Blog

"Brushes on the Beach" is a special Plein Air event sponsored by the G.Lee Gallery in Galveston, benefiting Artist Boat, famous for taking thousands of kids kayaking in Galveston Bay and Plein air painting. I like to enter every year and the event rules state that you can Plein air paint your entries anywhere but it must be between October 21 and November 7. However, this year, with teaching and such, I had little time, and when I did it was raining. Not to be deterred by a bit of rain, I set up my easel in front of a big picture window at my sister's house and painted their lovely backyard. There is a huge tree that frames the guest house at the back of the property, and in the rain, the whole scene is bathed in a silvery light. I did a second painting at night of the same scene and will show that next week. The rules further stated that you must take a Selfie while painting your entry. This painting did get into the show and you can see it along with many others at G.Lee Gallery on the Strand.

All the Families with all the cousins have gone and it is Very Quiet around here. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house (Night scene above) with 21 hungry people! However, at Thanksgiving, Chaos needs to be embraced to survive! Some say chaos is the point as all these families get to know each other. They came from North Carolina and California and were so excited to see the Houston crew. Tables were set in multiple rooms and everyone brought their favorite dishes. Food was served on every available surface and I completely forgot my parsnip and carrot puree which nobody missed...sigh. We had so many dishes that plates were not big enough and most desserts were eaten in front of the soccer game on TV. However, that was just one of many meals we shared over the Holiday week and now I am blue that it went so quickly! Luckily I will be with my California family again at Christmas, so all is not lost! Whew!