Postcards from the Lake: Art Camp

My fellow Artist-in-Arms Kate and I wrapped up our annual Art Camp in mid-September, having not only have a marvelous time, but perfect weather! We also celebrated both our birthdays very belatedly and did a good deal of art! No arguing with that! We even got in a road trip!

For those who haven't followed me long, art camp is a week period time when Kate and I head to the cottage and focus on our art. But there is also time for long walks, swimming, books, Britbox and Acorn, good wine and great food. It was also the only truly relaxing time I've experienced all summer.

OK -- it IS art camp, but let's start with the food! I won't go into each and every meal (that would be boring!). But let me say that I did make the best pesto ever, courtesy of my friend, Anne, who shared her recipe. I froze some; we also enjoyed it on crackers, tomatoes and more.

And of course, there was more than one toasted caprese salad and pesto-basil-and-tomato sandwich on Rick's bread!

Probably our best meal was our annual sojourn to Bennethums, a nearby restaurant for their Happy Hour. We enjoyed spicy Boom Boom Shrimp, delicious salmon cakes, slightly too-spicy Thai lettuce wraps (the waitress did warn us!) and guac and chips (it could have used a little salt). We washed it down with a lovely French Bordeaux!

The walks and swims were good, too. The weather was flawless and I was able to swim several times, going my usual route (even though neighbor Jim did remove his buoys, which I use as markers, for the season).

It's always the same path walked but we always see something new and pretty. My favorite was this garden, with the photo not nearly showing it's lovely informality to the best.

My least favorite (but maybe the best photo) was this one -- Too early for me to be welcoming red autumn leaves!

 Then there was the art! 

 

For once, Kate wasn't working under deadline so we decided that in addition to doing whatever else we wanted, we'd take on a series of online color challenges from artist Este MacLeod. Over several days, Este picks a palette of several colors and a theme we can interpret in those colors only! The theme for this one was "Fashion."

We did several of these (and will continue throughout September independently). (The theme for this was "Faces.")

The photo below shows Kate's version of "Faces." (I should have saved it for "Feline," which came a week later!)

I decided I would focus on painting animals again and picked several to work on. This is Rosie, the dog of my former neighbor, Matt. 

And a FB friend, Mary, has a dog I was dying to paint! I've tried a couple and I'm rather happy with the tight shot.

I also continue to work on a building from Stow-on-the-Wold (it just isn't coming together right! I need another round or two of bricks and work on the roof).

There's a bit more to work to do on this painting of our little guys playing in the sand earlier this summer. 

I also did a couple of needle felted ornaments, poking myself as much as the wool. I'm pretty happy with the robin.

But the bunny needs a bit more work, especially around the eyes. These will be ornaments and included in my fall sale. (I am now working on a dog, a fish, another bird and a wine bottle!) I'm hoping to have at least 10 new ornaments, hopefully more, for the sale.

My cousins from Cleveland, Mutty and her husband, Howard, returned to the lake for the first time in many, many years (dare I say decades?). They stopped by a couple times and it was such a joy to connect.

I hadn't seen Mutty since her son's wedding, almost a year ago. It was a great reunion!

Then, of course there was the nightly show. We couldn't stop taking photos of the sunsets. Every one seemed more beautiful than the last.

How many sunset photos do I have? How many did I delete!

Even if you were sitting with your back to the sunset, you still got a view!

Oh wait! I didn't mention the road trip? That was so good, it deserves a post of its own. Meanwhile, we ended our holiday with the ride home -- stopping at the Covid rest area for a test!

This is terrific -- the station is at a rest area served by both north and southbound traffic. Let me tell you, that PCR test went where no PCR tests have gone before! We were both negative.

I leave you with a last look at one of our lovely sunsets.

It was a beauty!

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