Late summer days

We have had such a wonderful summer here in Maine. I have lived here for many years and I have never seen the sun shine so many days in a row like it has since early July when I returned from Bali. Of course, some say this will mean a very cold snowy winter (please, no). When you live in Maine you learn to live with very unpredictable and many times disappointing weather. Someone once told me "in Maine we have 11 months of winter and one month of bad sledding". But for now, we are continuing with beautiful sunny warm late summer days through next week. How cool is that!

Harbor view

We sailed through the passage known as the "Deer Island Thorofare" which meant we would pass by beautiful Stonington Harbor on the southern tip of Deer Isle. Filled with lobsters boats, it is still a working harbor and has been for generations of lobsterman and fisherman.

Transitions—SOLD

I have lived in Cape Elizabeth Maine for many years and after selling my very old house on a beach, I moved to this sweet little neighborhood called Shore Acres on Trundy Point just down the road in 2004. I bought an old 1959 ranch house and renovated it in a mid-century modern style. New open floor plan, George Nelson lighting and furnished with a collection of mid century modern furniture.

Needing a new project, I sold that house and bought this old rundown 1958 ranch (above) across the street. A real "fixer upper"!!! Another mid-century modern renovation with Eichler triangular windows, retro atomic lighting fixtures and a wonderful modern style garden/courtyard viewed from every window in the house. I sold the house a couple of weeks ago to a wonderful family who wanted a contemporary home. After much negotiation, we settled on a price and it is now theirs. This ends another chapter in my life as I am already into the next one—Bali Indonesia and downtown Portland Maine.

Penobscot Bay cruise 2010

Map of our week long cruise

We spent a week cruising the Penobscot Bay on Zora a lovely 38 ft. center cockpit sailboat. We left Rockland Harbor the afternoon of July 31st. First stop for the night was Perry's Creek on Vinalhaven. Our daily destination was always decided in the morning after a leisurely cup of coffee or tea.

It was a busy week before we left for the cruise. Along with selling my house the day before we left, my hair had to be cut off because I managed to fry it in Bali—hair color and swimming a mile a day in a chlorinated pool don't work so well together. So before we set sail it all (or much of it) had to go. It's short and fun and the general consensus is it's a keeper, but it is still not back to it's healthy self, so every morning it looked like some Osprey had nested in it over night. Basically standing on end and going every which way. I had a kind of "Osprey nest bed-head" style the whole trip. Good thing we were mostly on the boat and there are hats!

On day 2 we sailed through the Fox Island and Deer Island Thorofares to our destination of beautiful Frenchboro Harbor, Long Island. Incredible views of the mountains of Acadia Park on Mt Desert Island.

Day 3 we sailed into Southwest and Northeast Harbors looking for showers and supplies. Then a beautiful sail to Isleford where we moored for the night and had dinner at the Islesford Dock restaurant—delish!

Glidden Point oysters for everyone but me. I don't like to eat them but love to draw them.

I had to at least have a bite or maybe two of this fresh homemade Raspberry crisp.

Penobscot Bay cruise continued

We spent the night of day 4 moored in Blue Hill Harbor. It was good to get off the boat and walk 1 1/2 miles into town for an afternoon latte, checking out the galleries and picking up a few more supplies.

After a wonderful long sail through the Eggamagin Reach we ended up a Bucks Harbor for the night of day 5. This is a wonderful protected little harbor. It was such a warm sunny evening that us brave ones jumped in the icy Maine water for a swim. If you floated on the top you could feel a warm layer of water from the sun. Other than that it is just damn cold. A warm hose down shower on the deck and drying out in the sun made it a prefect day.

The next day wasn't as perfect as the fog came in overnight. They were predicting thunderstorms so we motored and then moored in Holbrook Harbor on day 6, a sheltered cove near Castine. Sunny and warm the next day so a brisk icy swim got the day started. I usually scream when I hit the water and swim as fast as I can around the boat muttering "oh my god, oh my god" and then I'm out and totally awake.

We had lobsters on the deck that night in Holbrook Harbor. Eating the fresh juicy meat and tossing the shells over our shoulders into the water to become part of the planet again.

