A day in town...
...and I only had time to sketch briefly, while kateslover checked out the offerings at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore...we looked for a new pedestal sink and index buttons for the faucets we got last week (you know, the little hot/cold snap-in buttons they put on faucets that tell you what you're doing!)
I won't repeat what he said about our day in the city--you can click on his name, above, to read his journal--except to say it feels rather nice to be officially recognized as a military wife and listed as a Navy dependent, at my age! The young men at the Naval installation in the city were very nice, and it was an interesting experience for me--now I have a very official-looking ID card to carry with me, with, of course, a dreadful photo!
I am DELIGHTED that he is retired, mind you. I don't think I would have handled those long separations when he was incommunicado under the ocean all that well. We've lived apart for much of our year-long marriage and the two years leading up to it, but we had email, phone calls and almost monthly visits! That made it bearable. The young men and women who deal with the enforced separation on a daily basis have all my respect.
One thing I WILL repeat is how lovely it was to find The Best of Kansas City's store in Crown Center, and discover the "soft summer jazz" of the Leonard Brothers http://www.jagggrecords.com/. As he said, we danced right there in the store, to "Someone to Watch Over Me," one of my longtime favorites, and he bought four of their CDs for later! (He really does watch over me, quite a feat given how incredibly independent I am!)
I'll add color to my ink sketches from Habitat later; right now I'm up to my eyebrows in working on the new book. Meshing new art and text with what we want to retain from the original version, from 20 years ago, is proving to be quite the juggling act! I sent slides of paintings and step by steps then, of course--now we've gone digital, a great improvement in many ways! I can see immediately what the art looks like and if I've gotten the shot. I'm replacing a lot of the original art, and doing many, many more demos; having a ball testing new materials!
Soooo...I just put up a sketch I did over the weekend, when we sat out by the chiminea, enjoying the fire, a drink, and a good book. Life IS good...
This is the first image on the backside of the folding journal you see here--I can't resist working on both sides, since it IS a journal, but many people use this type of folder to record a special trip, then cut all the paintings apart to mat or frame.