Homework and Thanksgiving Plans

Hello! I have not spent much time being artsy this week, but let me share my one effort. This is the watercolor assignment for my children's book illustrating class. I don't feel like it is done yet - the colors are still too wimpy and pastel, and I really want to have the foreground figures pop out in front of the shoreline background. I found it much harder to watercolor from "my imagination" rather than from a photo or object. I hope since we have no class on Thanksgiving that I will be able to work on improving this painting. Our next assignment is to do a cover illustration for a young adult book - either "Huckleberry Finn" or "The Secret Garden" - in pastel. I have used pastel a lot in the past, so I'll dig them out and change my mindset from "watercolor mode" to "pastel mode." This class has been very challenging in its requirements to use different media. I didn't really expect that, I thought it would focus just on children's book illustration in whatever media we were strong in. But it is certainly stretching me!

On another topic: what are you doing for Thanksgiving? Our family has a tradition. On Thursday, I bake my pies (usually one regular and one gluten/dairy free pumpkin, and one other fruit pie) and we all go to church and work all day at the free community Thanksgiving dinner. There are 3 sittings, at 11:30, 1:30 and 3:30. I interpret for the Deaf at the 3rd dinner, and usually there are 30-40 Deaf and their families. On Friday, my hubby makes the stuffing and turkey, and I make the mashed potatoes. My SIL brings the veggies and yams. Our good friends bring rolls and sparkling cider. We all sit down and eat our "Thanksgiving" on Friday afternoon/evening. Saturday, the four of us will drive up north and cut our Christmas tree. What's YOUR plan?