Pen and Ink from my Chair

So much time has been taken with packing artwork for shows, labeling, filling out paperwork......... I need time to play.

So today I sit with my Corgi and make up landscapes.....This little pen and ink is called "Falling Falling". On our Maine farm we have a small orchard and this is a loose rendition of our plum trees...as I see them, while sitting with my back to them , in my comfy chair. Not what one would call "plein aire"!! But on a windy chilly March day...this will do very well!

These little pen and inks are able for purchase.. but will not be put on my website.

Down the Pen and Ink Road

All the landscape around our farm .. and all the mountains and hills that surround us in Morrill, Maine.. are blanketed with snow. Maybe it is because of this that I have been drawing these little landscapes with pen and ink on paper...all depicting winding roads and trees and grasses. These little "dreamscapes" have been a bit of an escape for me, allowing me to get out from my paint and down from my loft and to sit in my big easy chair with my Corgi and my cat cuddled around me, as I create dream landscapes far different from the world around our little cottage.

Maybe too they are a bit of a metaphor for what has been happening in my life over the past year and a half. A lot of winding roads and up hill climbs............but nothing that I will not be able to conquer in time.

More about that later.......maybe.

The question now is "Will There Be A Harvest? Metaphorically speaking that is!??

Coming Three Filly

Yesterday I took the day off and had lunch and visited with artist friends. We had a Chinese food feast and then talked, talked and talked. How wonderful to have such good friends who share the same interests and tastes....if was a enjoyable way to past the day. One friend brought her Golden Retriever with her, and "Koda" and my Corgi, Addie, had their own party. Actually Koda spent most of the time retrieving slippers and various things from about the house, bringing her booty to us for "our" enjoyment! Addie did what Corgi's do best.......kept a vigil for food droppings under the table.

Today I am back working in my studio, and just finished up this watercolor that I am calling "Coming Three Filly". I had posted the graphite study for this in an earlier post. Now that this watercolor is done, I can work on the caseins that have been drying and are now ready for the finishing glazes.

Jacob Cotswold

There was a farm on a road near us where a lady raised sheep. There were 'flocks' of them..big, little, ewes, rams, and baby lambs. I was fascinated with them. They sported horns....some had many horns, so many they could have formed their own band!!

I stopped one day on my way to Belfast for shopping and talked with the lady who had all these sheep. She was very proud of all her flock and let me snap photos of them for future paintings. This is the first of my works depicted these neat sheep.

They are an ancient breed that are mentioned in the Bible. This was my first introduction to Jacob Cotswold sheep, a rare breed. I have raised sheep before, as a child on my family's farm in New Hampshire for 4-H, and again on our farm in Pownal, Maine. I always loved sitting with the sheep, listening to them chewing their hay and the peacefulness of the barn.

I miss my sheep...............but for now 4 horses,a cat and a Corgi are work enough.

I will stick to painting my sheep.

I have joined the world of the "blog". After everyone telling me I should have one...here it is.
Not knowing what to write , or what to contribute I guess I will start with...

It is cold out this morning on our small farm in the Maine woods. The horses breath ice crystals as they trot around their paddocks, trying to warm up their stiff bodies , free now to kick and frolic, out of their nighttime containment. I have given them hay, uncovered their heated water tanks and lined their ice covered stall buckets out in the sun. I leave the 4 horses to their games, and Addie [ my best Friend and resident Corgi] and I are back in our warm cottage, enjoying the bright sun as it streams through our south facing windows.
I grab a hot cup of coffee and my work in my studio begins.