The Clay House

I totally agree with Judi ... the Clay house was a wonder of visions.  The tough part was figuring out what to sketch.   Well, I focused on this art piece ... first, I sketched the pooch to start a buddy art for Emily.  Then, I did the whole thing.  We had a wonderful time, a great group showed up, we heard reports of Mary & the gang's visit to Emily ...

THE TREASURE ISLAND CATS

After what seems like a months and months, instead of just weeks, I joined a very small, but dedicated, group of Whidbey Island Sketchers yesterday to visit Treasure Island Antiques and Collectibles in Greenbank. Many delightful "treasures" to see and sketch - furniture, china, dolls, lamps, etc. I was (of course) immediately drawn to this reproduction sabre tooth tiger skull (which was right next to the reproduction "Predator" skull. Ew). I was also drawn immediately to Henry the Wonder Cat, a very sleek and handsome striped fellow, who gave us all a head-bump "hello" greetings, jumped right into my car to explore it, and happily did his "trick" for us - climbing up an 8 foot ladder to the roof of the building so he could survey everyone down in his domain. Treasure Island has many lovely things for sale, but I think I want Henry.

In a "Secret Garden" in Greenbank

 The Whidbey Island Sketchers met at Deborah's beautiful "Secret Garden", full of summer perennials, high on a bluff above the sparkling waters of Admiralty Inlet, on Smuggler's Cove Road in Greenbank today. See all the pictures HERE. This is the sketch I completed today. LOTS of new things - new medium (Daniel Smith Watercolor Sticks), new surface (the paper in the book I made in Sandra and Meredith's bookbinding studio workshop) and new pens (Micron).

Meerkerk Rhododendron Garden Path

It was a glorious, sunny day for sketching at Meerkerk Gardens. As Mike said, there is so much to sketch here, we could come back every week for the next 3 months and still not capture it all.

With this image upload I reached my 1GB limit for free storage with Google. So, now I'm paying $5/year for Google storage.

Good Hair at the Greenbank Grille

I can't resist drawing a great head of hair. I hear she's a fixture at the Greenbank Grille.

Greenbank Grille

The NEW Greenbank Grille

Very excited that the Greenbank Store's restaurant is open again! From all indications, the new owners are going to make it a success. They're testing menu items, getting lots of customer feedback, great atmosphere, friendly service, good dinner music, open all day every day, very welcoming and accommodating to the sketchers.

Everyone wanted to sketch this beautiful still life bathed in light in front of the french doors. It's as if it were arranged with us in mind!

If you like James Taylor, you'll love Nathanial Talbot. He entertained us through the dinner hour. Still trying to figure out how to handle the Neo Color II crayons, but I got some good tips from Kris - for next time. Layer dry crayon, water, dry crayon, etc.

Greenbank Farm with Ducks

Greenbank Cellars

The wine wasn't pouring, but the rain was. We all had a marvelous time sketching in Betty's art studio, despite the November weather.

Betty's 'Pet' printing press on which she creates her famous monoprints.

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.