Lilacs in Watercolor

"Lilacs"

4"x8" Watercolor

We arrived home from Naples to the scent of lilacs, fresh ocean air and the unexpected treat of daffodils which I expected to be long gone by. 
The first leg of our trip was to Charleston, SC, a beautiful and charming city in every way. 
We took a delightful Carriage ride during which the driver gave us the lowdown on the care of the horses. They are logged in and out for every trip, regulated as to how many days and hours they can work, get shipped off for two week vacations out to pasture and are very well cared for. The weather was a balmy 75 degrees with no humidity! 
We spent some time checking out Charleston's rich selection of art galleries and had a lovely dinner at the Francis Marion Hotel. 
My hubby was a Navy man stationed in Charleston, but there is no trace left of the Navy Base as he knew it.

The Carriage Horses make Charleston

The next part of the adventure took us over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and landed us on the DelMarVa peninsula which, brought us near to the Chincoteague National Seashore.
The day out on Chincoteague was spectacularly beautiful and the only horses we saw were spotted from the top of the lighthouse.

Huffing and puffing ;)

Four shades of lilacs!

daffodils

Wolfie and Abba 

Chinatown, Boston pen ink and watercolor

I have two things going here. I'm using the sketch book to hone my drawing skills. There are no short cuts there. This drawing is from a Google Earth street view of a Chinatown street in Boston which is this month's subject of Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout. I also broke out my sweet little 6x6 pochade box and began a painting of clothes pins which is some what in need of a tweak before I post the final version. This little box is the proto-type and will be refined to include a slide out palette. Email jfinbar@comcast.net for info on it and others like it.

Wolfie and Abba-I couldn't resist ;)