Aug31Art

Time flies when you're having fun, and this Summer has been a fun one.  I'm looking forward to Fall though, cooler weather, a workshop with Marc Taro Holmes, an online class with Roz Stendahl and Liz Steel's new online class.  October a trip to the N.C. mountains with my sisters from the bike trip last June, and another online class with Vinita Pappas too, so lots to look forward to in the next few months.

Thought I'd share the painting I did Plein Aire in August, it was very hot that day, so the paint dried almost immediately on the page.

Here's a photo of the 2 page spread when I threw in the towel and went home.

Aug30Art

Rained most of the day today, but cleared up this evening so we got out the grill and grilled some chicken.  Had watermelon for desert, not as sweet as the melons we got in July, guess the season is winding down for them around here.

Aug29Art

I enjoyed so many movies that Gene Wilder starred in, I was sad to hear today that he'd passed away.  He was a talented, funny man.

Aug28Art

Ron and I rode our motorcycles in the 'Bikers for Blue' ride today,  along with 500 plus other folks on motorcycles of all kinds.  It was a fun day, got caught in a little rain, but not bad enough to stop and don rain gear.  Total mileage for me so far this year 12,151 miles.

Aug27Art

Ron loves the burgers at Fuddruckers so today we rode the motorcycles to Columbia for lunch there.  It was a very good burger, the weather was so nice today, would have been nice for it to be a tad cooler.  We had dinner at Outback tonight,  got there early and left just as the crowds showed up, the 'blue hair' special hour we call it :-)

Aug26Art

"A typical neuron makes about ten thousand connections to neighboring neurons. Given the billions of neurons, this means there are as many connections in a single cubic centimeter of brain tissue as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy."  David Eagleman

Aug25Art

Imaginary marsh... and an interesting quote,  times may change, politicians not so much.

Aug24Art

#PrayForItaly a 6.2 Earthquake North East of Rome, has killed 160 people and destroyed the homes of thousands.  Time to lift up our brothers and sisters in Italy in prayer.

Aug23Art

I don't get out much working at home all week, so I miss out on the office gossip.  Not that I miss all that drama, because I don't.  My dogs, birds and cat don't have a mean thing to say about anyone.

Aug22Art

Here's Davidson, as promised.  I included the sketchbook spread with them facing each other, turned out cute just like them.  They've been pretty quiet, but Rico is talking a blue streak again, so she's happy with her parakeets.

Aug21Art

We decided to name the new parakeets Harley and Davidson.  Harley is the blue parakeet.  Ron and I took a little bike trip up to Pawley's Island Hammock shop,  it was brutally hot today.  I'm ready for some Fall weather.

Aug20Art

Our Scarlett Macaw Rico was very depressed about Sam's death.  She stopped talking, and fell totally silent, I couldn't get her to respond even with the offer of a peanut.  So today we went to the pet shop and got 2 parakeets.  She immediately starting talking, saying hello to them when I got them in their cage next to hers, and she started talking to us as well, so we did the right thing to get her some little buddies.

Aug19Art

Brenda Swenson posted a blog post this week that really hit home.  'Don't carpet your rut'... read the article here. http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com/2016/08/what-if.html 
My comfort zone has gotten WAY TOO COMFORTABLE.

Aug18Art

Buried our little bird Sam today, we'd had him about 14 years.  We 'rescued' him from a pet store with no idea how old he was... he was a biter, he'd take a chunk out of you in a skinny minute, but we loved him anyway.  He never learned to talk, but he would make a smacking noise, if you said 'Give me a kiss... kiss... kiss'... and he'd bob his head and make his kissing sound.  I'll miss the little guy, and so will Rico... our Scarlett Macaw.

Aug17Art

Time got away from me tonight, so a bit of paint and a quote.  In case you can't read it.  "The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because it isn't here".
Did some book mark size 2" x 6" and 2" x 8" paintings for the Vinita Pappas Watercolor class I'm taking.

