The Colors of October

I am dazzled by the luscious colors of October.

Autumn bouquet from the yard

Bouquet at Flying Bear Flower Farm

Still life on the purple bench by my kitchen door

A blaze of glory in my backyard

Chapala

A few sketches from my latest trip to visit Phyllis in Lake Chapala, Mexico, earlier this month.

Bougainvillea in the QQ gardens

In the gardens at the QQ

Palm tree with carved initials

One of the privately owned homes in the QQ compound

On the Malecon

Bougainvillea

 

Christiana Park, Lake Chapala

Djammin' 2017

Django Fest is the very BEST of all Whidbey festivals, of which there are many. It's the only one I never miss. Sitting outside in the sunshine, listening to music, and drawing is my passion. It was a bonus that so many musicians this year had great hair for sketching.  BTW, the Double Bluff Brewery turned out to be the best venue in town for drawing musicians. And the warm pretzel with 3 dipping sauces is not to be missed.

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Sketching Djangofest 2017

A beautiful day for sketching the musicians playing in Langley at the Commons and at Useless Bay Coffee. All three of these were finished in a rush as the musicians broke up and left before I was done. The music was fantastic!

I'll miss you!

Despite early rain, it turned out to be an amazingly nice day at Cap Sante Marina. We had a great turnout, and it's always so much fun to join with the Anacortes sketchers too.

Thank you all for coming up to Anacortes and for adding Buddy Art to the last page to my boat journal. Never goodbye, just see y'all later!

Buddy Art created as we ate dinner at Anthony's

Paula and I went shopping yesterday and got masking fluid and a few new Daniel Smith colors

SKETCHING IN A RETRO "JAPANESE MODERN" HOME

We met at Sketcher Annette's unique and lovely early era Japanese Modern style home overlooking the Sound at Mutiny Bay. The view is extraordinary from her decks, and we all settled in comfortably in cozy deck chairs at tables. The spectacular, the view didn't appeal to me as much as did the exotic decorative pieces around the home. This golden rooster, one of a pair of handsome fighting roosters, especially caught my eye. I paired it up with a gilded imari bowl from a different room. Perfect together!
Fellow sketcher Judith lent me use of her neat set of gold watercolors, which made this guy really crow!

Flying Bear Farm

The Studio at Flying Bear Flower Farm

The Flying Bear Flower Farm compound in the highlands of Langley is home to artists Molly and David. They graciously allowed us all the run of the grounds so we could sketch the beautiful flowers, the brightly colored out-buildings, and Moon, the sweet Catahoula chow hound. I spent a peaceful, lovely afternoon under a tree in front of their art studio/atelier, among the lavender and hydrangeas. This sketch is also a "two-fer", as it fulfills the assignment this week for Liz Steele's Kourse in Sketchbook Skool of drawing a building, paying attention to shapes and patterns. 

Sketching Alpacas at Pronkin' Pastures

Last week the sketchers went to visit Pronkin' Pastures, a wonderful alpaca farm in Greenbank. They raise alpacas and make wonderful yarn out of their fleece. A bonus was that there are several babies. One barely a week old, and a few who had been born in the past month. So fuzzy!

 These are the gals having lunch. The guys are in another pasture.

   This baby is only 5 days old.

 This one is standing next to her mom. She is two weeks old.

 This one was very sleepy, so I had time to sketch her in a couple of positions.

Back at my studio, I had more time to do layers of watercolor. This is of the 2 week old girl above. 

If you ever get a chance to visit, Pronkin' Pastures, it really is a great place to meet and learn about alpacas. You can find out about the farm, and dates and times for on visiting them here. Pronkinpastures.com

Sketching at Double Bluff Beach

A "Two-fer" today - Sketching with the gang, and also turning in my homework for Miguel "Freekhand" Herranz's Urban Sketching Klass in Sketchbook Skool. His technique for Spiral Drawing (a very enjoyable technique, by the way) involves drawing out from a detailed central focal area, spiraling out to the edges. You can capture a lot of detail this way, without getting confused. It was a perfect fit for my day of drawing down at the beach with the Whidbey Island Sketchers. Double Bluff beach was having a very low tide and people were out it droves to enjoy it. At one glance up I counted around 45 people on the tide flats! 
I am always drawn to the driftwood "huts" that people assemble and leave on the beach, and wanted to draw the beach scene outside of one, from inside it. Sketcher buddies Barbara and Mary put together a driftwood seat inside for me so I could sit and draw. It was a perfectly wonderful 2 1/2 hours in the shade and sea breeze. You'll notice I did not say SUNSHINE, as the skies are still murky and smoke filled from the fires. But it was glorious, nonetheless.

Wild Man Cooley

I've been doing some outdoor concert sketching this summer. Lavender Wind Farm hosted four free concerts during their bloom season. Mary C and I went to see Wild Man Coolely a few weeks ago.  Sitting outdoors on a sunny afternoon, sketching and listening to live music, surrounded by the fragrant fields of lavender in full bloom is quite an experience. Add the taste of lavender scones and lavender ice cream and you've got all the senses covered. The band was excellent, but I couldn't get all of them on the page of my little sketchbook. 

Al Anderson House

July 30, 2017, almost ready! Back door entry.

June 7, 2015, under repair! Side view from Langley cemetery.

It's been a couple of years since they started remodeling this historic old farmhouse. I painted the 2015 sketch while sitting in the nearby cemetery.

My dog and I watch the changes happening while walking in the morning. The early morning light makes the old trees have dramatic shadows on the grass in the Spring; the late afternoon light puts a spotlight on the new green house color.   Amazingly, the front door faces North and is small and unattractive and I never noticed because it faces the Pea Patch and flower gardens, which grew up years after the house was built. 

There are many apple trees on the property and three cows that love apples. My idea of fun is to collect apples in the Fall and bring them to feed the cows.  It takes getting over being squeamish to put it directly in their mouth!  They have very long black tongues!

This house will become a vrbo, for rent.  The upgrades in the kitchen are modern but look compatible with the rest of the house.  It is cozy, sunny, and reminiscent of the era in which it was built; whoever stays there will enjoy the atmosphere and the neighborhood.

Rubatno: Joyful Music in the sunshine

MARKET, MARIMBA AND THE MERCANTILE

With the Sketchers today in Langley to sketch the street vendors and enjoy Kim Stokely's Marimba group performing at the Commons. I had no more than plunked myself down in my chair, under my umbrella, in the bright sunshine, behind the barricade in front of the vegetable stand, in the middle of the Second Street Market, than two kids sucking on big suckers crawled up into the Starboxx to have the obligatory in-the-Starboxx photo taken by their mother. The Starboxx is an art installation by John Alsip (or bus stop, or photo booth, or sculptural icon of Langley, whichever you choose) that sits in the parking lot, behind the newly remodeled rear entry of Prima Bistro, and the Star Store and Mercantile. As I already had the drawing done, it was a cinch to drop them into the sketch. I had only to reassure mom that their faces would not appear on the internet. Sorry Mom. I'm pretty sure no one will know it's them . . . !