The Big Rock Path

There are many paths in the complex in which we are staying.  Everything is beautifully landscaped and well tended.  Some of these paths lead to the beach, others to the pool, and others are just walking trails.

My first time to the pool I looked back and mentally marked the path I had taken (so I could get back to our villa!)  There is a big rock there with two small palm trees and some flowers.  I really liked the way the rock and the plantings were laid out and kept thinking that would be a fun sketch.

So, one day on my way back from swimming my laps, I put my towel down on the grass and got out my sketchbook.  How lovely just to sit in the sun and draw.  When I got back to the villa, I got out those dried-up paints again and did some watercolor washes. I always lose myself when I paint - even when I am challenged by aging paint.

Well, am I glad I decided to do the sketch when I did... the next morning the lawn crew showed up and snip, snip... the flowers were gone and everything was trimmed back!  Plant life is lush here and I guess these guys know what they are doing... but those flowers would have lasted a little longer at our house.  Chances are, there will be more blooming within the week, but my sketch reminds me of my first sighting.

 Oh, how I look forward to fresh paint - tomorrow!

2012 and the 'Good Life'

Can it be that we are already half way into the first month of 2012?  Yikes, how did that happen?

Actually, I do know how that happened... we spent the first two weeks madly putting everything in order so we could escape to our wonderful retreat in Puerto Rico.  We are now lazily spending our days looking at palm trees and listening to the ocean waves break outside our door.

For the past few mornings my husband has asked me, "What is your agenda?"  One would think he just doesn't get it... but I know he does.

Well, my 'agenda' has been: leisurely breakfast, catch up on email, go to the pool, swim 1/2 mile, sit and read until lunch.  As if that is not enough, I brought my sketchbook with me...

I did a few ink sketches and then opened up my 'travel' watercolor bag.  Would you believe, all I found were some dried up paints!  I had forgotten to transfer my small tubes of paint into this bag...  'oh my', (or something stronger)...

Well, I would NOT let this ruin my relaxed mood...  I sprayed the dried-up paint and used it.  The colors are certainly not as strong... and I had left my turquoise (ocean color) at home, but ...

The good news is that friends and neighbors have come to my rescue. My neighbor found my paints and has delivered them to friends who are coming here soon.  My fresh paints will be here at the end of the week!

In the meantime, here are a few sketches of what we are seeing.

The view from our balcony...

There are palm trees everywhere - a big pot at poolside.

More tomorrow - maybe, it depends on my agenda...

Sketches, Cards and Prayers

For a few years now I have been doing watercolor and ink sketches and then making them into note cards. It's easy to scan the sketches into my computer and then format the notecard.  It's fun to print them off and package them as gifts.

Interestingly, I learned how to do this as the world is in high gear and everyone is now emailing (facebooking, tweeting, etc.) each other.  It seems there are few of us left who actually write notes and put a stamp on an envelop!  Be that as it may, I love making the cards... and I do use them, too.

Another piece of my life is as chair of a group at my church called the Prayer Companions.  This is a group of committed individuals who agree to pray daily for special needs of our congregation (and others). Someone asks for prayer and I send out the call to our group.  I also offer to send a card to the person for whom we are praying to let them know we are praying for them.  For the past few years I have been sending a card with a photograph of the church.  It occurred to me that the church building would make a great sketch, so this week I have been working on two different views.

This afternoon I printed out a couple cards with the new sketches.  I think they turned out pretty well. Welcome to Trinity Cathedral on Goldsborough Street in Easton, Maryland.

Decorating...everything

Well, it is that time of year - it seems everything has a red bow and/or fresh greens attached.

The St Michaels Art League has an on-going fundraiser. All our members are asked to paint a card which is then sold for $5.00  - all monies go to the scholarship fund.  Each spring the senior art students at St Michaels and Easton High Schools get their portfolios together and they are judged.  At the senior awards ceremonies in late May, the art league hands out checks to these students.  In the past few years we have been able to give away several thousand dollars to help these kids with their college expenses.

When we began this project, we only painted Christmas cards - we now have cards for any occasion...all hand painted pieces of art.  The painting that I present today is a card that I produced a few years ago.  As a matter of fact, someone saw it, bought it and asked for six more!  Apparently she had a lot of 'dog-lover' friends and wanted to send it to them all.

So, here's my Christmas card to you all.  (and to all your dogs...)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Juried In!

Whew - Christmas is almost upon us.  How did that happen so fast?  It seems as if I just began my fall art classes and this past week attended a fun party to celebrate the ending of classes for this year.

One feature of the party this year was an invitation to all the pastel students to bring two paintings to be juried for a show to be held at the Old Brick Inn in St Michaels.  Not having been a part of very many juried shows, I fretted over what to take.  A landscape? A still life? A portrait? Our teacher had asked an artist friend to be the judge as she knew all of us and didn't feel she could be impartial.  Hmmm - what would the friend like?

I finally decided to enter two that I really liked and that I loved painting.  I have posted them before but have tweaked them each a bit since the first post.

This is "Winnie's Butterfly" from my September 19 post.  I worked some more on it - changed the butterfly a little.  I thought the other butterfly was too harsh - this one seems softer.

The other one was Pastel Class Project from my November 10 post. I did some more work on this one, too.  When I entered it in the competition I called it "Maizie at the Fair" but I think it should be "Hello Cow."  Any thoughts?

Jelly - The New Security Risk

I have just returned from a delightful weekend in Georgia.  My (much) older brother was celebrating his 70th birthday - it was an opportunity for me to reconnect with family and friends that I had not seen for many years.  The 'gathering of the clan' took place in a formal way at the lovely party on Saturday night  - what fun to see cousins with whom I had not spoken in a long time and to meet LOTS of folks who think my brother is something special.  There is something about 'older brothers.'

Now, here's the thing, there is also something pretty great about a younger brother...   I stayed with him.  He and his wife hosted a brunch on Saturday for family - that is, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews...  This was an informal time to 'meet and greet' - a delightful combination of young and old.  Being a Saturday, it was nearly impossible to get everyone at one time - when you compete with two different soccer teams and a swim meet... well, you get the idea.  But, by the end of the day, I had been able to spend time with everyone - what a treat.

OK, here's where the jelly comes in...  the wife of one of my nephews (recently married, I had not met her) arrived with a gift bag for me of beautiful looking jams and jellies that she had put up. (Thank you, Olivia) When I was packing to come home, I very carefully put them in a plastic bag and cushioned them with soft things in the suitcase so they would not get broken during baggage handling.  I then threw in everything else - lastly all the chargers for my nook, camera, and phone (lots of plugs and wires...).

I thought nothing more about any of this until I got home and opened my suitcase to unpack.  Everything in the suitcase was out of place: the jars were scattered all about, wires helter-skelter, cosmetics in the four corners - you get the picture.  There on the top of everything was the TSA notice that said the suitcase had been searched as part of security precautions.  I guess they scanned the bag and thought the jellies and wires we threatening - don't you love that?  I feel safer, what about you?

Pastel Class Project

I don't know how I get so busy - I have been away from my blog for a month.

This week I had my last pastel class for the fall.  It has been such fun - four weeks of 'still life' and then five weeks of 'face and figure' - great instruction and very challenging.  For the past four weeks we have had models in class, but this week we were working from photographs.

We were to bring in photos with people...  I spent some time looking through my picture files - it seems I have literally thousands of pictures - and found several that I have wanted to paint.  I finally settled on this one.  I did the drawing and underpainting before class and then worked on the pastel painting during class time.  There is still some touching up I want to do, but I did have fun with it.

This adorable little girl is now twelve - how is that possible?