Watched

The weather was sooo beautiful today it felt like spring. For New England to be topping 70's in March is far from the norm....but I'll take it.

It was a perfect moment to get outside with my trusty bucket & shovel to set up more reference shots for art pieces.
I went to the pond out back and after a few sandy shots I took it to the dock. Well....I guess I caught the interest of others nearby I hadn't noticed right away.
Before I knew it I had visitors!! They really did seem quite interested in what I was up to. Since they ended up giving me some unexpected reference shots themselves that may very well turn into future paintings....I rewarded them with a little snack.

 Something tells me they may visit again next time too!

Last of summer

Sunday was a day that felt like it was the last blast of summer. The temps. were warm and the day full of sun. Inspirational!!

As the day wore on I decided that it would also be a great evening to do dinner on the grill. Toward very late afternoon I went out to get the charcoal going. At this point I noticed that the pond was being enjoyed today as well by a family of swans. There were two adults and one young one.

I went back inside to get some snacks for them and went down to the dock to feed them. How beautiful. Of course it wasn't very long before the geese came by to get in on the act.

When my husband came home from an appointment with clients, we put the ribs on the grill, made cocktails, and went off on a peddle boat trip around the pond. The swans actually stayed around the whole time.

When we came back in and I went out to get the ribs it was just starting to get dark.

The scene was beautiful and I just had to get a pic of that moon.

If this was indeed the last blast of summer.....it was a good one!!

Had some quiet time

here at home this weekend. Took advantage and did some drawing for an atc draw-a-thon. Got four done.....

two pen & ink

and the lilly done in colored pencil and the tropical boat house done in marker.

I also broke out some of my new beading books and

taught myself a new beadweaving stitch.

I made these green glass bead earrings using some of my

favorite square green beads. They've got little garnet bead

accents.

I think they came out pretty nice for a first time. I've added them to my Etsy shop. I'm gonna try a few more variations on them.

I've also got another stitch in the works but haven't gotten it quite down yet. I think it'll be beautiful once I've figured it all out.