My joy right now

I am falling in love with this little person I call my grandson. I know you always love them but when you get to spend alot of good quality time with them you start to develop that special bond. I have been given the opportunity to watch him every Tuesday for the next 6 weeks for the whole day. I often see him during the week but other people are around and there is alot of distractions and noise. But on these days its just him and I, Jennifer goes off to school and the last two weeks we have gone to Martas to swim. It has been so much fun and so relaxing. We bought some toys for the pool today and had a floating ring which was fun. We swim for a few hours after lunch and then go home for a nap and snacks and fun. He is so much fun right now, I have been giving him eskimo kisses where I rub my nose on his before I kiss him. Today when I was holding him he wanted a kiss but he pointed to my nose and then his. Ahh those boys are so much fun, thank you God for that gift to our family!

Date Night

Last Friday, Randy and I went on a date night to the Newport Hyatt hotel where they have a summer jazz concert and dinner etc. It was really wonderful and perfect weather. Ottmar Leibert was playing and I have a few of his albums so I really enjoyed myself. I took some pictures and painted the next day, the hotel had colored lights shining on them so it was very dramatic and great for painting a mood. I have done two but would like to finish the whole group. I normally don't really like the stuffiness of these kinds of places, everyone putting on an act and trying to outdo the other guy. Randy and I were talking about it over dinner and he said, " Everyone's the same, we just drive different cars" I think that a great statement and so true but I don't know if I feel that way because we drive a handicapped van!

REVISED IT!

Ok, I just didn't feel it was done and my group agreed, so instead of just redoing it, since its pretty good size, I just worked it more. I think I like it better, waiting to decide is its done, your opinions count!! Although I love to garden and my yard is usually full of flowers I don't paint them, too fru fru ,fussy and victorian for me I guess. Vote now!

Annabelle is making Snowballs in June

My garden is bursting with color and painting opportunities. I find I have such limited time to paint unlimited subjects. I spent a wonderful day with my grandson Nathan, whom I adore, and we went to Marta's to swim. Marta is the hostess supreme, she had snacks and homemade chocolate gelato! It was so yummy and perfect for a warm summer day. Nathan has never been in a real pool before so it was a great day full of new adventures. He slept well and when he left I decided to steal a minute to paint some Hydrangas I have. The are so full of blooms right now, the variety is called Annabelle and the flowers look like huge snowballs but about 12" wide! Really an amazing site in the yard. I have a bunch cut in the house now. Although white they have a creamy yellow/green undertone.

Kitchen post

In a online watercolor group I am in the asked us if there was something in our kitchen that was screaming out to be painted. I had gone to the market and bought tons of fruits and vegetables, their bright colors and different smells all were screaming to be painted. But then the bag of mushrooms sitting quietly by themselves, never pushy or rude, patient and not screaming either color or strong odors. I knew that they needed to be painted. The color for June is pink and keeping that in mind I immortalized the mushrooms! Just in time, I might add, since we are going to have them for dinner! Bon Appetit

A day at the Spa!

Today Marta and I went to the spa, it was so much fun and so relaxing. We had scalp treatments and sat by the pool and painted. Then we sat in the jucuzzi and painted some more, then we sat in the sauna and just talked, wow, I am exhausted with all the sitting we did today. LOL I don't often have a day to myself and I felt totally pampered, I will savor this day for along time. We met a little girl named Jordan who was swimming with her Nana. She was very interested in our paintings and we ended up letting her paint with us. She created these two beautiful paintings I just had to post. She says when she grows up she wants to be a mom, a nurse and maybe an artist now too. Thanks for a fun day Jordon and Nana!

Balloon Feastival

Well, we went to the balloon feastival last Friday night, but there were no balloons. I was so dissappointed. They said they only go up in the morning around 6 am, so we would have to come back. I don't think so, so Randy took Jenn and I to a beautiful winery for lunch. It was so awesome, we ate outside surrounded by vineyards. The place was filled with hanging baskets and pots of flowers everywhere. I took tons of pictures and painted a little while we waited to be seated. I tried a light red rose called Juliet that was great. Here is one of the geranium pots that sat next to the pillars that held up the lattice work covers.

Working on loose Roses

On one of my online workshops they are doing loose roses. The whole focus of this website is to stay loose and not over paint or over work the watercolor. That as few brush strokes as possible and your imagination will fill in the blanks. I love the style of it and since my work is so tight I hope to find my niche somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I like everything loose, my eye likes having some hard edges to say "STOP HERE". It lets me rest and then continue my journey around the piece. Here are my loose roses, I thought I should add somemore details but the group said "No" so I would like your feelings. Is less really more?

Late night painting

My husband has been working at night, I take the time to paint uninterupted by the daily activities that steal my painting time. Although I was pretty blurry eyed I painted until 2:30 am and got this painting done. I like the way the bear turned out but the cat has too many hard edges, I will probably redo, I love this photo.

I am working on a looser style and trying to control the blooms that happen with water. I am trying to mix more of the color on the paper and let the watercolor do what it does. It is a challenge for sure and an ongoing journey!

Today we are going to go down to Temecula for the opening day of the Hot Air Balloon and Wine show. The hot air balloonist come from all over for this event and the local wineries are there for tasting and promotion. I am taking my paints, will post later.