pack 'em & stack 'em

A quick sketch while drinking tea in my dismantled living room before starting to pack more boxes. The movers come on Thursday to move everything out of my home. The boxes are labeled for storage or the new in-town condo. Luggage packed for Bali. I keep thinking about the boxes I have packed and labeled for storage...what are the chances I will ever open them, again? I mean really, I have one labeled "office supplies" and I have already forgotten what is in it.

packing, packing and more packing

We leave for Bali in three weeks. I spend my days packing and getting rid of all the stuff  I won't need. I am going to have my first ever storage unit for what I want to keep. I can not believe how much one can accumulate, so tomorrow is the big yard sale. Not sleeping much these days and without all my models lying around on the bed, I was left with me as the subject. It has a resemblance of me, but it's not quite right. I have a wide face, but my cheeks look too cherubic. But then again, it was 3 AM. Man, I'm getting old!

Today's highs—Arizona/105° Maine/65°

After a long day traveling, my cats are adjusting to life in the desert. They spend most of their time under the fans or spread out as flat as possible on the tile floor. My sister, who is adjusting two her new housemates, said it cooled down last night to 82°. That's cool?

Back in Maine the days are getting shorter and remarkably cooler. Last night it cooled to 43°. Now that's cool. Sitting outside for dinner and trying to sketch is getting harder as the lovely summer light is going away.

I want to be alone...

With the sun streaming in, Jazzy managed a full body stretch between the back of the couch and the pillow. This cat has no idea she is going on an airplane this Saturday. She and my other cat are spending the day in carriers under our seats. They are going to spend two years with my sister in Arizona while I live overseas . Saturday is going to be a very long day for all of us.

EDM challenge: draw something dangerous

I am a little afraid of martinis and that's why I don't drink them. A beautifully chilled glass filled to the brim with vodka. What so scary about that? I have friend who orders "dirty martinis" with three olives. I have had sip of this concoction and have subsequently asked if I could just have a glass of olive juice in that beautifully chilled glass. At that request, the wait staff will usually just walk away shaking their head. I end up with my usual glass of wine. 

This is a commissioned painting for a friend of a friend in Northeast Harbor, Maine. He obviously does not share my fear of the martini. 

I noticed the rim was a little "wonky", a word I learned in this EDM group, so I fixed that. The beauty of oils.

kitchen counter sketch book

I bought peaches five days ago. Still ripening...

There is nothing more anticipated and enjoyed than summer's bounty of sweet Maine corn. You fight your way to the gigantic pile at the grocery store, manuver your cart as close as possible to pick the best ears and then the wild shucking goes on right there into a large bin. I like to make a raw corn salad. The raw thing freaks most people out so I just don't tell them it's not cooked...

It is sometimes hard for me to put into words how much I love this scruffy little dog, except when she is standing on the back of the couch barking at everything and nothing... 

EDM challenge: draw a cat

Still in shock from the vet bill, I did this very quick sketch, last night, standing in the kitchen while the cats recovered from being poked, prodded and stuck. Exhausted from the thermometer, eye ointment and ear cleaning, Bobo slept while Jazzy in her usual clandestine behavior did that cat "crouch" thing.

I am not much of a "journal keeper", tending to just sketch and paint and then write on the blog. Inspired by many of you who add words to your sketches and the book 1000 Artist Journal Pages I am going to give it a try. The above sketch was my first attempt in yet another found old empty sketch book. I hope to use this not so portable sketch book here at home until I leave on my next adventure.

Sunny Sunday afternoon at home

My neighbors have an amazing flower garden. They are kind enough to let me cut whenever I would like. So seeing that they were off fishing, I wandered over and clipped to my hearts content. The gardens this time of year are starting to wane, but there were plenty of dahlias and black-eyed Susans.

Jazzy doing the "stretched out flat cat" move in the middle of the kitchen floor.

another showing...

View of Richmond Island from Crescent Beach—6" X 6 " oil on canvas board using small pochade box.

Fog still hanging off Richmond Island—watercolor in small Moleskine

Fog beginning to lift and the skies are clearing—watercolor in square handbook

My house is for sale, so when it is being shown to potential buyers, Sophie and I have to make ourselves scarce for an hour or so. We leave the cats to show everyone around. Today, to kill time, we went around the corner to the beach. It was nice to sit on a bench, enjoy the sun and sea breeze and do some very quick sketches in watercolor and oil. I forgot paper towels so none of my brushes really got cleaned between colors—so, a bit muddy.  People stopped to look over my shoulder, chat a bit and Sophie got lots of attention.

purple rain

After one of the very few clear days during our cruise, more rain was heading our way. Orange and yellow skies break through purple clouds just before the sun set behind Swans Island.