Aug16Art

School started here yesterday, still very hot here in Charleston.  This Summer has flown by,  I must admit I'm ready for cooler days, even got myself a new leather jacket.  Got my GPS that my sweet husband bought for me, installed on my motorcycle today.  I'm really pleased with how the mount looks.

Aug15Art

Got another new brush from Rosemary & Co.,  I watched all of Parka's videos of the Urban Sketcher's Symposium in Manchester UK.  If you watch the video below at the 2:39 you'll see the brush I decided I had to have.  I had looked at the brush before but couldn't decide if I wanted one or not.  Tried it out on this page, great marks you can make with this brush, holds a ton of water.  I'm going to enjoy using it I think.

USK Manchester Day 1 (27 Jul 2016)

Aug14Art

Ron and I took a ride out to the Francis Marion National Forest today, a favorite route of the Jeep club.  We watched some of the Olympics today, the show jumping, and women's diving.  Michael Phelps has had an incredible time at this Olympics, so I had to find a quote from him.

Aug13Art

Took a little ride out to Summerville this morning, had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel.  Got hot pretty early today,  we ended up doing our grocery shopping at 9pm tonight.  Gorgeous weather today.

Aug12Art

Got caught in the rain this morning on the way back from Columbia, so I got an opportunity to test out Ron's glove and boot drier.  Worked a charm, my boots and gloves were dry in time to ride my motorcycle out to John's Island for dinner at Gilligan's. I had the special, grilled Mahi Mahi it melted in my mouth.

Aug11Art

Anyone remember the Disney movie 'UP'?  This is one of the colorful characters from that movie.  Hollywood hasn't produced a movie in a long time that I thought was worth my time or my money to see, other than James Bond movies that is.  This one is from about 3 years ago, but still a favorite of mine.

Aug10Art

Doodles of Daisies, it has been a frustrating day of so many levels... I'm surprised these aren't black.  

Aug09Art

#SBS sketchbook skool Creative Lettering klass... this was harder to do than I thought it would be.  Didn't help that I left the 'n' out of contagious. The assignment was to alternate upper and lower case letters,  I chose a Vince Lombardi quote that is a favorite of mine.

Aug08Art

Not sure how he got there, but a very small baby lizard was in our computer room bathroom sink today.  Not much more than an inch long, he was trapped in the sink and couldn't get out.  So I had to catch him and put him outside in our front porch flower boxes (a favorite hang out for our yard lizards).  He seemed pretty traumatized because he froze when I put him down out there, but when I went back an hour later he was gone... so happy ending for the little guy.

Aug07Art

Ron and I joined a few friends that were going to Myrtle Beach this morning (we were headed to Georgetown for breakfast),  it was fun riding in a small group of friends.
Lessons learned from my outing the weekend, DO NOT wet the paint before the palette is secured.  I ended up with paint on my left and my right thumb trying to secure the palette. To avoid contaminating your blank page, secure the sketchbook (or paper) AFTER you secure the palette, same reason, paint on my thumbs transferred to the plain paper.

Aug06Art

I did see a Snowy Egret this morning, unfortunately I scared him and he flew away and did not come be the entire time I was there. Nice breeze kept the bugs away, but the heat became unbearable so I didn't finish it. I took pictures so maybe I'll finish it later.

Aug05Art

I love snowy Egrets,  such elegant graceful birds.  I never tire of watching them wade in the marshes looking for tasty morsels, or flying about with their long necks folded up and their long legs tucked up to their bellies or casually hanging down because for these birds aero-dynamics from their large wings can handle anything.  Hope I get to see some tomorrow.

Aug04Art

Marsh views... this one from imagination, if the rain holds off I'm hoping to get outside this weekend and paint on the local marsh.

Aug03Art

New Escoda Versatil travel brush,  actually used it to paint it's portrait.  

Another homework page in Diana Gessler's Nature Journaling class.  Fun page.

Aug02Art

Green shadow?  Contaminated Verditer Blue paint... sigh... reality if over rated don't you think?

Aug01Art

August... where did this Summer go?  I had an amazing adventure in June, and a quiet July... what will August bring?  I'm hoping for some cooler temperatures, July has been a hot one here.