway is hosted by Sarah. Please make sure to leave a comment on her post in order to be entered.

Join us for our next adventures in December!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Tales of the Traveling Tote: My Motherships

Monday, September 1, 2025

Happy Monday, My Lovelies! I hope you've had a wonderful summer. Mine has been....busy. And not for a good reason.

My mother became ill in March, and she has been in two hospitals, two skilled nursing facilities, and one assisted living facility. It has been difficult because one moment she seems fine, and the next, she isn't.

Because I'm an only child, her care is solely on me. Mr. Bookish, and our daughters, and our son-in-law have been very helpful and supportive. I don't know what I'd do without my family.

We have only been to the lake twice all summer because we've spent a lot of time in my hometown settling her estate, selling her home, etc. She was released from the hospital Friday and sent to another SNF. I feel badly for her, and I'm hoping she can get the care she needs to improve her quality of life.

I miss being home because I'm such a home bird! My dogs have missed me a lot, and they have not been happy with my absence. I have missed working in our back garden, but fortunately for me, the annuals I planted haven't needed a lot of attention, and we've had so much rain.

This is my favorite time of year to be home, and the following is what I like most about it:

getting in the back-to-school mode (i.e. back on a schedule) even though no one in our home is in school right now
hearing the school buses driving up and down the hills early in the morning
making lists for buying new art supplies, pencils, and planners
planning trips to local art supply and stationary stores
getting up earlier with the school buses and reading my lessons for my Bible study that starts in August
cleaning out and organizing my menu/blogging desk in our kitchen
reorganizing my art studio

Speaking of school and art supplies....In late spring I applied to be a member of the Koh-I-Noor Artist Team. Koh-I-Noor is a company from the Czech Republic known for manufacturing pencils. The company's founder Franz Hardtmuth defined a total of 8 types of soft and hard pencils, two medium hard and one type for natural graphite. He marked the soft ones from B to 8B, with 8B being the softest and the 9B mark is for natural graphite. The marks of soft gradations were based on the same principle as for hard gradations, just with the letter H. Later, a number of gradations H - H8 were extended by H9 and H10. According to the personal notes of Franz Hardtmuth, the marking of pencils using the letter H originates from the family surname Hardtmuth, B means Budweis, or Budějovice in Czech language (a Czech city), and F refers to his first name Franz. This 21-degree gradation marking system for graphite cores is still used by most pencil manufacturers around the world. Most of you have heard of the number 2 pencil: That one is actually a "2B."

I was accepted, and I wanted to share the projects I shared on Instagram.

I drew these peaches with Koh-I-Noor's Tri-Toned Colored Pencils. Each pencil has three different colors in it. I think It makes drawings very interesting because the artist can't control when the colors change from one to another.

I like to make bookmarks for my favorite books and place them in my reading tag journals.

I drew this one with the Mondeluz gray-toned colored pencils.

When I applied for the Artist Team I had no idea that my mother's condition would decline so rapidly. I have not drawn anything this month, and I'm feeling the pressure because I believe in honoring my commitments. If I had known that my mom would require another hospital and SNF stay, I would not have applied.

We have been planning different major projects around our home. I have met with a decorator and carpenter. We are postponing our planning meetings until after Labor Day because I have too much going on right now to meet with them. Because we are saving for these projects, I haven't been spending a lot of money "fluffing" the house this summer. I did purchase one thing during the MacKenzie-Childs Barn Sale, though, and I hope to use it soon.

This is the Piccadilly pie plate. I wanted to bake a tomato pie in it before summer ends.

I hope I can!

I would like to get back into blogging, but it's hard because I haven't been home much to blog. I have posted on Instagram because it's easier to do so on the run. If you would, please follow me on Instagram, and also please, if you do follow me, like and comment on the posts for Koh-I-Noor. They were so kind to send me beautiful pencils and paper for my art in exchange for posting on IG. I would really appreciate it. Click on the graphic below to follow me.

I haven't been reading as much as I normally do, but I will try to put together a Summer Reading post in mid-September and feature my favorite books of the summer.

Below is a teaser of my Welcome Fall tablescape:

I hope you will come back next week and read these posts!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Late Summer Update and Upcoming Posts

Monday, August 25, 2025

Hello, My Lovelies! I hope you are well and having a lovely summer. I'm beginning to see the first of the back-to-school ads, and it isn't even Independence Day yet! In other news, we had our first day of sunshine after weeks of rainy and stormy days. And with the sunny skies, the heat has returned. But that's okay!

Today I wanted to share with you a few projects I've been working on in my art studio. I've accomplished much because of the rain keeping me inside. The first thing I want to share is a finished oil painting from a photo I took on our trip last year. It's a cartouche from the Imperial Apartments at Göttwieg Abbey in Krems, Austria.

Imperial Apartment Cartouche

16" X 12"

oil on linen panel

I've also been doing a lot of crafting. This year I've been keeping up with my reading with monthly reading tag journals. I hang them with "S" hooks on an over-the-table rod in my studio. I will share more about it in a week or so. I've also been making hand-painted and drawn bookmarks of my favorite books that I place in the tag journals.

This is the finished reading tag journal for May.

This is an example of a handmade bookmark I made for Jenny Hickman's For Ever.

This is a special edition book.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was fighting a cold at the beginning of June, and that I had been drinking copious amounts of hot tea. Below is my new favorite recipe for tea, and it is made from a Chocolate Earl Grey Tea, the "Cozy" blend based on Meg's Tea Room (an Instagram influencer) by Cliché Teas.

We were about three weeks late signing-up for our summer community supported agriculture box. We received our first box on Thursday, and we are very happy with it.