Cruising on the Penobscot Bay

Moored for a night at Swans Island after a day cruising through a major lightening and thunder storm. Jerry was at the helm in full rain gear and still got wet.

The sun came out for a beautiful evening at Swans Island.

With the warm sun out, we were able to dry out our rain gear and the towels used to swab down the cockpit.
Sitting on the deck sketching during one of our warm sunny evenings.
Isleford is a working harbor filled with lobster boats. Lobsterman go out quite early in the morning, so there wasn't much sleeping in that morning as hundreds of lobster boats roared out of the harbor before dawn. By the time we got up there wasn't a boat around us.

Cruising

Blueberries and cranberries from our hike on Frenchboro, long Island.

Our charted boat, Alliance, moored in Islesford Harbor after we had several buoys and 40 feet of line cut of the prop.

An amazing sunset over Mt Desert Island from the Isleford Dock Restaurant—"delish" local seafood and vegetables from their garden!

One of the thousands of buoys we dodged on our trip.

We took the dingy into town, in the rain, to get lobsters, clams and crabs for our last dinner. A celebratory evening, we managed to finish the last of the box wine and I scribbled my last sketch.

Island Sketch Book—the beginning

Heading Down East to Mount Desert Island after a stormy start and a night at Swans Island. My first day of sailing was in a thunder and lightening storm...
Dodging lobster buoys on our way to Isleford dock on Little Cranberry Island. 
Leaving Little Cranberry Island with the sails up heading to Frenchboro. The wind was from the northeast so I was wearing my parka...it's August!
Looking back to Mount Desert Island.

Leaving beautiful Frenchboro on our way to Winter Harbor.

Island Sketch Book—mid week

After a beautiful sunny day at Frenchboro we watched the sunset over Swans Island. We hiked along the most amazing coastline, collected smooth round rocks, had dinner on deck, saw stars and constellations that you can only see in such a remote location and watched the Bioluminescene in the water (which, I also found, you can see at night in the toilet when pumping/flushing).

On our way to Isle Au Haut we passed through Merchants Row with Mount Desert Island is in the background.
Passing by Flake Island and Mark Island on our way from a night at Isle Au Haut. We took the dingy into to town to stock up at the general store. Sarah and I then hiked and bushwhacked our way across the island back to the boat. Found more rocks for my island rock collection.

We spent the night in Winter Harbor on Vinalhaven. A protected harbor where we rafted up with friends and had a wonderful meal with lots of "wine in a box". We awakened to a very rainy morning...
Passing through the Fox Island Thorofare to stop in the town of North Haven. We all looked out at the skies and decided to stay on the boat instead of climbing into a wet dingy in the pouring rain. The hell with North Haven!

Island Sketch Book—the final day

View of Vinalhaven as we head into Rockland Harbor for our last rainy night.
The last day before going to shore and the skies are clearing.

taking a break

It's time to put the oil paints away and close up the studio for a week while we cruise the Penobscot Bay. This will be my first ever sailing experience. I am going with three others who were practically born on sailboats, so the teacher to student ratio is quite high. I am looking forward to some sketching, reading and my latest knitting project. Now if this fog would just lift...

Gus

Gus is a big 13 year old yellow lab who lives on beautiful Lady Cove in Falmouth Foreside, Maine. He has a wonderful life just hanging around with his best friend Charlie, who asked me to paint this portrait of Gus. They say every dog has its day, but not every dog has a pool. Gus does—lucky dog!

the last peony

A beautiful warm sunny day here in Maine. It was nice to get out of the studio and away from painting dogs to sketch the last peony in my neighbor Louise's garden. 

North East Harbor

We spent last weekend with friends at their home in North East Harbor on Mt. Desert Island Maine. We were fogged in most of the weekend so the view from their hilltop house and the evening boat ride to Isleford for dinner were somewhat obscured. Sunday the fog lifted enough for me to do a quick sketch before we headed back to Portland and REALITY!

lobster buoys

Lobster buoys wash up onto the rocks and beaches all along the coast of Maine. Although I don't collect them myself, many others do, and hang them all around there homes. They are so wonderfully bright and colorful, that of course, I love to paint them. So I either sit in front of people's houses and sketch or I take a snap and scurry on.  This was two of my ten pages done for Nina's Maruman called "Multitude". You can see the progress of our exchange here.