Catch-up time!

We've been parked in an awesome spot at the Great Sand Dunes National Park for the past 10 days. The lighting on the Dunes and the west face of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range changes constantly, and it's always fascinating! The colors likewise are in constant motion, varying from a rather bland tan to vibrant roses and violets. I've had so much fun painting 'critters' on YUPO (a polypropylene surface -- think oil on water in reverse) that I decided to also share our travel experiences with watercolor on YUPO. The Hunters Moon was wandering around & was to our east over the mountains while the sun was off in the west. Hope you like this little 'Noon Dunes Moon' piece!

I discovered I hadn't posted anything for quite some time, so time to catch up.  We spent July, August, and September on the Oregon Coast. Had a wonderful time fishing, exploring, walking the beaches, etc. The freezer was filled with Chinook (Kinge) Salmon, Pacific Rock Fish, and Red-Tail Surf Perch. We had an incredible time and plan to spend more time on the OR coast next year!  We made a quick trip across Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and landed at Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland Colorado for 10 days; took care of dental & medical stuff. We discovered a nice regional park in SW Denver area, very near Red Rocks and stayed there a few days so we could visit my son Scott and grandson Justin,who both live fairly close-by. And that brings us to the Sand Dunes. 

I managed to find a little time to do some painting. Here are the ones I hadn't post previously; they're all Watercolor on Yupo:

Flight of the Dragon 

 Dance of the Orca

Eagle Eye

ANOTHER NEW PAINTING!

I've had both the time & the inclination to paint another fun watercolor on YUPO.  This goldfish joins my 'cute crazy critter collection'.

LOVIN' PUFFIN

I don't seem to find a lot of time for painting these days: traveling full-time in our 5th-wheel RV there's just so much to see & do, plus since Jamie retired he acts like he's on vacation every day!  Back when he worked 9-10 hour days, then was burned out, I had tons of time to myself and often spent the 'work day' painting.  Oh well, we don't have wall space for much art,so what the heck!

Here's my second piece from our British Isles trip in May-June.  We went to an island off the coast of Scotland, in the Atlantic, that has literally thousands of Puffins.  You can hike to the cliffs where they hang out and visit them up-close-and-personal.  We both got lots of good pictures.  This one is another 8" X 8" watercolor on YUPO, one of my critter collection.

NEW PAINTING

Finally got back into painting. This little 8" x 8" watercolor on YUPO is my first effort at sharing strong image impressions from our British Isles trip. My Highland Cow (Isle of Skye, Scotland) is titled "Mug Shot".

BRITISH ISLES TRIP Q & A

Some of you have asked where all we went, and others (artist friends) have asked what I'm going to paint. Here's a map of our journey. We rented cars on both islands, and Jamie just did one heckuva job driving; I did pretty darn good at navigating too. We flew from Leeds/Bradford to Dublin, then back from Dublin to London.

To paint? Definitely puffins, Highland cattle, sheep with pastoral landscape -- most amazing greens I've ever seen. So stay tuned.

BRITISH ISLES #20 -- LONDON

Our last 4 days were in London, where we stayed at another lovely B & B in the elite Belgravia neighborhood, just 1/2 mile from Buckingham Palace.  We were within walking distance of many attractions, and we got real proficient at using The Tube (Underground/Subway) which made it real easy to explore the City.  We visited all the 'must-see' tourist attractions as well as many 'local' favorites. 

A surprise highlight was dinner with Granddaughter Rhia Batchelder, who was in London on business with her Manhattan law firm.  What a lovely, gracious, successful young woman -- I'm so very proud of her!

The historic old structures are always fascinating, but I was especially taken with the contrast with some of the most incredible modern architecture I've ever seen!

We took part of a day to ride a long boat from Little Venice to Camden Market.  Like RVers, many people live on their boats.  I consider the Market a 'must-see'!  Ya gotta eat 'street food', although the ethnic cuisine is everywhere at great prices.

PUFFINS, AS PROMISED!

When we were in Scotland, we took a boat from Oban to some islands way out in the Sea of the Hebrides.  Staffa is a tiny island which is home to thousands of Puffins.  We spent a couple hours hiking the cliffs there, up-close-and-personal with these friendly gregarious birds!  I might add, they're real show-offs for the camera!

BRITISH ISLES #19 -- IRELAND

From our last day in Ireland, Dublin City Center. Crazy busy city, way too many people. We rode the city tour bus to get a feel for the place, then wandered through Temple Bar and on to the National Archaeological Museum, which was pretty cool.

BRITISH ISLES #18 -- IRELAND

Yesterday  we  toured  the  Burren ,  a  unique landscape  near Doolin  Ireland  on the Wild  Atlantic  coast. The  stark geology  is intriguing. The  area  was  first  inhabited  by  humans  about  6000  years  ago  and  there  are  hundreds  of  historic  stone  structures  including  dozens  of  Iron  Age  stone  forts. Wildflowers  proliferate  in the crevices  between the limestone  formations.