A day filled with beauty

Dear Friends,
Yesterday was filled with beauty.
Mary Kaye picked Zing and me up at 6:45. We dropped Z at Wag Hotel in West Sac (Grateful Dog doesn’t open until 9), and drove the winding hills west to a farm in Solano County. It’s dormant now; the owners, a U-C Davis engineering professor and a wine engineer (That's my kind of engineer!) plan to grow apricots. They opened their farm to artists this week as part of the Yolo County Art Farm program. Every month artists go to a new farm to paint, draw, photograph, and soak up beauty. Such a simple concept!
While I hardly matched the skill of the others, I’m sure I outdid them in awe. Most of them were from around here, but I’m not used to these rounded hills and flabbergastingly blue sky.
I got to sit where golden hills meet brilliant sky and draw. 

Love,
k

 

This artist brought sun protection

Weeds

Don't forget to fly

"There's always a moment when you don't like what you're making." 

Mom would say that when I was sewing a dress and I got sleepy and frustrated and wanted to toss it in the trash. 

It happens a lot still ... when I'm making anything!

At the beginning of this piece, the bird was the only thing I liked. I stuffed the whole thing in the closet. But the bird kept calling me. So I pulled him out and painted big flowers, and hated them, and more flowers and hated them (Who hates flowers??). Then painted everything black, then dark blue-purple, then .... you get the idea. Now I love it. Thanks, bird!

Don't forget to fly 

(last line in a poem by Al Young)

Mixed-media on board

14" x 18" 

Just a bowl of cherries

Cherries from the farmers market

Honoring scientists

Dear Friends,

This is California State Scientist Jim McCall. Yesterday morning he introduced himself to me and Zing! at a CA State Scientist Day the Capitol. He said his job is to track the source of oil spills. (“What does a business say first when there’s an oil spill?” he asked. “It wasn’t us!”) 

We started talking when I asked Mr. McCall about that creature in the bottom photo. "Is it a bird, or a collection of trash?"

“Trash,” Mr. McCall said.

Scientists like Mr. McCall were swarming around the Capitol; students were getting off buses, lining up to learn about bees and water and what happens to a gold mine when it’s closed. Zing and I are thrilled to be in a state that honors science.

This trash creature puts a "face" on the problem of pollution

Boring but useful

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

Today's most exciting thing was the HOA meeting.

Have I got your interest yet? 

No! 

Boring or not, I’m going to the meetings because I want to know what’s going on where I live. If Clark were alive, he’d go and I could stay home, but now it’s up to me. I feel like a responsible grownup. I even volunteered to be on the communication committee. 

Tonight was boring, of course, but useful --  and I did draw faces.

Love,

k

Loose-blooming orchid

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I made this pencil and watercolor drawing of the orchid in the living room. It’s looser because I’m using a pencil, not black pen, and bigger sketchbook. I hope flowers are blooming for you too! 

Love,

k

Dogs (especially Zing!) rule!

Written last night:

Today Zing! and I and Tony and Darrius (two of his neighbor-fans) went to the Doggie Dash at Land Park, a big green space not far from here — we went not to  participate in the run/walk, but afterward, to stroll the booths.  This  wasn’t celebrating purebreds; it was for dogs like Zing! who were adopted from a pound.  We arrived just in time to see the “I’m so Ugly I’m Cute” competition. Tony thinks Zing! will be a star next year. Zing! and I have been to this park many times, and never have we seen such a crowd. Traffic was a challenge — we had to park on a side street several blocks away. Dogs rule!

Later today I checked my email and got this from my high school friend Susan, who will be visiting us in May. She said:

"I'm looking forward to it.  Cannot wait to meet Zing.  And, oh, it will be nice to see you, too.”

Zing! rules.

Zing is getting a manicure