Theo's moment of Zen

Theo and I have been enjoying our morning walks along the Neusiok trail.  I love how he feels the need to shake when he's in knee-deep water…  Still working on commissions, but hope to get them finished up in the next week or so - then I'll have something to show for myself!  Until then, here's T having his moment of Zen…

Happy Birthday Jim

Today would've been my late husband Jim's 64th birthday.  I got up this morning singing "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64…"

I was planning to take Theo and mz Mac my RV to Ocracoke today to walk his trail there at Springer's Point.  Going to have to take a rain check because its pouring rain and the dirt road out of my place is a mud pit that the van cannot traverse.  We'll go later this month when the weather clears.  Jim would understand…

So I'm spending this rainy day as I have the last several - working to finish up a landscape commission for a very dear and patient person (thanks Carol - getting there!).

Here's a photo of Jim's sister Jane,Theo's tail and me at the trail last year on his birthday.

Addendum:

As I've been painting today in the sunroom, while the rain pours down outside,  I've been listening to music… this song just came up on my pandora station… this goes out to you Jimmy -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e39UmEnqY8

Fall on the Neusiok trail

Still working on commissions, nothing to show for myself yet… but Theo and I have been enjoying the lovely fall on our walks on the Neusiok Trail in the Croatan National Forest.  This is at Oyster Point yesterday morning.

All About Craven...

Angelina Doyle invited me to come talk about my art and the cross country trip on the community TV station 10 in  New Bern.  I had a fun time chatting with her and her co-host Keith Boyd this morning on the show "All About Craven".  If you're curious to see it, check out this link to the segment.  My part started around 00:14:00 .
Check it out…

http://www.ctv10.com/aac_tues_oct_20_2015.htm

Woo hoo!

If you saw the segment and want to read more about the cross country trip, you can start on the adventure here:

http://sallyanger.blogspot.com/2015/05/bon-voyage.html

Return to normal...

…well, as normal as possible ; )  !

The sun is back, fall is here, my swallowtail butterfly caterpillars are happily munching on my parsley.  Now back to the studio…

Still dodging...

Still happy that we didn't get a hurricane, but we are still getting rain.  Its dark!  Here's a shot from mid-morning:

Still getting rain, but pleased we haven't flooded, and we haven't lost power.  Just some water in the yard, which is to be expected. Looking forward to cool, dry, sunny October weather next week!  I've been putzing in the studio but making slow progress.  The storm is distracting…but in a way, kinda cool too.

Dodged another bullet!

We here in coastal Carolina are all heaving a big sigh of relief that hurricane Joaquin has decided to stay offshore. This was the projected path on Wednesday:

Adieu Joaquin!

And this is today's projection:

We're having a steady day of rain, but will take that over a hurricane ANY day.  I'm taking advantage of the time indoors to work on my commissions.

I also took some time this morning to figure out what art supplies to take to South Africa.  I am committed to traveling with only ONE carry-on bag (I love this website:  www.onebag.com  - check out his suggestions for traveling lightly).  So, of course my art supplies will be minimal.  

I got out all of my watercolors and started going through them.  I was so pleased to find a small traveling watercolor set I bought awhile ago but have hardly used.  Its perfect!  Its small (see photo) and has "half pan"watercolors, which are little dry blocks that you moisten when you're ready to use.  Since liquids are restricted on the flight, these will be perfect!  And they are a nice quality paint.  Yay!

Of course I'll have to take more than that dinky brush that comes with it.  One nice sable brush will do nicely thank you.  That and a dozen watercolor postcards should get me started.  I learned on the cross country trip that small quick sketches are best - you can capture some of the feeling without missing out on seeing other things!  Then work up the big paintings when you're back home sitting out a hurricane ; )