Another Beautiful Day

Painting in Karen's Garden Again

This is a quick little sketch of some things in Karen's garden.  My classes painted there last week, and the weather was perfect.  It is such a nice, relaxing place to be.  Just as an example of how relaxing and pleasant it is, the neighborhood mailperson eats her lunch in this chair.

The guys in the family planned a road trip to visit some car museums in Indiana, so I hitched a ride downstate with them to the Lansing, MI area where my brother and sister-in-law live.  I promised to sit in the back and keep my mouth shut.  I'm sure they didn't believe me, but they took me along anyway.  I DID NOT GO TO THE CAR MUSEUMS WITH THEM  -  not that there is anything wrong with car museums.  My sister-in-law and I bummed around some funky little galleries and art supply places in Lansing, and I found some nice decorative paper.  It wasn't easy, but we made it our goal for the day.  We had a great time, and she has salsa all over her purse to prove it!

This week is pretty calm  -  two classes, and then a painting day and bookbinding day, just for fun.  I have a lot of summer de-briefing and fall promotion to get going on.  So  -  if it doesn't rain, I am going to take my computer outside under the canopy and get some work done.  Oooops  -  rain!  Does that mean I don't have to work?

Gnarled Tree

Gnarled Old Tree Across the Street

After yesterday morning's class, I went over to paint with my friend Karen on her front porch. It was hot hot hot, and it was so pleasant on her porch. Many of you who have been in my summer classes know how beautiful Karen's garden is. So here I am painting this old gnarled tree across the street. It just called to me. It is all twisty turny and many shades of gray. I'll go back another day to paint some of the bright pots of flowers.

This week's classes met down by the river, near the spot where it dumps into the Bay. Sometimes I take all of this for granted. I mean, how many people actually live within walking distance to the place where a river dumps into a bay?! I need to remind myself now and then to pay attention. We all need to pay attention - where ever we live. There is beauty all around us if we look for it. I find that I look harder and with more appreciation when I have my sketchbook with me.

And this just happens to be the first entry in a new sketchbook.

In Karen's Garden

Spending an Evening Painting in the Garden

I realize we are about a month into the season, but I am still catching up on posting journal pages.

This page was done one evening sitting in the beautiful garden of my friend, Karen. We did some painting and a lot of talking. So nice!

Here we are now, five days into July. I have no classes today, so I think I will spend the day getting myself ready for the week. There are still plants unplanted, the house is pretty much a wreck, there is no food in the fridge, and it is raining. That's good! I'll clean up some projects, make a good grocery list (and shop!), and get things prepared for my two classes and a two-day bookbinding/journal workshop I'm doing this week with my friend, Cathy. She is preparing the bookmaking kits for the workshop and I am sitting here blogging. Time to get going.

I hope you take a minute to sketch something today. Two minutes. Really. You can do it!