We had a lovely long sail of up to 8 knots to our final destination in Camden Harbor.

It was a lovely week.

Gone sailing

It has been such a busy summer and now it is time for our 3rd annual sail through the Penobscot Bay. Though I am not a sailor, I am with three very experienced life long sailors. So, I do what I am told and there always seems to be a lot of dishes to be washed. So besides being the head scullery maid, I am able to spend much of the time sketching and painting—lucky me! Now if we can just get this beautiful Maine summer to continue through next week...

Dinner party people

A business dinner/meeting about sustainable fishing. Since I was just "arm candy" I was able to some quick sketches of some of the guests between courses. Most of them thought I was taking notes—HA, fooled them!

On the waterfront

Portland Maine still maintains a working waterfront. Every morning bright and early the lobster boats set out in any weather. I can't imagine what it must be like out there in January.

Sophie and headed down to one of the piers the other day so I could sketch. I don't know why I take her, because I don't focus or concentrate as much. I am always concerned about what she is up to and having to reel her in, so these lobsters are a bit of a dark and muddy watercolor mess. It's good to have someone to blame...

Docked after a day out on the water. The seagulls go crazy, chasing after and swarming these boats. From our home we watch them swoop around the buildings squawking as they look for food and garbage along the waterfront. They often perch on our roof top near the deck or on the skylight which throws Sophie into a barking and growling frenzy. They are part of the sights and sounds of living here.

Portland Harbor night view

A hot noisy Saturday night in town—like a summer party. Sophie and I spent the evening on the deck. I painted and she was ever vigilant growling at seagulls and napping in between. I did this painting without ink or pencil. Just watching the lights and the boats in the marina across the harbor as the sun went down and the moon came up.

Hot summer days in Maine

Sea roses on my walk along the Casco Bay.

New bouquet for the table in my favorite lime green rubber vase.

Sketching potted flowers in front of one of the shops in Portland.

Using the rough watercolor paper that I bought years ago when I had no idea about watercolor paper.

Tried adding pastels to just to mix it up a bit.

This is Jazzy, the other of my two very large 13 year old cats.

She is usually sprawled on the floor like an area rug.

Settling back into Maine life

Now that I am no longer in tropical Bali, I am having to adjust my palette to capture the more grayish greens and blues of Maine.

Small bouquet from the grocery store. In Bali flowers grow all over the yard, Frangipani blossoms fall off the trees and float in the pool, orchids grow on all the trees and Bougainvillea spill over the walls so I never need to buy flowers to have in the house.

This is Bobo one of my two 13 year old cats. Being senior kitties they have slowed down quite a bit, sleep a lot and are on a big diet. Still hungry for more crunchies they meow like this "meow" and then lie down on the kitchen floor staring at the empty bowls. Eventually giving up and finding a chair to fill.

Unlike my big old American cats, my little Bali cat, Howard, couldn't weigh more than 4 lbs. When she wants something she meows like this "yeeeeoooooooow" along with serious ankle biting. She always gets what she wants!

A road trip to Georgetown Maine

Georgetown Cove

(3"x5" study in small Moleskine)

The cove at the beginning of Indian Point Rd. It was so green and I have such a hard time mixing and painting greens.

Indian Point View

(7"x9")

View from the deck of my friends house in Georgetown—Daylilies in full bloom, jagged rocks, tide pools, crashing surf and open ocean as far as the eye can see. I went up one day this week thinking I would find some relief from the heat, but along with the amazing landscape, I found giant mosquitos and man-eating deer flies. I was as hot as it was in Portland and when we took our 8 mile walk I frantically flailed my arms around my head trying to ward off the vicious beastly insects that live in beautiful Georgetown.

Portrait of Leona

Back to doing portraits for Julia Kay's Portrait Party but now I am at my desk as opposed to an airline seat. I am slowly adjusting to the time change and the heat has finally subsided so it's time to get out and paint beautiful summer in Maine.

