Laurelines

In June

Then, if ever, come perfect days. And today, so far, has been a wonderful day. Nothing major has happened. I walked the dog at 6am, as usual, and picked up things to draw, as I did a couple of years ago. (You have to click on the thumbnail in that earlier post to see what I'm talking about.) I was surprised to see how much my sketching style has changed since then.
Then I painted another of my white- lines- on- color pieces, this time of some roses from my garden.

Speaking of my garden, here's a photo from this week. The phox and bee balm have arrived.

And another good thing: it's supposed to rain! We need it.
Happy end of June to you all!

Local, seasonal, organic

Everything in this basket is from our little farmers' market and is all of the above, adjectivally.
I finally convinced my husband that eggplant is delicious. Here's how:
Slice up Japanese eggplant into 1/4" diskoids. Diskoid means kind of like a disk. You knew that.
Slather olive oil on both sides.
Grill until those famous brown grill lines appear.
Remove.
Place on platter. Sprinkle feta (local, but of course) on top with a bunch of golden raisins. You'd probably have the forethoughtfulness to plump them first. I didn't.
Annoint with a tad more olive oil.
Grind black pepper on top and add a few tosses of sea salt.
Dine.
Delicious, like I always said.

PS I'm preparing more panels for more of the white line on color pieces! I'm going to sidle back into painting one way or another. I'm making plans for some trips! I'm working on getting my Paris sketches published! I'm going to the dentist, but that's neither here nor there. Check back for more stuff!

My sketches are going to France...

...and so am I! A few months ago, a Parisian friend of mine suggested I enter a French travel sketchbook competition. I did and I was accepted, so my sketchbook and I will be flying over this fall, along with my husband (the exhibit opening coincides with our anniversary!) I don't know the particulars yet---just got the acceptance email yesterday and will get the complete info by snail mail soon.
This'll be fun! Remember my Charleston sketches, my San Antonio and Chinatown ones? It's that sketchbook, to which will be added some Amish country sketches (as soon as I do them!) Here's a kind of preface page, with translation following:
When I travel in historic towns and cities in the US, I look with the eyes of an artist and nostalgist for traces of the people who once lived there. I find them in architecture, gardens, names, artwork, cuisine, language. In French Quarters, in Chinatowns, in German and Hispanic neighborhoods, the vestiges of old worlds in this new world are like pentimenti, sometimes faint, sometimes as fresh as if newly created.

Midsummer's day diversion

In 2005, I studied color, devoting more than a month to each color of the spectrum and making sketchbooks for each one, too. After a while, I started making simple white ink drawings of plants in my garden, on a background the color of the hue I was studying at the time. Do not ask me why the results pleased me so much. I can't explain it, other than I'm obviously a fan of lines (does my blog's name give anything away?) and I love color, too. So... line and color, simple as pie. Summery diversions.
The real pieces (15" x 14", acrylic on paper) have quite a bit more presence than the images I'm showing you. Of course, they're bigger and the colors are very saturated and contrast strongly with the white lines, which, in turn, have more nuance than it appears here. Trust me on this one. So, I'm going to do more groups of four of these, going around my garden as new things come into bloom---because it's just plain fun. Wish you were here to see them in person. Hey---and then we could go and get gelato!

Wedding photos--June 2, 2007!

It was so hard to choose from among the MANY wonderful shots our photographers took. I omitted so many photos of friends and family and the dancing and eating and general celebratoriness of it all. But space is limited---what else could I do? I hope this gives you some sense of what Saturday, June 2, 2007 at my house was like!

Vanessa and Virginia and Shawn

I'm fortunate enough to live in an area rich with people of talent and accomplishment. There's a group of writers and artists who are aimiably, and in varying degrees, connected--- and they live within a 15 mile radius of each other.
Jeffery, Ippy, Elizabeth and Allan I've already mentioned here. There are others, but as I haven't asked their permission to mention them, I won't do so today. Sometimes I feel as if I've been set down, dreaming, in Bloomsbury. Or, more recently, in Charleston, the country home and studio of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.
Tuesday and Wednesday I spent many hours drawing a live model at Ippy's house in the country. Ippy herself looks like a cross between Frida Kahlo and Virginia Woolf, so the Bloomsbury overtones were especially strong!
Our model was Shawn, a friend of Jeffery's, and he was very inspiring, with his dense muscularity, and powerful facial features. Drawings done on 18 x 24 newsprint with 8b pencil or Caran d'ache Neocolor II crayons or on 11 x 24 Bristol board.

