More sketching opportunities in Big Bear!

A painting of the marina and our hotel in the distance

We took Jennifer up to Big Bear for an amazing two days of water skiing, jet skiing and tubing. Casa Colina's Outdoor Adventure program and USARC hosted this adaptive event! Another wonderful opportunity for disabled people to have a chance to have some fun on the water in a safe and monitored environment. The weather was crazy weird, with bouts of thunder and lightening and pouring rain in the middle of August but everyone managed to have a great time. Randy and I even got up before dawn on Thursday morning and went out to capture the sunrise.

 The clouds were off in the distance but made for a perfect photo shoot!  I even managed to sneak in a painting and sketch onsite while I was there watching and photographing Jenn. I did something that was really fun, and I thought I would share it and challenge everyone that is reading my blog to do something similar and let me hear what you did!

During one of the downpours we ran inside the restaurant up there and sat in a small glassed in porch area and watched the storm take back the lake. Everyone was sitting just watching and hoping that they could go back out. Well I happened to have brought some fun art supplies so I passed out paper and intense sticks to anyone who wanted to sketch! It was such fun and helped pass the time until the sun was out again and everyone could resume their day of skiing. Before I left I noticed that Chris was sliding his sketch under the glass top that covered the red table cloth at the table near the window. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was leaving his sketch for others to see. I thought that was such a great idea! I had painted a small sketch of the boats and water and slid it unsigned under the table top glass too! What a neat thing to do! To leave a little piece of art behind for others to enjoy. I am hoping that the restaurant will not remove them and that next time we go there will not only be ours still there but that others will have done the same! I think a glass covered piece of art table covering is much nicer! Lets leave gifts of art and then share where they are and if you happen to get by that way please make a note to leave your art or take your picture with someone's art! My art is under the glass at B's barbecue on Big Bear Blvd, over looking the lake.

Another early morning shot of a fisherman getting ready to fish, I love this photo!

Our Nature walks

I love walking with Kylie and Randy. It brings things into a new light, and reminds me how beautiful life is. When I am in the car racing by I never notice the small things like flowers, and who is late mowing their lawns and which trees are blooming and which are sick. It puts me back into contact with my surroundings which is always a good thing. It reminds me of our last home. It was a modest California ranch style house on 1 1/4 acres. We remodeled it and landscaped the whole yard. We worked long hard hours out in our yard most days and all weekend. I loved it, our vegetable gardens , the rose gardens, the knot garden. Although we worked so hard we always did a walk at dusk through the whole yard. Before the sun set, in that warm glow of the last hint of sun we would walk the garden and inspect the plants. It kept us in touch with what needed to be done and which plants were sick or diseased. It was a nightly inspectionsI guess, making sure everything was well cared for before we went to bed. I loved it, I loved the time together with Randy, discussing things. If the sunlight held we would lay in the hammock and wait for it to set. So much dreaming, so much living was done in those walks. We are doing it again, differently, but its still good. This is a seed pod I found which had falled from a magnolia tree, beautiful to say the least.

Serious Hubby

I wanted to do a pencil drawing of Randy, and I wanted it to be serious. That was hard because he is usually smiling. Anyway, I have been just playing with my mechanical pencil on sketch paper. I did this but not overly happy with it, I don't know if I caught his essence, I want to do another, maybe smiling next time! He hates it, says he looks old, but he doesn't, just distinguished. He wears this big ole hat when he is in the sun working all day. I love him in it!