Drink it in...

I've just gotten into paddleboarding and am lucky enough to have friends with surplus boards! Last week I met up with my friend to paddle from Timber Cove to the keys and back. I love being on the water early in the morning, gliding through the glass, meeting other paddlers on the way and watching wakeboarders and waterskiiers enjoy the early morning conditions as well. The ab workout is also a plus!
Recently a bunch of girls and mamas met up at my friend's place near Zephyr for a paddle that just made my week :)

Succulentas

I started a little side project drawing plants out of a Succulent book last week using remnants of left over canvas while waiting for gesso to dry in my studio. I used textile pen and marker and quite like the result. I'm still trying to figure out how to mount them. Maybe I could matt them and put them in little shadowboxes. Or use tiny nails and mount them on small pieces of plywood. Any ideas?

Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa

I was in the library this morning looking for another Steve Martin novel (talk about a renaissance man!) and got sidetracked in the art section. I found an old book on Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, best known for his posters and drawings of dancers, performers and patrons swirling through Montmartre's Moulin Rouge in the late 1800's as well as his friendship with Vincent Van Gogh. His use of line and color make up his better compositions in a very economical, almost practical, way while also conveying a sense of subtle irony and caricature. Beautiful! Tomorrow, I'll take this book back to my studio and study his work, cold beer in hand, waiting for my gesso to dry.

 Rue des Moulins (The Medical Inspection)

1894. Oil. 32 x 71 in.

One of my personal favorites, this painting shows to prostitutes awaiting their monthly inspections for venereal disease.