Last week I left town to take care of 3 of my grand-dogs and house sit for my younger daughter and her husband. I take my camera everywhere but I only took a few pictures of flowers in the garden, no dog pictures the entire weekend. David stays home with our critters while I have a mini vacation at our daughter’s home.
I took my knitting, current book and watercolors but I hardly touched my watercolors and never opened my book. I did knit while the the TV was on, we don’t have television reception at our home. I always think it’ll be great to watch whatever I want but the sorry truth is that there’s hardly anything interesting to watch.
I did have the pleasure of spending lots of time with my older daughter while I was there. After enjoying one evening drinking and visiting, I spent the next day recovering. I wallowed in being able to vegetate in front of the television with the dogs or soak up the sun on the patio. I had thought I’d take a ride in the foothills to see the progress of the wildflowers but never did.
I started a watercolor study of Shirley poppies while house sitting, which I finished painting today. The vivid color, papery petals and grey green leaves were too inspiring to leave them be. I took several macro photographs then moved on to sketching them in pencil before painting with watercolours.
Watercolour study. 10×14 inches
When I was at my daughters’ a few weeks ago for an appointment, this little guy was in her Crepe Myrtle tree. He was alone in the Crepe Myrtle again during my visit. I’ve learned he’s a Western Yellow-rumped Warbler. I also enjoyed watching a pair of Scrub Jays building a nest in the orange tree.
