Greenbank Cellars

Thank you, Betty, for letting us sketch around your charming winery. I think I found the only dry seat outdoors, atop the John Deere tractor under the shed, which provided a perfect view of the barn which houses the tasting and bottling rooms.

Chetzemoka

First in line for the ferry, Chetzemoka, from Port Townsend to Coupeville--from the driver's seat.

Around Whidbey

Tucked next to the Iskreme store in Coupeville are a collection of colorful birdhouses painted by local children

View from Kettles Trail

Sunday was a perfectly warm morning, after breakfast at the Tyee, to bike Kettles Trail in Coupeville with grandson and hubby. This is the beautiful brilliant view we saw as biking along the trail looking over Ebby's farms just a walking distance to the beaches on the Straits. The low hanging fog was starting to disappear off the water as the day became warmer. The Olympic mts and foothills in the distance were like jewels in strong hues of blue. Our mts in the NW are always a challenge for me to paint. I always get the values too strong and overpowering so consequently on this sketch, which I did by memory after returning home, I had to do a lot of rubbing them out to obtain a lighter value.

A Weekend in the Garden

FINALLY a sunny, warm weekend.  Lots of gardening tasks completed.  Heavenly to be outside in my garden.  Today I finished with a sketch on the front porch (left) while sipping bubbly & celebrating gardening chores completed. 

Yesterday, I sketched the driftwood bench on our back patio (below) while hubby bar-b-qued after a day of gardening.  What a great summer weekend outside in Coupeville!

PBY5A and Beach Boy

Beach Boy with friend on beach near Mutiny Bay













PBY5A.

Missy's Cornet Bay Sketches

 A couple of our good pals from Anacortes Sketchers joined us at Cornet Bay this week. Here are some of Missy's sketches.

In the General Store at Cornet Bay Marina (before we got booted out!)

Happy Hour at Flyers in Oak Harbor

Two Sides of Deception Pass State Park

Deception Pass State Park is the most visited Washington State Park.  And we know why!  I enjoyed sketching in both of its distinct sides on Whidbey Island.  First the forested West side with its BIG trees (Left).

Next, its Cornet Bay East side (below) with lots of boats and fishermen yesterday. What a treasure on our island!

Deception Pass State Park

The Deception Pass bridge from North Beach below. The grand scale was more apparent before the addition of color which I'm afraid detracts from the sketch. This is a subject that could probably be painted in a dozen moods and lights.

Ott and Murphy's and Mo's

A fun Sunday afternoon and evening of sketching with Sue. First at Ott and Murphy's wine tasting room in Langley then a walk down the street to Mo's for more sketching and Shepherd's Pie. Here's a couple sketches...

Ott and Murphy's rugs. As much drawing as I've been doing lately, it was a struggle to see things right that day. I felt dyslexic so concentrated on capturing the sense of light.



























Sue blocked my view so I made due. Of the number of sketches I did at Mo's this is the only one I halfway liked. The last was better but I gave it to the young man who was in the sketch.

One Mo Time at Mo's

Lots of people-sketching and fun at Mo's last night . . . The highlight of the evening was when some guy tried to buy Kris' sketch for $6.00 at the end of the evening. Very funny. Another highlight was the apple dumpling. We split one, but it was so good, we had to get a second one!

Chris disappeared so fast I had to make most of it up.

I think her gray face is a karmic punishment for leaving in the middle of my sketch.
You leave and I make you ugly.

Last call - no time to finish this one.

Joy & Craig Johnson Talk About Birds at SW Commons

Joy & Craig Johnson talk about hummingbirds at South Whidbey Commons

Technical Difficulties: Ed looks on while Gena troubleshoots.

I attended (and sketched) Craig & Joy Johnson's talk about birds at South Whidbey Commons last Friday. They put on a lively and informative program which included slides of Craig's wonderful bird photography from their new book, Our Pacific Northwest Birds & Habitat, as well as lots of insights about our local birds, bird watching, bird photography and even book publishing.  They are both passionate about protecting birds through education and community outreach. With that in mind, they recently published their first children's book The Amazing Hummingbird Story of Red Rufous, illustrated with Craig's watercolor paintings and inspired by a Rufous Hummingbird they watched and photographed daily from the time he was an egg in a nest at Earth Sanctuary! Check out this amazing slide show of those photos. Also check out all the fun and free stuff about hummingbirds on their website.

Sketch Rally

Who was it that sang that song "On the Road again". Roger someone?  Well we were on the road this week with a challenge, something rusty, something with 2 ears and a tail and something odd.  If you count the sun shining and warmth as something odd, my beach fort will fit the category.  Otherwise, I found a llama with a very strange colored coat, that reminded me of a giraffe.  The rust was a lovely sculpture done by Jean Whitesavage at the Bayview park and ride.  Look her up if you want to be impressed by large botanical work.

I promise.  The crooked horizon line was the scanner.

Jean Whitesavage/Nick Lyle sculpture

Cute face, but change the coat!

Big Day of Sketching

12:30 pm: Maxwelton Valley Cow (#11?)

Yesterday was a full day of sketching for me. I headed out at noon to do the Rural Whidbey Sketch Rally Challenge sketches and kept sketching through lunch, drinks and dinner at China City and book club!

