This woman, her husband, a dog and six kiwis all walk into an elevator...

When a friend posted the following on her facebook page,

I couldn't resist sketching this and attaching as a response. Enjoy!

Cape Cod Weekend

Breakwater Beach, Cape Cod - 12x12 oil on board

Finally painting after scouting for an hour.

Over the weekend, I traveled up to Cape Cod, MA for the wedding of friends and besides packing my suit, I packed along my easel and supplies because the weather predicted for the weekend was perfect painting weather. It was incredibly beautiful and the bride could not have asked for better weather and neither could I.

After driving around for an hour scouting for a place to paint, I settled on a spot in Brewster known as Breakwater Beach. This location happened to be the first spot I found and I need to trust my instincts from now on and paint in the first location rather than driving around in search of something better. The tide was low and I now had only about an hour and a half to paint. Maybe the search is part of the experience and maybe the pressure of time wasted adds to the end result.

My sketchbook was in hand for the entire trip to record our experiences. As we made our way up, we stopped for a slice at Mystic Pizza and while waiting for our food I sketched the scene of Main Street from the front window. Our  retreat would not have been complete if I didn't get to sketch at least one lighthouse. We drove up the coast and found the Three Sisters Lighthouses of Nauset and in a show of responsible parenting to combat Middle Child Syndrome, I gave that middle sister some attention and added her to my sketchbook. Okay, she's the only one whose top is still intact, so that's why I really chose her. Incidentally, they are named Three Sisters, because when they sat on the shoreline from afar they resembled three women in white dresses with black hats.

As part of the wedding gift, I found this framed vintage view of Times Square and painted in the caricatures of the bride and groom (and their dog) amid the bustle of the city.

Sketching the World

Here are two pages from my sketchbook from a recent trip to Florida. These were done either sitting in a restaurant waiting for dinner or standing in a crowd waiting for fireworks or here or there waiting for one or the other in a shop or in an attraction.