Portrait #3 for Julia Kay's Portrait Party

Virginia Hein is a California artist, Urban Sketcher and a member of Julia's portrait party found here on Flickr. She has wonderful hair and a sweet orange cat.

Portraits for Julia Kay's Portrait Party

I joined Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr last week. The process is to submit/post photos of yourself on Flickr and in turn you do portraits of all the other artists in the pool. How FUN is that!!!

Over the weekend, we were enjoying the gift of warmth and sun for the first day of spring, so I was sketching outdoors. Today it is gray and cold, as it usually is this time of year, so I'm back in my studio (It's not really a studio, it's a desk or the kitchen counter or the dining room table or even the bed). Top is my first submission, which is of the host of this fun party, Julia Kay.

My second submission below is Mariah O'Neill.

The first day of spring

Sunny and 70° for the first day of spring, so it was great to get outside. Always lots of dogs frolicking at the beach.

Fetching,

chasing,

leaping,

playing stick,

and rolling in seaweed.

Cold north wind blowing today, so winter has returned.

March in Maine always seems to be...

...gray, cold, windy and rainy

at the beach

in the fields

at the tidal marshes

and in the city

but warm and cozy by the fire.

Exercise and other weekend activities

The temperature shot up to 55° this weekend, so I couldn't face the gym. Sophie and I walked 8 miles on the beach with a good friend on Saturday and on Sunday we ran five miles. It was great to get outside.

Sophie likes to stop a lot. There are things a dog just has to do. Then there are the times she doesn't want to go any further. We have learned to compromise. When she stops I will do lunges and when she won't go any further I pick her up and do walking lunges. You do what you got to do. We must be quite a sight!

Cold again and it was early so I was back at the gym. As I was lifting weights, a man came up to me and asked what I was training for? I looked at him and said "life, I guess". Yes, that's it, for my life. Sometimes I just don't want to do it (and sometimes I don't), but usually I do something everyday, because it is for life.

In between exercising in the gym and walking and running outdoors this weekend, I made these watercolor sketchbooks. Two were made from recycled books that I got a the "Dumptique" and three I made the hard cases. Thanks to Jana Bouc of JanasJournal and Shirley Levine of Paper and Threads for their informative posts and this $15 DVD that Kate had recommended to Jana: Bookbinding: A Traditional Technique, the handmade journal mystery has been solved. All were made with various watercolor papers and decorative papers that I already had, so I just needed a few bookbinding tools. It's actually quite fun and very satisfying. Also, a little addictive as you can see.

It blew and blew

The other night, during a storm, the winds were blowing about 6o miles per hour. The windows were rattling, the building was swaying (I think), the BBQ slide across the deck thankfully still tethered to the gas line and I even saw a witch on a bicycle (I think). The next morning I noticed several flower pots scattered around the neighborhood, both whole and broken. I knew they were from my deck and gathered up the debris. They were faux pottery so I knew no one had gotten hurt, but it must have been quite a sight seeing them fly off the deck.