Laurelines

My baby's having a baby!

I've been a bit scarce lately and there are several reasons for it, some of which were revealed in recent posts---friends visiting, travel, a big party here on Sunday to celebrate the publication of a friend's masterpiece book. Most important is the fact that my firstborn child, my daughter K, is having a baby soon! It's her first and we're all on tenterhooks, wondering when baby J is going to make his appearance. Due date is in a couple of weeks.
Of course, I've been thinking about how it was only day before yesterday that I held baby K in my arms. Here we were:

In between all of the fun events and travel and family preoccupation, I've been in the studio, working on my watery paintings. I'm not a slow person, far from it (ask anyone who's walked with me in Paris or been a passenger in my car ;D), but I'm a slow painter. I hate it, can't explain it, but there we are. Here's a little glimpse of my studio, sketched this morning.
So, I'm here, as always. I'm working away and I'm thinking about babies and life and how you have to love hard and work hard and be mindful every single minute if you want to do it right. And I do.

Fun with Casey and Michel and comparing cherubs

My great friend Casey of rue Manuel bis and her husband Michel left yesterday after a fantastic, but very busy, visit of several days! They arrived last Wednesday and had just enough time to wash up after a day at airports before the dinner party for 12 I'd planned for them. Ippy, Jeffery, and Moreton, whom you've met (click on underlined words for links) on these pages before , were here with their spouses, along with Patricia and Anna. It was a rollicking evening, I can tell you.  I've posted a  photo from the party below. See if you can spot irrepressible Casey!
We drove to Charleston, SC the very next morning. I was more the hostess than the sketcher, wanting Casey and Michel to see and do as much as possible in a short period, but I managed to do two sketches of a sculpture I'd drawn a couple of years ago. The recent ones are shown first.

Look at the difference in style between the early sketch and these recent ones.

Casey made some really nice sketches and I know she's planning to post them on her blog when she returns to France later this week. Go and see them!

Here's a photo of Casey, Jeffery, Ippy, and Moreton's husband Drake from the dinner party and a shot of the gorgeous sketchbook Casey made for me! I can't wait to inaugurate it!

The last of Iceland and a painting

I hadn't planned to post any more photos of Iceland, but I found these and just had to. It's hard to end my affair with that fabulous country, but my memories, sketches, and photos will take me happily into the future and into the studio. I'm posting today, too, a painting of rocks and water inspired by my earlier trip this year to the California coast. That's the last of the images for today. I can't wait to turn my brush to Iceland-inspired rocks and water paintings---the palette is going to be much different from the California and Hawaii ones.

The shallow waters off of the Snaefellesnes peninsula are surprisingly colorful.

Rocks and water, Point Lobos, California acrylic on board, 11" x14"

Iceland in a minor key

Life has taken over with a vengeance since my return, but I'm surfacing, tardily, today to share with you some quiet sketches of Iceland--- showing a tiny bit of the interior, quotidian, intimate side of that splendid country. Of course, nothing in Iceland is all that ordinary----think whale carpaccio, tenderloin of horse, stuffed reindeer head,  jewelry made from volcanic rock, gorgeous currency celebrating Icelandic fish and sea life, a pared-down (even by Nordic standards) aesthetic that is breathtaking and cozy all at once, and then put these sketches in their proper context.

In a few days my lovely friend Casey of rue Manuel bis and her darling husband Michel are coming for a visit and I'm very excited. Casey and I have already shared two Parisian adventures and one Loire Valley one, sketching and laughing all the way. Who knows what will happen when we take on my part of the world together! I'm giving a dinner party for them, with friends you've met here before. Will tell all soon.

Sjáumst! (Icelandic for ' see you later.')