My Front Porch

mixed media sketch
in moleskine journal

This is my sketch in Irit Bourla's journal for the Flying Moleskins journal swap. Irit's theme is local places, and since I don't go too far afield these days, out the front door seemed handy.  Our home was built in 1920, and has a long covered porch with a swing at one end. When the weather's decent, it's a relatively quiet spot to relax. So relaxing, in fact, that it wasn't until after I'd finished the sketch that I realized I'd done it upside down in the book! Apologies, Irit, but I've cut it out, and glued it in right side up.  Your book's flying to Adebanji tomorrow.

Happy Summer everyone.

The Flying Moleskins: Abstract Dreams

May You Soar

acrylic on paper

nfs

These are two pages for Dana Cooper, whose journal theme is dreams.  My dreams have been elusive lately, like shifting sand. A promise glimpsed of some distant, better future that dissolves when I try to understand its shape and content.  Fragments float, illuminated, forming landscapes both strange and somehow familiar. Echoes of joys remembered and not yet known.

Huge thanks to everyone who left such supportive comments on the show last month. We had a great turn-out despite the heat, and it was a success.   

Flying Moleskin Journal Swap

Megan, Ryan

watercolor in Moleskine journal

nfs

This is for Michelle Burnett.  I was wracking my brain for snapshot or postcard ideas from my past, and became so melancholy looking through old photos, I had to stop. Then I noticed some of the cutest kids I'd ever seen on Michelle's FB page. The apple really doesn't fall far.  

Thanks to Chris Beck for suggesting I break out the watercolors again. I'd forgotten how fun watery washes can be. After the Claybord issues from the last post, it was doubly fun.  Thanks for everyone's comments, advice and commiseration.  (And thanks, Michelle, for having such cute kids!) 

Flying Moleskins - Camille, Richard and Matisse's Open Window

acrylic on paper

7"x 10 (2-pages)

nfs

For Camille Olsen, who's journal theme is peace.  Must be the tropical heat here in Maryland, because my colors got away from me and turned all lime and melon and banana, and I swear I'm hearing Calypso music. Camille and her husband are standing near a very rough rendition of my favorite Matisse painting. (Yep, more sailboats).  My apologies to the Olsens if I'm not close to a likeness. We haven't met, but rumor has it, both have wicked senses of humor and that they are a colorful and fun-loving pair.

Thanks for all of your comments on the last post.  I appreciate it!

Peace out ;-)

Flying Moleskins - Cat Nap for Angela's journal

Mabel on Deck

S.V. Tamara

Grenada to Norfolk Voyage

acrylic in Moleskine journal

My entry for Angela Elledge's journal for the Flying Moleskin's journal swap. Angela's theme is places. I don't know if it's spring fever or feeling a bit stuck in place or both, but I've had a bad case of wanderlust lately. I started thinking about the places I've felt most content, and realize most of those places involve the sea or companion animals or both.

In the late 90s, lifetimes ago it seems, I helped a friend's mother bring her Alberg 37 from Grenada to Norfolk. We made the trip in one shot, no stops, across the Caribbean and then up the Atlantic. 20 days at sea. It was just the two of us, and sweet Mabel the cat.  During calmer weather Mabel would wedge herself between the air vent and companionway hatch, and doze in the shade. During bad weather, she'd snug in the cabin, and during my 3 hour sleep shifts, she'd bunk with me for company.  Tropical Depression Danny hit us just before it was upgraded to hurricane status.  Gusts to 60 and sustained winds of 45 were a challenge at the helm. The week before we landed the forestay snapped (which holds the mast upright), and we had a thrilling rollercoaster ride down some huge seas while we wrestled the head sail out of the surf and hooked up an emergency forestay.  We also hit the doldrums-- endless days on glassy seas.  The water tanks fouled, we ran out of propane, and blew an oil gasket that needed repairing.  It was one of the best times of my life. Every day was new, and the colors of the sea and sky changed hourly. On calm nights, I'd lie on deck.  Millions of stars above reflected in the water, and it felt like floating through the universe.  When the wind was fair, and we'd make good headway, dolphins would show up and play around the bow wake. Bliss.

I don't know what happened to Mabel after the return trip, but I like to imagine she's living out another of her 9 lives, belly full of fish, dreaming of far-away lands.

a few snaps....

moi.. exhausted and thinner as we 

near Norfolk.

Wildlife- The Flying Moleskins

acrylic on gessoed paper

ea. panel 5 x 8"

These are my pages in James Parker's journal for the Flying Moleskins project. James' theme is wildlife. We have lots of deer and bunnies in Maryland, and LOTS of snow right now. I found a reference photo from Danish photographer Tanja Askani, who has heart-warming shots of this orphaned deer who befriended a wild rabbit at a refuge center. I love it when nature shows us how to get along.

The colt is one of the wild horses who are sheltered on Assateague Island off the Atlantic coast of Maryland and Virginia. In the summer, some of the horses are herded, and swim to Chincoteague, Virginia for auction. More of the story is on the National Park Service's site. One of my favorite books from childhood is Margeurite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone...snuggle up to someone you love --human or otherwise! ;-)