Postcards From the Lake: Art Camp -- It All Comes to an End

Our two-person art camp wrapped up on a lovely day -- the kind that makes it hard to leave the lake. It was a productive thirteen days -- and a fun one!

The time wasn't without frustrations, due to my MRSA and pseudomonas lung infections and two other infections that were the result of medication side effects. Time was spent on my breathing vest and nebulizer -- way more time than I wished. And medication side effects also prohibited many foods (mostly the ones I liked!) and that made eating a bit more complicated! But then, there were the walks, an early birthday celebration at a favorite restaurant, and hours of good talks. And of course, there was the pleasure of painting in the company of others (even if you don't always like what you do!) That more than made up for the downsides!

I was pleased with much of my output, some of which I shared in an earlier post. I also did several cards. These were my "warm ups" but they ended up taking longer than some bigger pieces! I might have to raise prices for hand-painted watercolor cards this fall. (Right now I charge $5 and they are all originals. I don't think that's enough.) 

I got three cards finished. The one above and the one below might be part of a series or smaller versions of future larger paintings. They are inspired by my friend Dick Hill's series of "Ethel and Sissy" paintings, all of which feature a cat duo having fun adventures.

The penguin on skates might work for the holidays.

Then I did this one -- which I still don't like -- of Rick in a kayak at sunset. I originally did it as a vertical but there is too much sky and ground.

I think I liked it better as a 4x6 size (original). I still don't have the color right -- at least to me.

And then there was this -- you can see the original I'm working from on the table. It's based on one of my photographs from the ditch which I shared in this post.

Here's the finished piece. I think I need to go in and highlight some of the yellow "dots" on the water but it's very close to done.

Kate was productive, too. She took a year off from designing a calendar but I think she'll have one for 2025.

Every year we go to my favorite restaurant, Bennethum's, where Kate treats me to an early birthday happy hour. 

The salmon cakes were especially good, but so, too, were the mussels and coconut shrimp!

Needless to say, we were smiling!

A mystery was solved when we discovered the cause of all the shards of bark that have been falling on the lawn all summer. 

This little guy has been pecking all over this tall pine. Rick and I had wondered how the bark was falling so much. Now we know!

We also saw many ducks, who seem to like our beach as a resting spot (which is fine with me! The geese? Not so much!)

Most of our weather was lovely, and while there were no swimming days (I had to keep out of the water; otherwise I would have happily jumped in -- it was that hot!), no complaints. We did have one big thunderstorm -- a good time for catching up on "Professor T" and "Grantchester."

We enjoyed some fun and baffling things on our walks, among them, this very tiny fungi.

 

Any fungi experts out there? The largest in the photo above is no larger than my thumbnail.

 

Of course there was good fruit -- cherry and peach season. You can't beat it. And it wonderful to be able to spend a good deal of time with my cousin David. 

He lives in the Cleveland area and we don't see each other enough. There was good talk about olden days at the lake!

We got back home and it was so good to see Rick, who had a long bike hike to Ohio while I was gone. For once, Lizzie was pretty easy to pack up. She was good all week.

So onward, to the rest of summer, art camp a wonderful memory.

Cheers!

Finally, a quick housekeeping thing. I've been negligent in comment reply of late. (My blog visiting hasn't been all that great either, but I'm catching up slowly!) I want to thank all of you who have commented on recent posts. If you asked a direct question, I'll be sure to get back to you. Otherwise, bear with me! Between art camp, too much time spent on machines, and travel, I've fallen off! But I appreciate and value each and every comment. Thank you so much!

Sharing with:   Friday Face Off   /   Share Your Style   /   Love Your Creativity   /  Rain's Art and Dinner Date   /  Talking About It Tuesday