Sunny Days!


Finally some sunshine on Monday and even more on Tuesday. The Fairweathers appeared with new snow; there was a beautiful sunset on Monday night. Today was cloudy again but it didn't rain.


I went down to the beach for a while Monday afternoon, painted the dock....


and this in the other direction. I painted the grass all wrong (maybe because I was sitting down near the water rather than in the grass) but liked the rest, so here it is.



Yesterday afternoon I paddled up the Salmon River with Annie, Susan, Lori and Ana. Stopped on the way back across from Jim and Mel's, waited for the tide to turn and painted. Then paddled down to Jack and Sally's for happy hour. A most enjoyable afternoon.

August 23,2006



It's hard to believe how fast time seems to be flying by. I think it seems so because I have accomplished so little painting or art of any kind in the last few weeks. I have done a hand full of postcards but they mostly lacked much inspiration or enjoyment in the doing of them and I am relunctant to show many.

I'll take that last statement back. I enjoyed doing this one, though I belabored over it with way more time than anything else I've posted so far. It is the house where I stayed when I was in Douglas. It is a bit larger than the others I've posted and the first I've done from a photograph, and is a gift for the owners of the house.


This is another view out my window last week. I tried out some walnut ink that I just got from Daniel Smith. I was watching the eagle chick as I was painting. Movement from the tree ceased over the weekend, so I guess I missed seeing the chick fledge.


This was Sunday, one of just a few days in the last month where their was some blue sky... something to get a little excited about.



I've been bringing flowers in from the garden and painting off and on. These are Amaryllis belladonna which I grow inside in pots and they bloom throughout the year.

Raining hard again this morning. Van is home for another 5 day troll closure.

I'm Back from Juneau

It was a good trip to town. I spent much of my time with my sweet grand-daughter Alyssa and stayed in the lovely home of the Mark family in Douglas. I really appreciate their generosity. I did some shopping and had a memorable meal of king crab with Michelle and Jon. I didn't have the time or energy to paint much.

I did this out the back window, down the hill from the Mark's house on Wednesday. I find the older houses in Juneau and Douglas very interesting and attractive.

Van was home for a few days with troll closure. He's back out in Cross Sound now.

Making reservations for our train trip beginning next month has been taking much of my time today and yesterday.

This is one of 2 views I painted yesterday out my window. There is an active Bald Eagle nest in one of the spruce trees (the dark one on the left). At least one chick is regularly flapping his wings and should be fledging soon.

Some of the cottonwoods and willow are starting to turn a bit and the meadows are no longer green. And the rains continue.

AUGUST 6, 2006


I'm feeling very guilty for not posting anything lately. I got a phone call this morning asking where have I been and a few other people have emailed me to say they are looking. My mind has been too much on other things. I did get outside behind the house a few days ago, one of the few times it wasn't raining, but it seemed that it was raining bugs and I was looking over my shoulder for rogue bears and moose. And another excuse is that I wanted to tweek my settings to see if I can get the color corrected... just tried on todays upload with no success.

I'm off today on the ferry to Juneau. I'll be taking my paints, and hopefully have some postcards of something new when I get home at the end of the week.


The fireweed are really pretty this year, and at their peak, but not so many, at least not around our house.

August 1, 2006

It was a busy week, and I still don't seem to be over this virus or whatever it is. I've hardly been in the studio at all the last 2 weeks. And the few times I left the house with my paints, it started raining... once again.

I did this of the field of fireweed from the doorway of the gallery on Sunday when I was working.

This evening, with a new month and new resolve, I went down to the beach and painted. It only sprinkled a little bit.


More fireweed. My scans are not getting the color right.... or is it something else? I painted the flowers with opera, not toned down much and they are really a bit garish in the original, so maybe its a good thing.



And there was lots of indian paintbrush... the yellow and orange ones are abundant there. Unfortunately, the ATVs and motorcycles are making new tracks up parallel to the river now (thankfully not quite to the orchids yet) and the one clump of bright red paintbrush that I found had been run over.

Sunlight was coming through the clouds shining on the ridge. I would love to be up there now.
It felt good to be out painting at the beach again. Would have stayed longer, but 4 ATVs and motorcycles came down.... not close to where I was, but the noise was pretty obnoxious.