Having a lovely time, wish we could stay here!!!

OMG, I love it down here! We're staying in Gulf County, Florida, on the Panhandle below Panama City in the area of Port St. Joe. We've rented a place 1-1/2 blocks from the beach which is deserted except for us, the dog, and occasional flies, gulls, and dolphins that dance in the water. Every night, the sunset is better than the night before!

There's not a McDonalds or Walmart within 30 miles, I think, probably one of the reasons it's so lovely and we love it! (No offense, you two global giants of commerce, but the less people, the better...)

The mornings are filled with walks on the beaches with the dog. And I mean LONG walks (at least by Smokey and I... David tends to lag behind and relax in his own way). We explore. She sniffs and meanders and I tredge purposefully along the surfline in one direction and up by the dunes and grasses on the return trip.

Today, we actually snuck out leaving "daddy" behind to sleep and drove to one of the beaches at Mexico Beach. As we walked, the dolphins escorted us along the coastline. I got loads of great shells, and of course, Smokey had a grand ole time! I shot pictures of the sun as it rose and plan to paint some of these gorgeous scenes at some point.

We arrived back home to a nice breakfast and are planning the day as I write. I haven't yet tackled the plein air painting of my ambitions yet but think today is the day. We have a cart to wheel all the gear down to the beach with and I'll spread out a blanket and have a chair as well. Can't wait!

We're going on vacation!

These are from my class yesterday but my mind wasn't really into it...

The hubby, dog and I are going to Florida Sunday for a week's vacation in Gulf County where dogs are permitted on the beach all the time... I can't wait to eat the fresh seafood (Tennessee, as you may be aware, is landlocked), and walk along the beaches, explore the water, take photos of sunsets, and etc. I also look forward to testing my hand at some plein air watercolor paintings and will try my first acrylics, too, in that low-pressure environment, I think.

I have a few books from the library to bring down on acrylic painting, and have learned quite a lot on how to set them up from others in the class who often paint in acrylics instead of watercolors.

Don't get me wrong, watercolors are nice but I think I'm too rigid to feel too comfortable with them and may have more success with acrylics. From what I understand they are more forgiving. Besides, I have that starter set from my kit. Might as well use it, right?

Well, off I go... wish me luck!

Margot's Opus

A lovely woman I paint with on Thursdays, Margot Baeder, has been painting this European Abbey for several weeks now. She has attended to every single detail possible in this painting and we all celebrated when, yesterday, she declared it was completed. It is breathtakingly beautiful and just sitting near her as she worked on it, I learned a lot. I hope someday that I can paint like that!

She painted this in acrylics.

I tried the salt thing for watercolor texture again

and am really thrilled with the results!

Don't pay heed to the skewy angle of the top of the lighthouse, OK?

I did the outline the rocks (and structure of the light house) with marker again since it looked kinda blah without it.