Blog

I was walking around the produce section of the grocery store and almost put a fennel bulb into my cart JUST to bring it home to draw. But I stopped myself and bought the bell peppers I needed instead. On sale for 99 cents AND from Canada. I bought a yellow and an orange. And get this, the prepackaged bag of 2 peppers (also a yellow and an orange) were priced at $3.99. Stay sharp everyone.

Yesterday I did the ball and today I did the mitt. Today was harder.

Yesterday, the kids found an old well worn softball in our outdoor toy bin. They got out our baseball mitts (that were mine as a kid…. 40 plus years old….) and were throwing it around in the backyard. Today, I decided the softball would be my drawing subject. I was just about to sit down to draw when my sister texted a picture of my niece at her SOFTBALL game!!! Goosebump moment.

Happy Mother’s Day! I am blessed to know many wonderful mothers… neighborhood moms, moms from long ago and a new mom to beautiful Lydia. I have an amazing mother in law who welcomed me with open arms and a kiss on each cheek. My sister who has raised two beautiful daughters that I know will one day become amazing mothers themselves. I have Aunts that have felt like mothers and teachers and horse trainers that have been mentors. I had two grandmothers that were both fixtures in my childhood. One was the quiet observer who loved board games, popcorn, angels and had a laugh that was contagious. The other was a proud Swede who showed her deep love through food and conversation. And finally, I had the privilege of having the best mom in the world. A mom who’s greatest joy was being a mother… at least that was how it always felt to me. Hoping that the heavens are bursting with blue hydrangeas today and every day.

One of the first things we did to our house was replace the outdoor lights with these goose neck barn lights in a matte black finish. They are from Barn Light Electric Co. and they have held up so well for over a decade. This one is one the back porch and I drew it last night while sipping my cocktail… bourbon old fashioned. It was divine.

I was sitting outside, as it is a gorgeous day here, and was thinking about what to draw. I looked over the fence into the abandoned neighboring yard… the prairie of dandelions and clover are in full bloom. I ran over, picked a dandelion and drew it quickly, hoping none of the seeds would deposit themselves in our lush green grass and then threw it back over the fence. Mission accomplished. Took me 5 minutes and I used a BINDER CLIP on the stem to hold it upright.

As I was drawing the regular key last week, I was thinking that the traditional key is going to be another thing that will cease to exist. Keys are now replaced by key fobs for cars, entry cards for schools and businesses and now key pads for front doors. I have NEVER used the key for my front door as I always enter the house through the key pad on the garage. Keys, another device on the verge of extinction.

This is a tomato “on the vine” from Mexico. When I look at tomatoes at the grocery store, these are the only ones that look remotely edible for slicing on a sandwich. The beefsteak ones, granted all of these are out of season for our area, are as hard as a rock and the Roma ones are not right for a sandwich. 9 times out of 10, I am still disappointed when I cut into one of these. Tomato rant complete.

My daughter’s happy place is the barn and this is one of our favorite horses, Jackson. He is all black (which made drawing him with a white pencil all the more difficult) and he is majestic and gentle. The best part about doing this drawing was that my daughter sat next to me and drew the horse too. I’ve included her drawing as well.