A beautiful day in a beautiful spot

 At Cultus Bay Nursery among the spring plants and flowers, listening to all the singing birds, communing with Iggy the cat and sketching. I staked out a spot in front a charmingly rustic potting shed made from lattice. Inside I spied some Bleeding Hearts and outside some blue (Lobelia??) I don't know, but the lilacs trees were blooming. It was a great day, fun to see the Sketchers again and great to get a little sunburn.

Lucky and Dixie

A VERY pleasant afternoon at Maple Ridge in the company of lots of nice folks having all sorts of fun.  I met Lucky and Dixie, who were playing a game called "Kings in the Corner" as if their lives depended on it!  What a hoot!!

Face Time

Whidbey Island Sketchers, could you possibly be any more adorable?

Self portraits by Whidbey Island Sketchers for Sherryl's handmade book:

"Mary" by Mary

"Gnat in a Hat" by The Gnat

"Judi" by Judi

"Lisbeth" by Lisbeth

"Julie" by Julie

"Cathy" by Cathy

"Diana" by Diana

"Faye" by Faye

"Gene" by Gene

"Betty" by Betty

"Phyllis" by Phyllis

"Me with No Wrinkles" by Yours Truly

Big Buffalo

After a civilized afternoon of drinking English tea, listening to classical music and sketching a zen garden it was time to move across the street to sketch something much bolder and wilder.

"Catch-up" sketches

 I needed something to demo on Sunday afternoon at Bailey's so I hauled out the sketch I did at the M-C Ranch and added some paint and ink to it.  So it is a little more than a sketch, a little less than a painting.  Pretty happy with it, all in all.  Composition and focal point still a little "centered", but I attempted to fix it with light.  What do you think, Pat?

I also had this one in the pencil/ink stage that I found in the bottom of the old art pack, so it came out and got some paint, too.  This one was from way back at the Compass Rose in Coupeville.  It was an amaryllis on top of a cabinet in that fantastic country kitchen.

Behind the Winery

I "set up shop" over behind the winery by the garden fence and this great "junk" sculpture made out of cast-off, rusty implements.  The vintners were cleaning out the grape vats in preparation for the harvest and it smelled so good back there - very grapey and like wine.  The corn was still high and on the stalks and all the flowers were still in bloom.  There were hollyhocks and dahlias(?) marigolds(?) and some purple flower I didn't know at all.  And there was a lovely marmalade cat . . . . .

Sketching at Sonshine Farm

Another wonderful afternoon spent with the WISkers, this time at Sonshine Garden and Alpaca Farm on Crawford Road.  The sun was warm, it smelled like a farm and there were animal sounds all around me.  Put me right back to my childhood on my cousin's farm in Moscow, Idaho.  The alpacas were great, the goats adorable and they have best, most PEOPLE friendly GIANT Bulgarian Shepherd stockpen guard dog!  Had a truly great time.  And I got a little vignette of some of the residents with which I am really happy.  

I especially got a kick out of the fat little goat who ate IN his feeder, not from it.