Savannah

I sat for about 45 minutes and did a rough sketch of the amazing City Hall on Monday.  The renaissance building in Savannah, GA was built in 1901 and the dome was gilded with sheets of 23 karat gold in 1987. 

I took a good photo so I can add a few more details and some color later.   Even the clouds were beautiful.  We were on our way to York, SC to visit my sister for a few days and stopped here for a morning.

We had a horse and buggy ride around the town and were glad we went in morning as temps rose to 90 by noon.  But I sat with shade and a breeze before we had to leave.  What a lovely lovely old town to spend time in.  Great restaurants too.

So hopefully I'll post this sketch again more finished soon.  But when you are "on the road" you have to take your sketching time when you can and take a lot of photos.  

After a few days in SC we'll head for WV. Those are long travel days so probably not much sketch time built in there.  

A Sense of Place

You'll be relieved to know the count down is over and we are off and headed to Savannah, GA this morning.

It's a gorgeous travel day and we are hoping for lots of sunshine in SC for Monday-Wed morning while visiting my sis and brother in law there.  Lots of midwest storms we'd like to avoid if possible.

So we now draw all the shades on the little bit of paradise in FL and head on to further adventures.  

Two days and Counting

This is my third page of "littles".  This group runs from April 2 to May 17.  Some rather momentous events.  We sold our canoe.  We bought a new car.  But most things are just happy life things like eating out with friends, swimming at the pool, hosting family, and backing up the computer.  You know...every day life.  

I realize looking back that I read SEVEN books in that time period.  Well I am currently reading the 7th...am not finished yet.  One was a Mother's Day gift and I couldn't put that down.  The others all borrowed on my iPad from the local library.  What a find THAT is!  
I am a fast reader so don't be alarmed that this is all I am doing.  
But I am not much of a TV watcher.  After dinner and news I tend to curl up with a book.  (Or work in the studio).  

All we have left now is a few simple chores around the house and then to pack the car tomorrow afternoon.  The latter is stressful.  But somehow it always gets done.  Greg is an amazing packer! 

Countdown: 3 days

Our little old Bottlebrush Tree out back has been cut back and trimmed so many times but it's hanging in there.  We sat out there after lunch in the two person swing and visited about our good times here this winter and the upcoming trip north.  

The breeze made the little glass decorations tinkle a little music and  the birds sang their hearts out for us.  The fountains made a lovely accompaniment in the background.  

The countdown is just 3 days now.  

Just the last minute things to do and then Sat packing the car (always the hardest part).  

Things are quiet around here with so many snowbirds already gone.  So it's time for us to take wing too.  I'll be posting along the way...adventures to follow.  

Thinking early May

Collections are by default fun to sketch.  When you have a rainy afternoon or are tired or need to be a bit meditative...sketching around the house is always fun.  And I like looking at these friendly objects that I live with.  These lamps are all in my studio.  Old friends. 

I sent away for a neat way to travel with my tubes of paint.  This is a long plastic "bit" that has pockets just the right size for wc tubes.  This is making my packing of the wc corner in the studio much easier.  

I worked on that some today.  

Then I also worked on packing my "mark making" corner (with pens, inks, wc pencils, etc). I have put everything I need for drawing class together in one bag.  I have to decide on what sketchbooks to take and that is always hard too.  

 Next I'll do Zentangle® supplies, and finally work on my Gelli plate mono printing and finally deciding on what books to take.  They are heavy and bulky so I cannot take too many.  

Lastly I put together three small accordion sketchbooks using cereal boxes for covers.  These are for my daughter and granddaughter who are visiting me up north next month.

I used some of my Gelli print paper to cover the cardboard and made cloth ties out of scrap cloth I picked up at the clubhouse rummage sale in March.  We'll have fun filling them together when they come.  

Farewell to April

Yesterday was a perfect weather day for sketching...although it was very warm (close to 90) there was a nice breeze.  Lots of shade at where we were.  We sketched at Simon's Feed and Seed store in Leesburg, FL...an old timey place that has a million things to sketch from birds and chickens to flowers and old farm equipment.  We could sketch there once a week and never run out of fun things to draw.  

This is my favorite Stillman and Birns 5 x 7 on a two-page spread.  (hint: I take a piece of glass and put it over the two pages before I photograph it.  That way the pages lay down nice and flat!)

The outing was also billed as the "snowbird" farewell as quite a number of us head north like the robins about this time of year.  There were 10 there and I know for sure we were missing two people. We had a nice lunch at Blooms on Main Street in Leesburg after sketching.  

I was very late because I had a haircut that morning but I got in a preliminary ink sketch and as you can see in the photo of me...I was taking a photo of the scene to finish painting at home.  What a great way to finish up the month of April.  

We are on the official count down now...19 days and counting.  
We have started the earliest chores but no serious packing yet.  Our lists are printed and on the fridge.  A tentative travel itinerary is set.  Today our dentist appointments will happen.  And we'll send the hold up north so the mail will start holding up there next week.  The newspaper stops this week.  This weekend I'll start packing up the studio.  It's my hardest thing to pack.  So I divide it into small jobs.  It's not only physically challenging but lots of decision making.  Friends and family sigh having to read about the count down AGAIN.  Most of them know our routine by heart now.  

We are headed to our grandson, Dylan's high school graduation on Saturday May 25 in Rockford, IL.  Then the cabin the next day.  

The ice just went off the lake up at the cabin last week.  This is always hard to envision when it's 90 degrees here!