Plein Air Painting in Napa

Song - Autumn Leaves by The Carlos Herrera Band

Woke up early on Saturday morning to head up to Napa to paint with some friends at Chimney Rock Winery.

Bay Area Studio Artists actually did paint outside!  Well, most of us did......

It was a lovely clear day and the winery was having a new release celebration.  They had a the Carlos Herrera Band playing in the courtyard and we painted while members ate, drank and enjoyed the music, art and sunshine.

This is the outside of the barrel room....

....and inside......

I took most of these photos before the crowds arrived.

Sharon Tama and Susan Bonebakker discussing their painting plan of action!

Sharon painted a lovely little courtyard painting of the trees and flowers while Sue painted the iron gate and flowers.

Marcy Wheeler hamming it up after selling her painting of the band.

Ellen Reintjes chose to do some creative iPad paintings!

Suzun Almquist had a beautiful little painting of the interior of the courtyard. Suzun, myself and Joanne all painted from behind the low courtyard wall looking in at the activity.

Here is Joanne Taeuffer packing up a little early as she had finished her "schmoozing" for the day!!!
Actually, Joanne is an incredible artist and lot's of fun to paint with but she just wasn't "feeling it" on Saturday.

And here I am getting my easel set up to paint.  I did paint the interior of the courtyard as well.  It was great to be surrounded by the vineyard, listen to the Cuban/Spanish music and paint.

 Some of the food servers found these little birds that had fallen from their nest.  They look about ready to fly!

"Beautiful day, good friends, great music and happy to be painting!" - Jeanette Crawford Baird

The Bird Ladder

Song - Mourning Dove Singing by MPG Ranch

We have had this errant grape vine that simply does not want to stay up on the pergola outside of our dining room. I think with the unseasonably warm spring, they went bonkers.

And they were joined by a few more straggling vines. 

Since Mr. B and I are not too keen on climbing ladders (is that just something that happens when you reach a certain age?) we asked our sons to grab the ladder from the side yard and fix the vines back onto the pergola.

And this is what they found.........

I guess the ladder will remain non-operational until after the little ones have flown away!

Happy Thursday!

"The dove, On silver pinions, winged her peaceful way." 

-- James Montgomery

Small but Mighty

Song - Little Bitty Pretty One by Frankie Lymon

 Late in the afternoon, just before dinner, Mr. B and I like to sit on the back deck with a glass of wine and watch the birds come & go.  The other evening there was a Green Heron sitting in a dead tree near the bank of our creek.

Upon closer inspection, we noticed that he was being "buzzed" by a little bitty - Hummingbird!

 Now the Heron kept his eye on that Hummingbird but that didn't stop the little fellow.

Which way did he go?

He's not behind me.....

Oh yeah, he is!!!!

It's the skank eye, stare-down portion of the show.

And a final happy good-bye buzz from the little Hummer!

"Hummingbirds are incredibly powerful. They are the only bird whose flight power comes from the upstroke as well as the down stroke. They teach us not to judge power by appearance."

Mother's Day

Song - Mother and Child Reunion by Paul Simon

Have I told you about my mom?  

No one could ever fill her shoes.  She came from a family of Italian immigrants who were dirt poor but they knew that family was everything.  My mom instills that in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren every day, by example.  She is what holds our family together......tightly but with love.  I feel enfolded daily by her loving kindness. 

Thank you mom for who you are and how supportive you have been in my life.  You have an amazing spirit filled with love and generosity.

 

 

"Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly."  --Ambrose Bierce

Thoughts for a Monday Morning......

Song - You Can't Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones

Because of the drought, we have decided to let our big side lawn die.....difficult decision for me because I get so much enjoyment from the garden.  But our boys are all grown.  No more baseball practice on the side lawn, croquet, badminton, golf, wrestling, volleyball and only an occasional game of horseshoes and you don't need grass for that!

I sit on the bench under a large Oak tree and watch it slowly turn brown.

But the positive side is that we will continue to keep the flowers, shrubs and trees alive.

Golden Celebration - Mr. B's favorite!

There is so much to be thankful for!

Mika can cool off on those really hot days!

"Between stimulus and response, there is space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor E. Frankl

Light and Grace

Song - Musica Zen

"Your spiritual journey is

 whatever light and grace

 you bring to 

whatever you do." 

- Elizabeth Gilbert

TBT

Song - Hold Me Tight by The Beatles

I was just going though my photo's this morning to find something juicy to paint and I came across this photo of Mr. B and myself from 1978.  It was taken by my good friend Gwen on her front porch in Portland. Mr. B and I were taking a "road trip" in his sweet little blue Alfa Romeo.


"You can't control everything.  Your hair was put on your head to remind you of that!" -  Someecards

Wild Goose Chase

Song - Little White Duck by Burl Ives

You have probably heard me complain about the Canadian Geese overpopulation in our neighborhood. They fly overhead and "honk", they land on our roof and in our pool, they are noisy and at times messy.

They even follow me to Lake Tahoe!

 But I have to tell you that they also bring me a lot of joy

Some years they nest right under our deck, near the creek.

Some evenings at sunset they fly overhead in a large flock and are beautiful to watch.

Did you know that they mate for life?

And that they were nearly extinct in the 1950's?

This afternoon my son, Tyler called for me to watch the two geese in the top photo, down in our little creek. They seemed to be enjoying the waterfall and the warm sunshine.

After a few minutes, these six little goslings came out from behind a bush.

And floated away with mom & dad........

Who were keeping a watchful eye on Tyler and me!


(Did you happen to see the horse head shadow on the floor of the creek? I have been teaching them to do shadow puppets all year now and it finally paid off!!!)


"If you feel the urge, go on a wild goose chase.  What do you think wild geese are for anyway?"  --Will Rogers

Imperfect Beauty

Song - Nobody Knows Me by Lyle Lovett

"Adopt the pace of nature;

her secret is patience.

Sometimes you don't need

the things you "need"

to enjoy the simple

things, quiet times, 

friends, family."

--Amish Proveb