Line 'em up, Line 'em all up. 3 of 15 scarecrows at a farmhouse in Cape Elizabeth. Brush pen and colored pencils.
Sketching at the farmers market. Dip pen, ink and watercolor.
Sophie and I glamming it up in front of our building. One last time in my Halloween costume. An olive green "witches hat" with a black veil made out of netting with spiders worn comfortably with my jeans, black t-shirt and pearls. 
Creating a watercolor background that resembles batik fabric.
Faces and masks on rocks using acrylics and varnish..jpg)
Acrylic on canvas board. Matte varnished applied after paint dried.
Acrylic and mixed media using local papers and batik fabric. Varnished when dry to seal.
Bali dogs possibly supporting the Bali Street Dog organization. Acrylic on 5"x5" stretched canvas. 1 1/2" border painted black. SOLD
We have a wonderful farmer's market every Wednesday in downtown Portland, Maine. It is getting cold here at night, so these days it is mostly filled with pumpkins and squashes, but there is still the last of the summer harvest available. I stopped to sketch this sax player before heading home with some of the vegetables I bought.
Assignment to use only three colors of pastel and paint to music.
Trying to smudge and blend the pastel.
My first time using pastel. I didn't even smudge or blend. 
Homework—Each week we get a homework assignment and this was a self portrait with India Ink. Night before class—tired!
House guests: Michael and Marcella are visiting the USA from Costa Rica. Michael is the son of an expat friend, formerly from Connecticut and a diehard Red Sox fan, who has lived with his family in Costa Rica for years. Marcella is from Buenos Aires. They own the wonderful restaurant, Salsapuedes, in Quepos Costa Rica. I loved the T-shirt she bought while here in Portland so I did of sketch of them last night. I gave it to them as a souvenir parting gift as they left for more USA adventures.
Beso: This is one of the many residents that live out at the farm that my kitties now call home. Beso is a "Schnoodle"—Standard poodle and Giant Schnauzer. When Nina throws a stick in the air, Beso goes airborne. She looks like a furry snowboarder.
Bobo: I bought the book Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists. When I feel like I am creatively stuck, I find some of her exercises help me work through the block. I especially like this one where you let the random paint marks "tell" what to draw. It is fun to just slop on the paint and go back later with a pen.
Bobo, my orange tabby and a dedicated flosser, has had a bit of a hard time with the transition. It seems as though Nina and her kids all have dogs that are easily 4' tall. However, recently he has decided that it is much better lying in the sun at the bay window near the crunchies then under the bed or in a closet with a dog or two between him and his food.
Nothing bothers Jazzy. She settled right in on the first day. Dogs of any size don't even faze her. She will sit on the back of a couch and just watch the dog antics on the floor then get bored and go back to sleep. As long as there is a sunny window with a comfortable place to sleep, she is a happy cat. 
Jazzy is a very social cat and loves to be with people. When friends come to visit she is usually in the middle of the party. She is not a small cat and there is not much room once she spreads out. However, the night before I took them to Nina's, I scooched forward and let her share the chair with me while I painted. We all then piled into the bed for one last sleepover.
We had a spectacular day with incredible views when when got above the tree line. I swear I could see my house on the coast of Maine from where I sat and rested before we headed up to have lunch at the boulder.
Waiting for my friends gave me time to sketch.
Merideth, Terry and Jerry coming over the ridge.
View from OP and Martha's house at the top of School House Ridge overlooking Northeast and Southwest Harbors.
A boat ride up Somes Sound.
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!
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.
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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!