A long journey home

I left hot humid Bali and arrived in hot humid Maine. 95° and no AC here so it has been impossible to blog or post. Today it has cooled down to the high 80's and a bit of a sea breeze off the harbor so it seems quite lovely and finally I am able to post from my travels.

From Bali to Singapore is a short 2 1/2 hour flight and then at midnight they put us on an 11 hour flight to Frankfurt where we get off with all our belongings, walk around a corner, go through security again and then re-board the same plane for a 7 hour flight to JFK. Then I still have to get to Maine. Door to door is 34+ hours...

They served us dinner at 1:30 am. One of my choices was Khor Moo Yang—grilled pork neck...so I asked for soup and got the above cup of noodles which I sketched as it cooled down.

I took printouts of some of the folks involved in Julia Kay's Portrait Party to work on if I had the energy to draw. Sometimes I just read and try to sleep, but I had 11 hours to kill . So, somewhere between Singapore and Frankfurt I did some portraits.

By this time I had put the watercolors away and just sketched.

This one was done on the Frankfurt to JFK leg.

Saying goodbye to Bali

The rooster who wakes me up every morning at 5 AM.

The neighbors down the street with the temples in their compound.

"Old crooked tail" a wild cat that I can't catch for the "snip snip".

I catch Howard drinking out of the pool even though she has a fresh water dish nearby.

Saying goodbye to Howard, my sweet Bali cat.

Capturing moving Legong dancer

I took a life drawing workshop from a dutch artist, Noella Roos, who lives here in Bali. We worked large—3' x 4', on the floor, with charcoal. It was challenging for me because I never use charcoal and never work this large. The model continued to dance as we attempted to captured the initial "S" shape of her body—shoulders, spine and hips and then work from there. An afternoon of crawling around on the floor with charcoal—what a mess!

Exploring Bali

It took a while for my mysterious Bali virus to work it's way through my system. I was finally feeling better when good friends and family came to visit from the USA. We've had a full house so we have been busy exploring beautiful Bali.

Some of us took a thee day tour with our friend Astika, a Balinese manku (priest) who knows all the ins and outs of Bali.

Sketching the local villagers when we stopped along the way.

We spent a night at a sweet hotel in the tiny seaside town Amed on the east coast of the island. These two Running Ducks, Ollie and Punky are clearly in charge. They run around the open-air dining room quacking for food, then run over to the infinity pool for a drink or a swim. Quack.

View overlooking Lake Buyan at the top of the mountains. As we climbed the steep winding roads newly harvested cloves and coffee were drying on large mats in front of all the houses. The cool dry air was thick with the wonderful smell of cloves.

Sunset ceremony at Pura Tanah Lot

Astika is a manku (priest) for the beautiful scared temple Tanah Lot on the west coast of Bali. The little temple sits a top an outcrop of rock in the surf that can only be accessed at low tide. It is supposedly guarded by sea snakes and thankfully I did not see any when we crossed through the water in our sarongs and flip-flops. Because we were Astika and his family we were allowed to have our ceremony at the top which is not open to the public.

Sketching the temple from the land while waiting for low tide. I had a pretty good audience while I did this little drawing.

Our friends Ben and Sarah after the ceremony which involves meditative prayer, holy water, incense, rice and offerings of flowers. After each prayer a flower is tossed to the alter and one goes in your hair.

Astika, his wife Made, an elder manku, Ben, Sarah and I after the ceremony. That's me second from the left.

Last light before we headed back down to cross through the surf to the mainland.

A very special day in Bali.

A slight setback—sangat sakit (very sick)

On Saturday afternoon, May 29th, before I was able to finish drawing and posting my Every Day in May challenge, I came down with a bug—chills and fever put me to bed and I slept for 14 hours. On Sunday, thinking I was better, I ventured out and then collapsed again that night with a high fever. On Monday, though I felt better, I went to the doctor (in a foreign country!!!) and was told I had a temperature of 38c. Being from the USA, I had no idea what the Fahrenheit equivalent was to that number, but I went home with something to reduce the fever and antibiotics for all the other bad stuff.

I am finally feeling better and the Every Day in May challenge completed.