Summer Trip to Portland Oregon, Our way there ... and Back Again

Last week was the first week I missed posting on my blog in I can't remember when. So if you missed me this is why:

Fred's a great driver. I sit back, enjoy the scenery, draw him driving, read, and draw some more ...

We stopped in Yreka for lunch. We found this Brewery on an earlier visit and liked the menu. No beer for us, but this time I had a spinach wrap that was huge and delicious. He had a burger!

Next stop was Ashland. We met up with Elizabeth and Michael Flannagan, (Elizabeth and I met through Sketchbook Skool)  We love our art/music evening with them so much.

 
Elizabeth and I draw and talk; and the guys talk and play music together.

 

Earlier in the day we stopped to visit my cousin Betsy for a while. She recently got an iPad and she is having fun learning how to use it. (no previous computer use ever!) Betsy has a great sense of humor and we always enjoy talking and laughing with her!

The next day we set off for Portland, stopping at Starbucks for his coffee and my oat meal; and McDonald's for his food ... I drew this old Hudson in the parking lot while he was fueling himself up!

Lunch time was a stop in Eugene at a dynamite café called Yummi Café. It was yummy too! The salmon burgers were top notch! Juicy and delicious.

I drew this picture of Fred later in Portland. I have no idea why it says he's a little cat, I think it was probably something our grand daughter said and I wrote it over his head for some reason! ???

Oh that's probably why ... Allie Bel had painted her face to look like a cat! Note that she asked about my hearing aides and made sure I got them into the drawing. She wears two Cochlear Implants and identifies with me and my difficulty hearing too without aides.

My son came home from work and took a little nap on the couch with the bear and Allie. She saw the picture later and asked why her face wasn't showing. I said "You were looking the other direction!" She said, "Well, draw it NOW!" Sorry too late!

We had a visit from my former husband, Michael, and his wife Marsha, and then our grand daughter's beau, another Michael dropped by as well. We were celebrating Allie's 4th birthday early (it's later in August, but we won't be there) and Michael's, who turned 81 the day we were there!

I also hit several art stores while we were there ... and this is a partial list of things I picked up!

We took a trip to Colton to visit Kaeli, our 21 year old grand daughter and Michael there, as they have new jobs at Colton Camp. It's a gorgeous area, we walked some of the grounds. I put the waterfall behind Kaeli's head. It was really somewhere else, but I wanted to be sure I got the picture of it there for memory's sake. She is a lovely young woman. I am so proud of her. She is in her second to last year of nursing school!

We also got to visit briefly with our eldest grandson, Mikiah, at the house in Portland! I love that my grand kids let me draw them each visit. Both he and Kaeli said I was getting better!

 

 Kaeli, our eldest grand daughter is filing for financial aide for her second year of nursing school and our daughter in law, Jackie was helping her ...
We had such a good time with family! We always do!

Then the family had a festival to go to, and/or back to work; and we

moseyed on to do some traveling on our own ...

 



We stopped at a Butterfly sanctuary in Elkton, Oregon and saw butterflies popping out of cocoons and flying around in this warm enclosed area. Just beautiful and wonderful to draw (and color later in the car).

We also got to see Elk for whom this little town was named. Big beautiful animals walking and lounging on the grass.

 
We stopped at Edgewaters for lunch, Grilled fish (rock cod) sandwiches, that were good! The lighthouse could be seen from our window seat, but I drew it from the car after lunch from the car window. I don't know why it's a bit tipsy. Perhaps a big wave came up just then.

That night and the next we stayed at Tanya Werher's Air BNB in the woods in Bandon. A beautiful wooden house with big wood beams inside and out; a stone fireplace (see my reflection in the glass door); simply and tastefully decorated, she a minimalist, so everything in it's place impeccable and oh so clean; comfortable bedroom and bed; our own bathroom, use of the kitchen and main rooms. Friendly. A great stay! Very reasonably priced as well.

What a disappointment the Let's go out to Breakfast the next morning was at the One Minute Café. It must have taken an hour to be served. Fred said hold the cheese on his Denver omelet, but it was smothered in cheese! He never got offered a second cup of decaf coffee. My "decaf tea" was NOT decaf!

The beauty in Bandon well made up for the mediocre breakfast. Someone had carved out a labyrinth on the beach sand and people were walking it. Fun to be up on the rocky overhang watching them and the beautiful ocean!

