Sketching in Palmas

A couple of stories from my sketchbook...

"What's the matter with that pot?"
I looked out from our second floor balcony down to the pool area at the large pots of palms. This is a familiar view - we have visited this resort before and have seen these pots in past years. This year however, something was askew. One of those pots had a bulge on one side.

Later on I got a closer view and discovered a large gash in the pot! It seemed to be held together only at the top and the bottom. I could see lots of roots and dirt just waiting... I am wondering if/when the whole thing will fall apart. It's pretty close to the pool...please don't let all that dirt go there!

"Painting peppers with a friend"
I enjoyed spending an afternoon sketching/painting with a friend. She had talked about some colorful peppers that she had in her fridge. So we decided to paint them. At first I dumped them all out - it was a little overwhelming, so we tried to simplify and just arrange a few.

I sketched them quickly and then got out my watercolor paints. Not my best painting, but a fun memory of the laughter we shared when we tried to find the best artistic arrangement.

Gerri worked on her painting, got a little distracted and then started eating the peppers! She bit into them and put the stems down on the table. Then we both began eating and voila, there was another painting!

I sketched a few of the pepper pieces...

and then got out my watercolor paints again.

 So, then I was really into this and didn't want to put the paints away quite yet... another pepper...

 About this time, Gerri was having fun with her liquid acrylics - making a very abstract painting with brilliant color. She urged me to try them. I hardly ever use acrylics, but it would be fun to try...

This is what I came up with... yeah, another pepper

A delightful afternoon - no signed masterpieces, but wonderful memories!

It's Banner Time Again!

Since 2010, the St Michaels Art League has sponsored street banners along our 'main' street - actually called Talbot Street. This is an annual project with the theme "Celebrate St Michaels." Pretty much anything goes as long as it is somehow related to the town.

Each year I have painted a crab in some form. For the past several years, "Mikey" (as in St Michaels) has been doing a variety of things - carrying flags, hanging lanterns in the trees, skippering a boat, holding a beer stein, and licking an ice cream cone. (Many of my banners have been the subjects of former posts. Look back at late January or early February postings in prior years to see more)

So, the question is...."What is Mikey doing this year?"

Drum roll...ta da!

I am calling this "Aye, aye, Sir!"

Look for Mikey and all the other original banner artwork in the St Michaels Library in April. The banners should be hanging by mid-April along Talbot Street. They'll be there through the summer - probably until sometime in November!

Enjoy!

Relax...maybe

For the past several years we have taken a few weeks and escaped winter. Yes, we became 'snow birds' and flew to Puerto Rico. We have rented a two bedroom condo on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine and warm temperatures.

I always take my sketch book with me to capture some of the local scenes. This year, in keeping with my effort to look at the familiar in a new way, I decided just to take it easy and to sketch the 'stuff' that was in the condo.

The condo is decorated with cutesy stuff - appropriate to the area and climate. I'll post some of those sketches at another time - today's story is about the new artwork that was hanging on the wall on the balcony.

In the past there were parrots, other birds and ocean 'things' adorning the balcony. Over time they weathered and have fallen off the wall. This year they were replaced by wooden plaques which have catchy sayings on them.

"Happily Ever After Starts Now" - nice sentiment for a vacation spot. "Better Together"- also nice for us old folks on a winter jaunt. However, I had trouble divorcing that one from the recent political campaign and the slogan "Stronger Together."

The third one was "Relax" - ahh, that was my favorite.

I thought it was pretty straight forward until... I came out on the balcony one morning and found 'relax' on the floor! What did that mean? Was I not relaxing enough? Was it trying to tell me to relax in a different way? Actually, I just laughed! There was 'relax' lying on the floor relaxing...

I hung it back up with the others and just decided to sketch it...

A fun reminder of a relaxing time!