I found cows on Maxwelton Road for "Something with 2 eyes and a Tail" and a rusty old truck on Double Bluff for "Something Rusty."  "Something Odd"?  . . . it was supposed to be the lower half of a man's body stick out from the open hood of the rusty truck, but it doesn't show up in the sketch. So, how about a guy taking a nap in Timbuktu at 2 in the afternoon? I found it odd that he wasn't snoring . . .

12:30 pm: More Maxwelton Valley Cows

 

2:30 pm: Rusty Truck on Double Bluff Road

2 pm: Lunch and a sketch of a napping patron at Timbuktu Coffee in Freeland

4 pm: Sketchers meet-up at China City. (Jay and Cathy)

7 pm: My book group meets on Wednesday evenings.

Another Sketch Rally Challenge

This week's Rural Whidbey Sketch Rally challenge had us looking for/sketching:
----Something Rusty
----Something with 2 Eyes and a Tail
----Something Odd (no self portraits!)

Fun stuff.  So here go my submissions:

Something Rusty  (old farm equipment at Sherman Farms) just outside Coupeville

Something with 2 eyes & a tail (bear chainsaw art in Greenbank)

Something odd (the great yard art in Roger Sherman's yard - made from old metal parts & farm implements) just outside Coupeville above Ebey's Prairie

And after the Sketch Rally, we sketchers gathered at China City in Freeland to compare our results.  I sketched folks at the bar during our Happy Hour. 

South Whidbey Commons

Sunday was a Summer Fun Fest 2011 at the South Whidbey Commons.  Hot Dog on A Stick prepared corn dogs and fresh lemonade,  The Tree top Bakery prepared the most delicious cake, entertainment was Trio Neuvo, a poet and another small group that I didn't catch the name.  Kids played with bubbles and dress up, china painting on the back patio.  All in all it was a Fun Fest and a good sketching opportunity, not to mention that my daughter and granddaughter were involved in providing the food from HDS, so I got to enjoy their company.

Cute Lahsa Apsos?

Jo watching the band

Trio Neuvo

Mo's Again

Langley's new watering hole, Mo's Pub, is turning out to be a great place for people sketching!

I was all packed up and ready to leave when I noticed what a great subject was sitting right next to me. Pony tail and baseball hat - couldn't resist. I unpacked my art supplies and did a quick sketch of Jenne. I think she was watching a hockey game on TV. When I asked how to spell her name, she told me the story of how it changed from "Jenny" to "Jenne." In high school, she and a friend thought they would be cooler if they changed the spellings of their names to something more exotic. She changed hers to "Jenne".  Even though the new spelling did not make her any more popular among her classmates, it stuck. I thought she was super-cool!  :-)

Ron, the coolest guy in town, chats up the La Rue sisters at the end of the bar.

Ron again!

The Garden Path in Langley

Today's sketching venue was Island Design in Langley. I was a little nervous about sketching in this beautifully appointed store, so I sat in their open doorway on the "The Garden Path" walkway and sketched the back of the neighboring building. I  may have bit off a little more than I could chew on this one. I got so lost in the foliage, I just finally gave up. I just can't seem to "see the forest for the trees." I'm giving myself an assignment of going back to draw this again - this time focusing on the big shapes in the foliage.

Catch up

Time goes by so quickly I'm not even sure what day it is! This yummy brownie, I definitely recommend it, is from Anchor Books and Coffee, an inviting new spot in Clinton next to Wild Birds Unlimited.

Kay Alsip and Chad Harding, volunteer models on the street at Langley's Fashion Weekend. Much fun and merriment and wonderful fashion choices from the wide range of Langley's merchants!

And Truman's oil sketch of Rod's house in Mexico, site of an elegant last dinner before coming home.

WW2 Flight Suit at the PBY Memorial Historical Display

This is an electrically heated WW2 era flight suit. There are  attaching points for electrically heated gloves, boots and, on the chest, for an oxygen mask heater. These suits were developed for patrol and bomber crews who routinely operated at high altitudes above 30,000 feet, where air temperatures could get so cold that flesh could freeze instantly to any metal it touched.

This spiffy little museum really is the best kept secret on Whidbey Island. Housed on the Seaplane Base in Oak Harbor, there are beautifully displayed Navy uniforms and artifacts, a gorgeous old Wurlitzer jukebox playing tunes from the big band era on 45's, a PBY flight simulator that you can try out, and of course, the magnificent PBY plane itself -- sitting on the hill outside. The enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteer docents are ready, willing and able to tell you about it all.




You may be asking yourself at this point, "What the heck is a PBY?"  Here's a teaser from their website:

Throughout the history of aviation, only a few aircraft have excelled to become legend . . .

Learn all about the PBY and the PBY Memorial Foundation Historical Display here.

In keeping with the Naval aviation theme, we stopped off at Flyers' Restaurant and Brewery for one last sketch.

The XO's Desk and Uniforms

The XO's uniforms and desk at the Aviation History Museum, NAS Whidbey. The PBY Memorial Foundation docents were so knowledgeable and helpful and I especially enjoyed viewing their DVD of the beginnings of the base in Oak Harbor. Then later, we captured some of the locals bellied up to their "desk" at Flyers.