week 2 of vacation

Our second week of vacation found us in Pompano Beach, a small community sandwiched between Boca Raton and Ft Lauderdale. We stayed at a Wyndham resort which was lovely - a beautiful room, gorgeous grounds and lots of on-site activities. We went to the beach once and it looked just like Myrtle Beach (long strand of white sand), so our  relaxing time was spent pool-side. Most of my sketching was done around the resort.......

Kind of practicing on all the variety of palm trees near the pool.....there are an amazing amount of different types of palms. 

This is definitely an example of how sketching helps you focus on your surroundings. In previous years, I would have admired a tree or two and gone back to reading. This time I really LOOKED at the trees, figured out how they were similar or different, attempted to capture them. I love that aspect of embracing sketching. 

Once again I attempted people - we went to see a horse race - trotters - one evening and between  races I tried my hand at capturing these guys..... You can see I gave up on one of the faces; but the bodies are okay....

the everglades

the everglades

he takes his gaming very seriously!

lots of funky trees in FL

It was very hot and muggy in FL - don't think we'll be going back.....we've been there several times and that's enough. There are more places to explore.

checking in

Dan and I are still on vacation but I wanted to do a quick check in and share a few photos.....I know vacation pics are usually of most interest to the person on the trip, but I just can't help myself!

We took a Caribbean cruise on Norwegian -

 first port Roatan, Honduras.....we went to Tabyana Beach.

I sure do love the fine, soft, white sand of the Caribbean!  Dan takes a mean photo as well - he took a great series of this rickety pier near the shopping at Roatan......he had to hike back up the highway to find it after we got back from the beach.

Next stop Belize where we took a very long excursion to see the Lamanai Mayan ruins - 1.5 hrs on a bus, 1+ hours on a river "safari" (ha!), 1.5 hrs at the ruins then 3 hours back to the boat.  A LONG day!

This tall ruin had STEEP, deep steps and there was no way I could manage them in the short time we had to explore.  Dan's in the red about half way up and you can see even his long legs are working hard.  It's hot - 90+ degrees, humid and we were hunting for shade wherever we could find it during the walk through the jungle to get to the ruins.

I did make it up a few steps!  As you can see these steps are tall - 18" or more.

The next day took us to Costa Maya, Mexico and another Mayan site.  We liked this excursion better because it wasn't so long and the site itself was more interesting.  The excavation revealed more of a community, a town-like layout that made it easier to think about a civilization functioning there.  We visited the Kohunlich ruins.......

This is a sleeping platform in what would have been a noble's house and Dan is checking it out for comfort :)

A carving from the Temple of Masks - probably about 8' tall.  After visiting the ruins, we returned to town for a little souvenir shopping.....yummy colors, right?  I see art inspiration here:

Final stop on this cruise is Cozumel, Mexico.  We didn't take an excursion here, just got off the ship and wandered around town til we got too hot and tired.  I love pictures of windows and doors and found a few here.  (that's Dan's reflection in the center glass)

That's the end of the cruise - now we're off to a week in St Augustine, FL in a timeshare condo on the beach.  I'll share a few more pics in a few days.

And, you know what?  I've even managed to find time for a little art - some doodling, some lettering and I've even made some collages!  Dan just laughed at me when I packed markers and glue sticks and scissors!

an artful day

Dan watched football all day so I was free to play in my art room!  I admit I did some computer work as well, but I felt artfully satisfied by the end of the day.

I made mail art - I've got quite a packet going to Karen for her MMSA (mail me some art) challenges this month.  There is a new theme for each week (postmarked by Saturday) so there's lots of time or themes to interest you.  She makes it super easy - you send her cards, she matches them up with other participants and mails them out! :)  Some of these go to her swaps and some to people I owe cards to.....

Then, I finished up a spread in my journal I'd been working on to remember our vacation.  I used some of my photos, some ephemera (tickets & stuff), paint and the usual fun stuff.  Here's how that turned out:

Folded the center 2 pages in half so the outer pages had to color coordinate -have finally realized this color combo is just not a fave - I keep trying it in various permutations and I rarely like the results.  I need to stick to brighter, more cool colors I think.

The two folded pages opened to the center -listing the places we visited and practiced some writing.

Added some maps, also folded to get them to fit.

The inside of the folded list pages changed color palette - like it better.

This was a fun way to include lots of pics, some ephemera, some comments so I remember the highlights of the trip.  Washi tape holds stacked photos in place so they don't take up as much room.

And finally, I added the next steps to my large canvas WIP.  I've shown the various layers I've worked on over the last few weeks, today I added blue stenciled letters, then circles, covered it all in matte medium and waited for it to dry.  Can't decide if I want to gesso it a bit before the next step or not so will live with it a day or two before moving on.....I'm mostly liking it - we'll see how it progresses compared to what's in my head.

Wanted an underlayment of some letters and teal.

Lots of gesso and white and gray paint.

Even more paint, then circles in 2 sizes and lots of shades of yellow/gold.

Circle detail - dictionary pages and music from Get Back by the Beatles.

Hope you all managed to fit some art in this weekend as well.

I'll be sharing this with Artists in Blogland.

quite a feet

My vacation synopsis:

Hiking the trail to Englishman River Falls.  Gorgeous!

Lots of riding in the car - couple of hours to Victoria, then a few days later a couple of hours to Tofino.

Walking through the historical Empress Hotel.

Resting with my art supplies ready to go and some of my beachcombing treasures.

Me and Dan and the Parksville beach for a little sun.

Hiking the Wild Pacific Trail.

The Ucluelet lighthouse and me.

We're exhausted so it's time to put our feet up and relax - it is a vacation after all!

This last one to prove my whole body was on vacation, not just my feet!  Lorinda sent us on this gorgeous scenic drive through Victoria and we discovered this pretty beach - thanks Lorinda!

I thought of the feet idea early on the trip but could NOT remember to take the photo everywhere - as soon as we'd leave a place I'd say, "Oh no, I forgot to get my feet in the photo!"  But how many times do you really need to see my feet anyway?

By the way - I sent out 20, count 'em 20, handmade postcards yesterday.  I was so excited to get them finished and addressed and in the mail that I totally forgot to take a photo!  I can't believe it!  So, no preview of all that outgoing arty goodness, you'll just have to be surprised when one shows up in your mailbox.