we thought you was a toad

(a favorite line from "Brother, where art thou?") This fat little toad has taken up residence under the hosta next to our garden hose. He blends in beautifully with the rocks and shadows and seems totally unconcerned and uninterested in my comings and goings.

antioxidents

I'm trying to convince myself that the "good" stuff in the blueberries and oatmeal cancel out the cup of butter and sugar in the blueberry crumble bars I baked today.

nasturtiums

I found a lone blossom on my nasturtium today and decided to do a sketch, which led me to think about my Grandfather who did delicate watercolor paintings of nasturtiums, which led me to get out some old letters I have that he and my Grandmother wrote to each other when they were "courting", which led to this page. (sort of like the house that jack built).

summer

just in case there was any doubt after yesterday's 95 degrees, the bucket full of brightly colored glads in the grocery store confirmed the arrival of true summer.

me, AGAIN

seems like I've been in a self-portrait rut lately--I guess lack of models will do that to a person! This one is actually for a portrait exchange I am taking part in. Each person starts with their own moleskine sketchbook and does a self-portrait. They send it to the next person in line who then does a portrait of the owner (using photos--these are all strangers) and so on. When your book comes back to you, you have a bunch of portraits of yourself done by artists all over the world. Cool, eh? My little book is off to South Africa......

safety in numbers

the page I turned to today had stitching and folded over paper from yesterday on the page. With that as my starting point I just started playing with paper and paint with no destination in mind. It is an interesting exercise because almost always some sort of "theme" develops without my being aware of it or working towards it. Today I ended up with scary faces or demons and numbers. The word "safety" pulled the two together. I'm not sure what the Freudian interpretation might be.......

tri, tri again

today was triathlon day for me. I slept poorly and woke up at 5:30 thinking "why do I do this to myself?" But then you get into the water and there is no turning back and it is a beautiful summer day and you finish feeling great (tired, but great) and that is why you do it. My journal entry is decidedly on the "scrapbooky" side but, hey, cut me some slack, I did a triathlon this morning!

summer shandy

I'm a "fair-weather" beer drinker--literally. It only really sounds good to me on a day like today, when the temperature and humidity both headed into the 80's. An evening storm and a summer shandy--the perfect cure.

radish redux

last week Peggy got me inspired by radishes, today it was my friend Kirstin. She is an amazing, hardworking gardener and I was lucky enough to snag some of this year's first bounty--a beautiful bunch of fresh radishes. (couldn't fit the full page spread on the scanner, but you get the idea)

father's day

I really do realize its not quite Father's Day, but I had to get the card done early in order to get it in the mail. Just consider this your early warning system!

wasabi

I spent the day painting.....but it was on walls, not paper. Still, its a good feeling to have lovely fresh paint on my studio walls. Scotland Road and Wasabi Powder. Would you know what colors they were without the evidence?

theory

I'm house-cleaning challenged in the best of circumstances, so adding two college boys plus "stuff" to the mix is not pretty. Today I tested my zen-like theory that I could learn to love the mess if I embraced it or celebrated it. Score: mess-1, theory-0

busman's holiday

I decided to try and get something on paper before I headed outside today. I knew once I started hauling woodchips and stones and digging in the dirt I wouldn't get back to pen and paper. So, the first thing that captured my attention was the old red wheelbarrow outside the window--just can't seem to get away from it.

radishes

my friend Peggy called this morning to tell me about the beautiful bunch of radishes she was cleaning in her sink (hers will become part of a graduation party veggie tray, rather than part of a still life). She loved the way the red and green looked in the steel sink with the black marble background. I love the fact that she called to report on her radishes! Because that really is the point of this exercise-- noticing the "art" in our lives everyday. Thanks, Peggy!

cherries

sweet, red cherries....mmmm. These are different than the dark sweet cherries that come later in the season but I'm happy to have them to paint and eat.

the conversation

while walking the dog tonight, I overheard several crows having what was unmistakably a conversation, complete with inflection, interruptions and even laughter. I wonder if they were making fun of my outfit?

peppers

a brand new box of little sweet peppers--I took a moment to sketch them before they became part of dinner.

remains of the day

I decided to get something on paper early in the day before the time got away from me. The closest thing at hand was my well-used breakfast tea bag sitting on its little green dish. I mixed up some strong instant tea to paint with--I like the way it looks. ( It didn't occur to me until just now that I could have used green tea for the little dish.)

busy

Trying to take advantage of the beautiful (still bug-free) days doing outside projects has taken its toll on the inside ones. By the time dusk rolls around--later and later these days--I'm dirty and tired. Not much energy or inspiration for art making. So, I'm posing a little painting I did some time ago that I found tucked away in a drawer.

rabbit, rabbit

a college roommate used to write a note to herself to remember to say "rabbit, rabbit" as the first words in a new month, for good luck. I hadn't thought about that in a long time, until this morning when I saw two rabbits having breakfast on the lawn. Good luck for June, I hope.