New Hampshire, Alberta, and California

 

Yup, I am still on the planet. It has been a few weeks since the last posting.  Some reasons could include working on the next book, travel, and grandparenting. But I still intend to keep the blog journey going, and thanks for checking up on me. We have seen evidence of footprints here.

We have all heard the song about Catalina Island, “The Island Of Romance”. It is indeed twenty-six miles across the sea from the Los Angeles area. Most of the island is a nature preserve, but it does have two small resort towns. Mexican style hand painted tiles are everywhere. I drew a fountain in the main square. And I sketched a view of the homes that climb the steep hills.

One Saturday, I joined a group of sketchers in the Strathcona section of Edmonton, Alberta. We were back from balmy California at this point. It was good to be indoors at the market, and seeing flowers in pots, and the usual fruit, veg, and crafts of a farmers market. These apples were such a beautiful shade of yellow.

Next up, with a slight twist of my body, I caught a view of these squash. The color is so, shall I say it, drab, that the farmer cuts one open to show off the very pretty flesh inside.

And sometimes there are musicians at a market. As you can see, I started planning the composition at the bottom with the violin case, rather than at the top of the page with her face. So a little add on with tape was required. It can be fixed with digital magic.

I like sketchbooks of all shapes and sizes. This is the smallest one I have ever used,  just 3.5 " x 5.5". Granddaughter Roxy and I were riding in the back seats of the family SUV. The road was bumpy, but I was determined to draw the roofs of the houses as we passed by. The tip of the pencil was jumping all around, but I held it firmly to the paper. I remember our giggles as the sketch drew itself. Color was added later.

With a similar roof line, here is the cover of my (our) latest winter project, book #3.

As with the two previous books, this was a family activity. I drew and I wrote. Our daughter Karin did the overall graphic design of the book and assembled it into press-ready files. My husband Bruce was the indispensable computer guy in the middle, scanning my drawings and keeping track of everything. Tom Holbrook of RiverRun Bookstore and Piscataqua Press in Portsmouth was again the publisher.

The book is available at Tom's shop, and online at Amazon. Till they get things fixed there, spell my last name without the E when searching!

We will also be helping staff Tom’s table at Portsmouth’s annual Market Square Day on Saturday June 9. See you there!

And a sample page inside. There are 84 pages of drawings/paintings, with small amounts of accompanying text also written by me.

Another sample page. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is filled with beautiful brick buildings.

Another page, with iron fence posts and signs.

From the above sketch of the weathervane came this painting.

One more book page, illustrating the Button Factory, now an artists studio complex.

And the resulting painting, based on the sketch.

New Hampshire Magazine is a wonderful monthly collection of history, stories in general, and things to do in the state. This month’s theme was the Seacoast, a perfect fit for my new book.

And I was so very pleased to have the book get a very nice, insightful, mini-review on page 65.

In other local news, we just hung a show of my work at the library in Dover, New Hampshire. I will be giving a talk there at 6:30 on Tuesday, June 12th, and the show will run through June 29th.