It's Not Easy Painting Green

Our sketch group went to the Caldwell Lily Pond yesterday. It was a beautiful location but I'm still struggling with the Khadi paper. The paper is so absorbent that the paint just doesn't flow no matter how much water I use. Green isn't one of my "easy" colors either. I seem to go from dull to neon. It definitely was a green spot and I definitely prefer neon!

There was a huge frog in the pond. He made the loudest, strangest sound, not anything like I expected. He sounded like an air conditioner turning on - hmm, maybe it was his way to beat the heat.

I discovered that a Sharpie makes some nice lines on the Khadi so I think I'm going to change my approach in this book, maybe just sketching and eventually adding spot color later.

All in all it was a good day. A beautiful day, a beautiful location, good friends, good talk and I learned something!

I'm Late, I'm Late

I'm finally getting around to posting this. Last week we went to see "Lookingglass Alice" at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago. The show was superb. The Lookingglass Theatre never disappoints. The best part, however, was watching the wonder and excitement in our granddaughters' eyes as they were engrossed in the chaotic wonderland.

LOL, I hope they don't try any of those stunts at home - worse yet, at my house!

Summer in the City

Every summer I'm delighted all over again by the incongruous palm trees on Oak Street Beach!
We had a wonderful Fourth of July, sitting under those palm trees with family in Chicago, enjoying the beach, a delicious picnic and fireworks.

I hope your day was as happy and safe.

Where's the Happy Medium?

These two sketches are from our Monday sketch group. The first one was done at the Chicago Cultural Center where we also viewed the Romare Bearden exhibit. The exhibit was extensive and covered his many ways of working. Needless to say it encouraged us to discuss and chat. I didn't get much sketching done.

The second sketch was done last Monday at the Lincoln Park Zoo's new Nature Boardwalk. There wasn't much chatting going on and I produced this overworked watercolor. It was still fun and it's always good to make time to sketch but somehow I must learn to strike a balance between socializing and sketching! LOL