Back From the Beach

All fabulous trips must come to an end, and our journey to the Cape was no exception! We never seem to have enough time to do all of the things nor see all of the people who we wish to see, but we always have a wonderful time!

As the saying goes, "If one is lucky enough to be at the beach, one is lucky enough!!" We certainly feel that way!

Becca spent her usual ridiculous number of hours in the surf in very cold waters, having a wonderful time boogie Boarding and then treasure hunting amoung the flotsam.

Becca's amazing stamina even managed to convince Uncle Peter and cousin Kate to join her - for a few moments of fun and shivers!!! This cold water is not for the timid- it hurts!!!!!

It was so wonderful to get some beach time with our family! We also managed to fit in a sunset at Rock Harbor on the bayside, before brother and neice had to start the long trek home to Tanzania.

We also spent some great beach time on the bayside. The beaches on the bay have a great tidal change, warmer water and great critter watching opportunities.

It was such fun to see the minnows gathering around her hand when she placed it int he water and was very still!! She spent quite a few happy moments watching and collecting. Note: NO minnows were harmed in any way during these observations!!!!!

Becca got a few Skim Boarding lessons from our friend Bryce, but contented herself with watching after a few attempts. Bryce has been working on his technique for a few years and is very good!!

On another day at the bay, on an incoming tide Becca and Laurel had some nice chat time while floating about. Life was definately low key and relaxing!

We also had a wonderful time visiting my parents and their crazy dog , Roo the rescued greyhound.
Time is always too short when we visit, but at least we are able to visit! Hopefully next summer it will not be quite so hot!! My mother's gardens always give me lots of inspiration and some great photo opps, now if we can just do something a bout the bunnies nipping off the brown eyed susans, midstem...........

New Art

It has been brought to my attention that I have not posted in a bit! All of three days I think!! I ahve a piece to share that has been finished for quite awhile. I could not post it before as I had created it for apublication that had asked for submissions. The theme was Life Is A Beach. Apparently they got pictures of pieces form over 220 artists and they chose 12 pieces for publication. So I am not alone in being passed over! I can't get things chosen if I don't submit pieces and I will not get chosen every time- that is for sure.

So here is my piece, titled "Her Bliss". This is a mixed media collage that tells the story of my daughter's love of the beach. She is quite happy near any running water, even if it is only the hose, but she LOVES the ocean. I based this piece on three photographs that I took during one of our annual Cape Cod road trips. Blogger has insited three times on publishing this picture on it's side (so I said Uncle) sorry that you have to trun your head!! I wanted to share how I had used the photograph of the beach umbrellas to launch the work.
This is all done on an 11x17 canvas.


I took that Rt 6A image from another photograph, printed it out on regular paper and slapped it down.


I also added bits of newspaper articles and parts of images from local Cape Cod newspapers and a piece of a topographicval map of the Orleans Eastham area. If you click on the photos to enlarge you can pick out some of these details.


The two images of Becca were printed out on silk after a bit of editing and enhancing with various filters on Photoshop.

Here are some closeup details:


All of the holes in the shells are found holes- I found the shells that way- work created by various sea critters. I added bits of needlework and stitched the silk images to felt backing to give some depth to the machine stitichings. I wanted to frame the pictures just a bit and used the stitching to do that.


I am really quite happy with the results and I am thrilled to have created this piece even though it was not selected for publication. Now we have some more art for our own collection!






And now for something completely different!

I am continuing to take watercolor painting classes with my good friend Ariel Freeman. She shared a newly finished piece with us during our last class. She had recieved a commission to draw a Buffalo, in pastel, for a woman who had grown up in the midwest with Buffalo on her farm. I asked if I could take a picture of the piece and she allowed me to. Now I will share with you! Ariel is really getting lots of good recognition lately and she sold the piece that she had submitted to the Feast For the Eyes Show, on opening night!!



I just love this piece!! Isn't he just wonderful??? We got to see many buffalo up close and personal, when we lived in Oklahoma. The kids and I were even lucky enought to bottle feed a rejected calf!! I am very lucky to be able to take classes with such a talented and supportive artist!!!

I still have much to do along the organization of studio lines!! No I am not yet ready to show pictures of a stream lined and deduced stash art space- it has gone on far too long. I plan on diving in yet again this weekend. SIGH!!!