Sketches from the last days of this trip

Just a few more sketches in my book before we get home.


Sometimes my drawings of boats are right on. Other times I miss the mark and they look completely un-seaworthy. This sketch looks right to me.


LaConner, Washington has a beautiful quilt museum. A new exhibit of Japanese quilts and textiles was really interesting but the colors were odd to my American eyes. Orange with magenta and pink looked garish to me, but must make sense to Japanese eyes. I favored the crazy quilts and wondered about the women who put them together.

The end of this trip is in sight and brings a mixture of feelings. Endings are sad. But they make space for new beginnings.

Sketching is nice but I miss painting

I continue to experiment and play with my sketching. Today, a comic strip across the top of the page with panels of various sizes. Quick gestures while I finished my morning coffee. Another gesture of the bridge at Deception Pass. Then of the bridge support. I like these little drawings.

On the dock at Anacortes, I sat comfortably and drew the rigging on the Day Star. Boats are complicated subjects and I have avoided painting and drawing them in any detail. Today I plunged in. Things got a little wonky but some things are just right. More practice will help, I think.

From the water at Budd Inlet

With art as with literature, point of view is one of the keys that creates interest. I am lucky to have some time on a boat, but first a quick watercolor sketch from the transient dock at Swantown in Olympia, Washington.

From this vantage point, I watched the crows and gulls dig mussels from the boggy tidal flats and then drop their treasures to crack the shells on the rocks below. Great sport for all but the bivalves!