The newly expanded waterfront at the YMCA’s Sandy Island Family Camp on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, has both areas of sand for kids with shovels and sunbathers, and areas of grass with Adirondack chairs for readers (and sketchers).
Month: August 2018
Sandy Island
Sandy Island Camp is a family camp run by the YMCA on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH. If you’re looking for a place for a family vacation, its wonderful! We are here for the week before Labor Day for the 33rd year in a row. Here’s a quick sketch of the waterfront.
Lakes and Hills
New Englanders are divided between those who head to the ocean on vacation — Cape Cod or the coasts of New Hampshire or Maine — and those who prefer the inland hills and lakes of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine or the Berkshires. We are in the latter category. We are spending the last two weeks of summer in Vermont and New Hampshire, and these late summer days are a good time to paint.
Guacamole
Avocados are, in my opinion, nature’s perfect food. So when my friend Justin and I tried out the new Mexican restaurant in West Newton Square last week, I couldn’t wait to order guacamole. It took a great deal of restraint to do the drawing before eating, and the bowl was nearly empty before I got out my paintbrush.
Charles River
The Charles River is studded with water lilies at this time of year.
Here’s another view of the shoreline while rocking gently in a kayak, dipping my brush into the river.
From a Kayak
Back at home, the weather has been hot and steamy. But if the evening is cool enough, you can take a kayak and go out on the Charles River.
Dipping my brush into the river as I floated along put a different spin on the term watercolor.
See America on Amtrak!
Bruce and I have become evangelists for train travel. We all say we want to see America. But you see very little on a plane. And in a car you’re mostly stuck on interstates, driving with all its hassles, eating one fast food meal after another. Whereas on a train, you can go to sleep in the plains of Montana and wake up in the Rockies. Or go to sleep crossing the deserts of the southwest, wake up to farmland in Missouri, and cross the Mississippi River during lunch in the dining car. It’s a trip of a lifetime.
“The Bean” in Chicago
The last stop on our trip was a final night in Chicago before flying home to Boston. It was a gorgeous evening to walk through Millennium Park, where Obama made his acceptance speech in 2008. The Cloud Gate Sculpture, also known as “The Bean,” is an startling stainless steel sculpture in the middle of the park. Designed by Anish Kapoor and completed in 2006, it gives the appearance of liquid mercury. Visitors take photos of the reflections of themselves, the crowd around them and the skyline of Chicago.
Some of my sketches take only minutes to make, but this took hours. It was a labor of love for this amazing sculpture.
Two Little Sketches
The Southwest Chief is the Amtrak train which took us from Los Angeles to Chicago on the last leg of our train trip. We were on the train for two days and nights, and sat in the observation car watching the deserts of the southwest and then the lush farmland of the Midwest roll by. Here are two little sketches. First the tree which to many represents Southern California.
Then a view from the train window of the desert in New Mexico.
I am working on a painting of my favorite place in Chicago to post on Monday.