Sketch Book

The guy with his hat on backwards sat his Jersey Shore beach body right in front of me. If you do that I'm gonna getcha. 

It takes zero effort to coax my husband to pose in his surf chair. 

 I was  able to capture a small boy with a Dennis the Menace haircut happily absorbed in building a sand castle, complete with moat and turrets, big enough for a family of four.

Now where the heck is that ice cream man? It's hot out here!

Karen Smith

Karen Smith, Oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5 x 7"

Windows rattled in frames. Crumbs danced on the floor.  The cat hid.   

Out on the avenue the Fairmount Art Fest was happening.  Across the street a makeshift tent threw thin shade on a gathering of hot musicians.  I caught a front row seat for drummer Karen Smith.  On a single djembe drum, Karen beat the whole steaming avenue into a dance party.

Karen Smith leads two musical groups: Weez The Peeple and Sistahs Laying Down Hands With Love.  

Artist at Work

Artist at Work, Oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5 x 7"

Art lovers from The First Wednesday Group, a social group created by mover and shaker Carole Sheridan, are meeting along Kelly Drive to sketch and paint.  I’ve volunteered to be the “glue” for the group.   

Two very kind ladies, Barbara and Sally, have been getting together for quite some time to sketch the wonderful statuary and scenery along the drive. 

Carole discovered more folks who share their love of art, waved her organizational magic wand, created a plein air group and viola!  Barbara and Sally suddenly have a lot of company.

This is the study I painted of Barbara working on a sketch of the cougar statue in the azalea garden during our first outing.  She wore the most wonderful shirt!

Check out this article on Carole’s First Wednesday Group on page 7 in the May 2016  issue of the newspaper Milestones:

Click here for info about Carole Sheridan's group

Jack's Firehouse

Jack's Firehouse, oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 5 x 7"

sold

A Fairmount landmark, Jack’s Firehouse is a prime neighborhood meeting place. One of the best times Pat and I have had at Jack’s was the birthday of Lori “do one thing that scares you each day” Koch.  After deliciousness and revelry in the restaurant we set off for Jack’s VIP Halloween tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary.  Lori marched us straight to the front of the line.  Gulp!  She alone donned the glow-in-the-dark necklace giving the haunted house ghouls permission to invade her personal space.  At some point during the tour she went missing.  There are tales only she can tell.

But hooray! It’s summertime! This painting of Jack’s sidewalk is one of sunshine, heaping towers of cumulus clouds and a lovely excuse to break open my brand new tube of Gamblin King’s Blue.  

Pink Tiger

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 5 x 7"

sold

In my former suburban neighborhood observations made during a morning walk were subtle, mostly changing leaves and blooming flowers, hardly ever a person in sight.   Here in the city, my street throbs with life, cars bump with rhythm, all manner of folk bob and weave up and down the avenue. Fade boring ‘burb wear, say yes to pink hair and tiger stripes. This young lady’s bicycle sports a cheery yellow bouquet of flowers on the handlebar.  

The Mighty 33

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 5 x 7"

Is there anything as comforting as a reliable ride home?  When in center city, either cold and wet or hot and cranky, weighted with shopping bags, I feel safe when the mighty 33 bus pulls up to my stop.  My ride.  The 33 is a double bus with an accordion middle. I love when I get the driver who asks, “Did you buy something for me?” I never tire of her same old kind and wonderful jokes.  

Perfect Together

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 5 x 7"

Perhaps it’s because I myself cannot properly rock a hat that I love them on others.  The young lady in the extremely cool blue hat is treating the gent in the birthday crown to a night out at a Japanese BBQ.  It’s such lovely good humor to don a bright orange birthday crown and own it.   Perhaps he knows that orange is the perfect complement to blue.

May Day

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 5 x 7"

In a jam jar, even dyed purple carnations look as whimsical as wildflowers, carefree as posies plucked from a field.   Grocery store bargains, they are all the better scattered into tiny sparkling jars for liberal household distribution.  Flower delivery!