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.

Yarmouth Island watercolors

My first sketch after arriving on Yarmouth Island. As I  bushwhacked my way along the trail, I got eaten alive by mosquitos, stabbed in the brain by a branch and I skinned my knee trying to duck under a blow down. Scraped, scratched and sweaty, I finally arrived on the other side of the island at place called South Rocks. I sat on a sort of flat rock with my paints perched on a sort of flat rock with the sketch book and Sophie in my lap...crazy!
Twelve of us "Island Women" had evening cocktails on 'The Mountain" the first evening of my arrival. Though sunny, warm and humid, I was clothed in long sleeves and long pants so I could paint. This vista looks Down East towards Small Point, Maine. Of course, these blood thirsty island mosquitos managed to torment me enough to make this a bit messy.
The next day Sophie and I hiked along the water from "The Mushroom" , a 100 year old cabin where I stayed, to the dock. We stopped and while I painted Sophie was able to keep cool by lying in the wet seaweed as the tide receded.

my brother

We had a good old fashioned family reunion a few weeks ago here in Maine. It was wonderful to have the whole family together, again. This is my brother, James, the youngest of us three kids.  I decided that tonight's quick sketch before bed would be a watercolor portrait—MY FIRST.  James has a great look with that hat and moustache. 

big cat, small bowl of crunchies

Busy days, so, not much time for anything but a quick sketch before sleep. I am always amazed at how big this cat is and how little food she is allowed. She must be snacking on spiders and bugs at night when we are asleep.

edm challenge: draw an onion

Still have three pet portraits to do...

practice, practice, practice

One down, three more pet portraits to go. Being an excellent procrastinator, I can find many excuses not to start. Here's a good one...I need to practice using my watercolors and this lemon and these flowers aren't going to be around much longer. For this post, I did a quick pencil sketch—no ink.

Peir, a Guilding Eyes for the Blind "stud"—RIP

Peir died when he was 12 and he is greatly missed by his family. He failed as an actual guide dog but lived a wonderfully happy life as a "stud" for the Guilding Eyes for the Blind Organization. In his 12 years he produced over 50 guiding eye dogs. He was a very happy, friendly dog with a goofy personality. His family claims he had a great sex life...

EDM challenge: draw your breakfast

Sitting at a cafe table in front of Mister Bagel in the Old Port. This is not my breakfast because I am drinking a low carb Monster energy drink while I sketch Jerry's breakfast and practice with my watercolors. His breakfast looked soooooooo good and much better than this drawing.