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.

I think I "sketchercised"

Yesterday my energy was quite low, so instead of pounding my body into the ground with a run to the bridge, I headed out on a fast walk with Sophie. A walk with her is never quite as fast as I would like because she is very busy being a dog—we stop a lot. I do, however, manage to tug her along so we can get our heart rates up. At the last minute, I decided to jam my small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, a pen, bijou box and a waterbrush in the pocket of my fleece. Not at all confident that after all the effort to get it all in the pockets, I would actually sketch. However, I saw a granite bench overlooking the bay so after agonizing about stopping and quite a bit of tugging, I finally got the sketchbook out of my pocket and did a quick sketch of a tanker across the bay while Sophie watched. We then walked home and I told Sophie I think we just "sketchercised". 

Going out...again

This seems to be what one does when one lives in the heart of a city. I usually manage to find a small space at a table for my sketchbook and paints, though like last night it can be a little crowded. It was hard to find space with four of us at a small table, wine and water glasses, focaccia bread and tapas. So amongst the chaos, I did this small sketch while holding my sketch book while I ate, drank and chatted. Serious multitasking!

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.