Perfect Summer!

"Myrtle"

6x6 oil on panel
SOLD

Wednesday my sister and I went on an adventure to the New England Aquarium in Boston where we saw a fascinating IMAX movie about great white sharks and then toured the newly rebuilt Giant Ocean Tank which holds 2000 species of fish including sharks, eels, rays (my favorites) sea turtles and fishes. It is a work of art and an amazing glimpse into the undersea world! 
We started at the top of the tank and then walked down a descending spiral walkway all the way to the bottom seeing the creatures from different vantage points as we did. 
This magnificent Sea Turtle is about 80 years old! It was difficult but I managed to snap a decent photo of 'Myrtle', (all turtles seem to be named Myrtle) as she swam by. There are two giant turtles in the tank so I can't be sure that it was Myrtle, but let's pretend it was ;) 
We then had a fabulous lunch at The Reef, the aquarium's informal outdoor tent restaurant on what can only be described as a glorious summer day here in New England. 76 degrees, bright, warm sun and cool breezes, awesome lobster salad sliders and great company. My sis and I are soul mates ;) 

Travel

"Italian Ice Vendor"

6x6 oil on panel

This month's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge is "travel", which can be pretty broadly interpreted as you can see by my painting of an Italian Ice vendor at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. I went over to the beach one night after class while I was at the PKR workshop because many famous Cape Ann painters painted there and I wanted to see it.  That is the travel part ;)
There are huge rocks in the water and there were several of these little carts sprinkled around the beach so I walked on the rocks, waded in the water and took many photos for future reference. There was a storm brewing and I loved the combination of the strong sunlit grass and cart against the dark sky.

Lazy Hazy Summer Days

"Green Harbor"

6x12 watercolor and ink

Honestly, that's all I can say about this summer. The heat has been unbearable and even though it's calmed down some, we are still in AC mode most of the time.  Saturday evening was beautiful though, and I took myself down to the harbor with a chair and a sketchbook and had a lovely interlude watching the birds and the boats and the shimmer of the late sun on the iridescent marsh grass. Yes, in a very short time the cold will be returning and we'll all be complaining. Well...maybe not all.... :D
I love summer but does it have to be so uncomfortably hot?

Hot Time in Gloucester

PKR (center) with workshop gang

Last week I joined a great group of artists on site at the Castle Manor Inn, in Gloucester for a week long workshop with Peggi Kroll Roberts who never faltered during five days of 90 plus degree heat, topping out at around 98* on Friday! 
These are a couple of exercises I did in class and of course a group shot. (missing Susan Dragoo Lembo).

Model in sunlight

value exercise in grayscale and in color