Big BIG "doggie" :-) Our new Horse

Here's our new race horse that we claimed tonight at Yonkers.  His name is Wheretheparty'sat.    Nice horse, has a lotta guts.   This means I'll be doing more paddock sketches at Yonkers, YAY!  I love sketching horses.

Victorian Lamp

Hubby and I frequently got to Cape May.  During one visit,  we stayed at the Stockton Inn.   The Stockton Inn is an old Victorian and has a Victorian parlor where you can sit and relax.  This lamp was on the table and I sketched it.  I started a watercolor a while back and it did nothing for me, last night I painted over the watercolor with gouache and it came out much richer with the gouache.

Another sketch at the coffee shop

Hubby and I were at a wedding last night and are pretty exhausted today because we aren't used to being up so late anymore.  We're dragging a bit and we thought about napping but we figured it would kill our sleep for tonight.    I had a reserved book to pick up at the library and he wanted to inquire about downloading books to his IPad, so we headed over to the library, then went to our coffee shop that is directly across the street.

While he was playing with the on-line access to the library that he just received information about, I was reading my book.  We were there for a while and these bottles of syrup kept catching my eye.  I liked the colors and I just read an article the other day in The Artist's Magazine about drawing ellipses so I just had to pull out my sketchbook to sketch these bottles to try out the theory described in the article.

I don't normally like to do "still life" type art, but what I learn sketching in a coffee shop is great practice when I am out painting plein air.  Enjoy.

Sketches from last week

These are two sketches I did last week in Bellport, looking out over the water.  It was actually a nice evening, unlike this week.  March is so fickle, 70 one week, and snow the next.

One is looking toward the sunset and the other is the sky away from the sunset....it was a beautiful sky.

I am trying more sketches where I use watercolor straight with no pencil or ink first....I like the variations.

Tonight's Sketch...

Tonight I attended the SBAA meeting and Demo.  The guest artist was demonstrating painting with acrylics.

I did this sketch of the flowers, then of the guest artist doing the painting.  While this was going on, we had some serious thunder and lightning snow.  It was a thunderstorm but with snow instead of rain, what a freak weather anomaly.  This winter has been one of extremes.

On another note, Chloe has been getting better.  She's almost back to being bossy britches again.

Trying times

The past two weeks returning home from vacation were a little tough. No one likes to come home from a tropical climate and be back in cold weather again. Daylight Savings Time makes it a little less painful. The past two weeks have been focused on Chloe. We brought this little dog home not to be a pet but to make her part of the family. So much so, that when something bad happens to her, we all feel it.

Chloe has been ill. She returned home from boarding with another family looking worn out. Two days after coming home, we're off to the vet looking for some relief for her. A few days later, we're back at the vet looking for more help for her. Just when we thought she was looking better, off to the vet again for another malady.

This past Thursday, disaster again, only this time in the form of something we never thought of, laundry detergent. Laundry detergent had dripped on the floor when one of the kids did their wash, I noticed it and cleaned it up but not before our four legged child tasted it. I saw her coughing and knew she had already beaten me to it. Off to the vet again with a little dog who can't breathe or eat and breathing was very labored. This time it was scary. She sounded like that straw the dentist puts in your mouth to drain fluids. She had to spend the night to have her system flushed. I was very upset, we all were. Laundry Detergent is poison to a dog, especially a small dog. We picked her up Friday looking a little more like herself but a little worse for wear. She burned her little pharynx and her liver counts were off a bit.

Ah, such is life's ups and downs. Chloe is recovering, she is very happy to be back with us. We have to be more vigilant about what's within reach of her. She's part of our family.

Wow, where did the time go?

I can't believe it's the middle of March already. I am finally getting reorganized after vacation. The days go by so fast that I don't get to the laptop to do any updates or read blogs that I like. I am sitting in our local coffee shop right now as I write this...

One of the culprits of my time is the new addition to the family, Mack. Mack is a small long coat Chihuahua and is Chloe's half brother. We got him for company for Chloe. Puppies can really wear you out, LOL. He's adjusted well. You can see him above sleeping with Chloe, who is 9 months old now.

Chloe has been sick and that's been upsetting. We've had her back to the vet three times. Boarding her while we were in Jamaica fried her. We need to find another alternative to boarding her with another family because that didn't go over well with her.

The other photo above is one of the sketches I tried to post while I was away and couldn't. My daughter got sick while we were in Jamaica, so while she was sleeping in the room, Hubby and I were down by the pool vegging. It was really tough. Eight Days of total relaxation. I don't know how we coped, LOL. I did this sketch while we were by the pool, this was the flower bed in front of us. I really liked those flowers. There was a cute little dove that used to come down in the evening and walk in the flower bed. I was fascinated by his colors but he wouldn't hold still long enough for me to take a picture of him.

I love palm trees and did a few sketches of palm trees. I will be posting them later.

Ugh, back to reality.