Dinner with a Friend

My friend Linda and I went out to dinner last week. While we waited for dessert I used my portable watercolor kit (see previous post) to do this sketch. One fun thing about sketching is that it’s a conversation starter; we ended up having great conversations with two of the servers.

Portable Watercolor Kit

It’s fun to have a kit with watercolor supplies sitting by the front door, ready to grab as you go. If you find yourself in a waiting room or a coffee shop, you’re all set to make a quick sketch.

Here’s what’s in mine, both in and out of the bag. Each underlined word is a link to that item on Amazon. These supplies are surprisingly affordable, especially considering that watercolor paint, when rewetted, is good for years — the total cost of this kit is $47 plus $40 for the optional items.

Watercolor Palette with 24 colors and three waterbrushes. (Just $19!) (Video: how to use a waterbrush.) Field sketchbook. Sharpie. Bag. Ordinary #2 pencil. Napkin.  Optional four items top left: Kneaded eraser. Travel brush. Collapsible cupPencil Sharpener.

Walking for Hunger

Two weeks from today, on May 6th, I will be walking 10 miles for my 38th Walk for Hunger. Below is  my “thank you painting” I will mail to those who make a pledge to my walk.
One out of eleven Massachusetts residents are “food insecure.” The money raised by Walk pledges goes directly to the Newton Food Pantry and 400 other soup kitchens and food pantries across Massachusetts who offer free food to those who would otherwise go hungry. Donations go a long way because they are raised by volunteers and most of these pantries and soup kitchens are run by volunteers, plus the food is obtained from the Greater Boston Food Bank (which receives donations from grocery stores) for only 12¢ a pound.
I was honored last month to receive a “Walk of Fame” Award for raising over $50,000 in my history on the Walk. If you would like to sponsor me, click here to go to my  my personal Walk page.

Brooklyn Brownstones

When we were in Brooklyn last week for the birth of baby Maggie, I went to a cafe near the hospital and did this sketch of the buildings outside the window. Such a meditative way to spend a few minutes. Next Friday I’ll post a photo of the supplies I used, with links, in case you’re interested in creating a portable watercolor kit.

 

Goldfinches

We have returned from Brooklyn to Boston, and sadly are not there to celebrate (and sketch) Maggie’s one week birthday. On to more mundane topics.

New Englanders try not to complain, but the weather for the last two months has sucked. Spring is a figment of our memory and hope. On Monday during the Boston Marathon it was 43 degrees and pouring cold rain. The only popular place outdoors was our thistle feeder, and the goldfinches are molting into bright yellow their breeding plumage. As I sketched, I added a blue sky, which — if you live in Boston — you know was pure imagination.

 

A New Life!

Our beautiful granddaughter Maggie (Margaret Grace) was born to our daughter-in-law Eva and son Andrew in Brooklyn on Wednesday. 10 pounds 5 ounces, normal delivery, perfectly healthy. We are all thrilled and so blessed!

What potential does this new life hold?

Sara the Boy Bunny

As we await the birth of our granddaughter, I spent this morning looking through some of my older art. Here are some sketches of Sara, a lovable Dutch dwarf rabbit who lived with us for nine years. When we bought Sara, we were told she as a girl, and she looked incredibly feminine. Then one day, we babysat for a friend’s rabbit, and within seconds, Sara mounted the visiting rabbit. A month later this rabbit had babies. Thus we learned that Sara was misnamed, but it was too late for a name change.

Love

As we eagerly await the birth of our grandchild, I’ve been thinking about the overused word “love.” While it’s central to all the world’s religions, and found in nearly every pop song, what does it really mean? I like this quote from Sharon Salzburg, “When we really examine kindness,  we find it is a deep and abiding understanding of how connected we all are.”

Easter Bunny

You’d never know that spring is coming if you looked outside to see snow falling in Boston right now. But the bunnies who are appearing in the yards in our neighborhood seem to be confident that spring is on the way.

Meanwhile, Bruce and I are on pins and needles because our son Andrew’s wife Eva is 9 months pregnant with baby Maggie. We jump every time the phone rings, and can’t wait to hop in our car and head to Brooklyn for our granddaughter’s birth day!