Can you tell I was having fun with my Sky Blue crayon? The two days of drawing Shawn were a perfect idyll. The weather was very cool (almost English!) and Ippy's place is so serene and remote---Shawn was able to walk around the property nude and to model for us on her deck, with only us and the mourning dove for audience. Here's a resulting drawing. I would say he reminds me here of a Rodin sculpture, but we were in England yesterday, not France.
Wedding photos are in! Will post a few this weekend.

Who could ask for anything more?

It's taken me a full week, but I feel energetic and ready to roll again! The wedding pictures should be processed in a day or so; I'll post a couple of them here. It wouldn't be fair to leave you hanging after all the buildup over the last month and more.
Yes, real life feels wonderful and it started last Thursday when Ippy and I met again to draw together. Our model was Sara, she of the big, almond eyes. Here's a sketch of her:
Saturday, my husband and I went to the farmers' market and it was heaven just to wander idly and not to have to hurry to get back to my garden. I love the new purple and orange cauliflower varieties---they make something springlike of that cold-weather vegetable.

Poor Abby was banished to a neighbor's house for the wedding day. I thought I'd give her a little cameo role today as compensation.

I've got so much to catch up on, artwise, and some new things to try out, too. I've got some trips coming up to tell you about. I've got rhythm. I've got music. I've got my life (back)---who could ask for anything more!

Wedding day triumphant!

Oh, it was worth all the trouble----even though I spent all of Saturday, pre-wedding, in a state of abject terror, due to the threat of rain from a surprise tropical storm. The sky was overcast and the clouds were looking more sullen and spiteful as the day wore on. But we made it through the ceremony and into the evening before the sky started to spit down on us. The chamber music trio had by then given way to a dj. At that point, all we had to do was move the music into the house, which made the evening even more lively than it already had been. Lots of adults and all of K's friends were dancing and laughing--- the house itself seemed to boogie.
The bride was breathtaking, the groom so sweet and handsome, C was an adorable maid of honor. And then there were the five little flower girls, cousins and nieces, who looked like little impish, lovely butterflies in their pale yellow dresses with variously multi-colored organdy sashes. Our precious five year old ringbearer was so focused on not dropping the rings that he refused to give them up when the time came! Some gentle coaxing by my dear friend R solved the problem.
The flowers were incredible---dramatic and bold, a perfect counterpoint to the frilliness of the garden. (Our flower designer is a genius.) And the food, all vegetarian, at the behest of the bride, was perfectly delicious, beautifully and lovingly presented. The two sketches below give some idea of flowers and food. ( As always, click on sketches to see bigger images.)
Votives in glass globes dangled from white ribbons up and down the driveway, along the paths, in the woods adjacent to the garden----they glowed and glimmered as the night grew dark and stayed lit, most of them, even after it began to drizzle.
Family and friends from far and near were here to fete the bride and groom. It moved me so deeply to have such a visible outpouring of love and support for my daughter and her new husband.
As for me, I'm thrilled that it went so well and I'm grateful. I'm taking it easy for a few days, eager to get back to my art life. Lots to think about.

Tomorrow's the wedding day!

And we're almost ready! (Drawings and sketches resume next week.) My best friend from college came last night from California. My daughter K is named after her. Family from all parts are arriving today. Clothes and hand towels are being ironed. Superfluous objects are being whisked from tabletops and stashed away. Books on bookshelves are being tidied. Panic is mostly kept at bay. The garden is being deadheaded and watered and will be until the very last minute. The rain that had been forecast is now officially out of the picture! Keep your fingers crossed, please. Here are just a few shots to let you see how it all looks. So wish I had my friend Chris here, whose photos would be infinitely better. See you all next week!