watermelon

This is a beautiful bright yellow watermelon that Ansel got from the market.

And here, a chickadee!

on the subject of vegetables

Ansel and I went for dinner at our friends' house last week. Their son, faced with the vegetable selection, made this announcement. (Though he found they were quite ok when roasted underneath a chicken!)

Later, Ansel suggested this solution:

You know, with an axe or a sword, your choice :)

(If anyone wants to make this into a T-shirt and produce at least 36 of them (the minimum), so I can give one to Padraig, let me know!)

porch concert!

pen and ink

Ansel posing for a Renaissance-style portrait for me, with flowers in his beard :)

more sunflowers

away 2

We were on a very comfortable, well-made and well-equipped canal boat, cruising down the Erie Canal. Life slows down; one starts to appreciate subtle changes in landscape and foliage, the bends in the "river". I didn't do a whole lot of sketching, being occupied with a whole lot of looking - but I did manage a pencil drawing of the front of our boat, the Canandaigua:

and some quick, faint sketches of a liftbridge in Brockport and another view of our boat:

Sorry they are so faint!

I came to love tying the boat up to a cleat on the dock - so effective and pleasing.

Also, seeing my city from such a different perspective was totally neat. We pulled up to a gas station next to the canal that Ansel and I knew otherwise from getting there by car, tied up our boat on the little dock, and hopped off and into the gas station for supplies. Then back to the water. Amazing!

many ansels

Trying out a new set of drawing inks, I did a 2 minute sketch of Ansel with each one.