You probably know by now that I travel with my own personal troubadour and his guitar. He put on a wonderful song fest for Tanya, her dog and cat! I enjoyed it too, have been for 38 years now!

 

All good things must come to an end,

and we headed home 11 days from whence we started!

 

Whew!

 

Enjoy! We sure did!

 

Have a creative week!

 

Thanks for your visits here and your comments, they keep me drawing!

My Week in Art by Lynn Cohen

Going backyards this week from yesterday, my grand kids (three of our five) came to visit for three days and per usual we make art together at their request. I drew my grandson twice "A" and my grand daughter "Y" once, plus us in the background for this group shot. I am sure there will be more like this for next week to be drawn today and tomorrow...

Meanwhile, back in Sketchbook Skool, I did a one line drawing of myself to show off my new glasses using a water soluble Pilot gel pen and watercolors ...

Over at my other blog: Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens, we are following the theme of "Wildlife", so I drew this kitten my husband befriended at the house we stayed in in Arcata, CA over the forth of July. Also a one liner (don't lift pen from paper start to finish) ... and watercolor.

... and Henry V, our cat, in several posed done live!

This horse spotted in a Wyoming pasture is also a one liner and watercolor ....

... as is the ram, seen in Custer State Park, a one liner and watercolor ....

The first assignment this week in Sketchbook Skool was to draw three objects using one line only and frame it leaving some parts out of the frame. This class is taught by Brenda Swenson.

... another one liner ...

And one more selfie done from a photo taken in a toy shop where my husband and I were trying on silly hats!
I like how the silver pen I used, a gel pen I think, makes the silver leather look shiny as it was.

All this put on my new Student Body Card designed by one of the other students using Danny Gregory's logo for the class and that student's calligraphy. They call me "Flash" because I produce a lot of art over a short period of time.

 

Wishing you a creative week!

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Visit us at Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens!

Join in the fun there if you like.

 

Thanks for your comments, they are all very, very much appreciated.

 

Now the grandkids need breakfast!

See you later!

"My Week Started and Ended at Tacos Jalisco Sandwiched Around Family Time" Lynn Cohen

My week often involves at least one visit to Tacos Jalisco to eat lunch and draw. One of our lessons at Sketchbook Skool is to lay paint on a page and draw over it once dry. This is my second "Mexican Flag" painting with patrons at the Mexican restaurant over lunch. You can read this art journal page to see who was there.

A different lunch was a week and a half ago at the Academy of Sciences where I went to draw with these women, one I had met at Sketchbook Skool and who I learned lives fairly nearby me. We drew all morning and shared our art afterwards over lunch.

Last Friday was Grandparents Day at my twin grand kids school. I've been enjoying this day there since they were in Kindergarten. Now they are in 4th grade. Later at their house my grand daughter drew in her art journal while I drew her doing just that!

Her twin brother enjoyed his soccer magazine, probably thinking of his upcoming championship game. I enjoy drawing these kids and encouraging them to draw too.

 

On Saturday we went to visit my uncle Harry. He is grieving the loss of his beloved Mimi who died on May 2nd on her 95th birthday. They were together for 69 years. This is not going to be easy for Harry. He was asleep in his chair when we got there. I drew him before he woke up. Then we spent an  afternoon grieving together and getting him to tell us stories of their early life together.

 

 

 

At my other blog, Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens we are drawing to the theme of "Daily Life" for two weeks. I drew my art supplies on my drawing/computer desk, after buying some new  pens. One just cannot have enough pens. I liked the Faber-Castell colored pens I found in the scrap booking section at Michael's this week.

 

 

And I wrap up the week with lunch once again at Tacos Jalisco. I sketched these folks quickly as I waited for my lunch before hurrying back to work at my office down the street.

 

I thank you all for dropping by to see my art efforts.

I appreciate your leaving your comments.

 

Have a creative week!

 Linking up to Paint Party Friday, see the artists there via the link on my sidebar.
If you want to be a contributor at Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens leave your email here or there and I'll send you and invite so you can post your art to our theme there.

Winters Quilt Festival & Grandkids Fun!

On Saturday I went to Davis to pick up my friend Diane and we drove to Winters to the outdoor quilt festival. It was a beautiful warm breezy day...just right for viewing hundreds of quilts blowing in the wind outside! The highlight of the day was seeing actual quilts from Gee's Bend! This one struck me for being so colorful!

We walking along Main street looking at fronts and backs of these

wonderful creations of so many talented hands.

Diane fell in love with this one particular quilter, a guy named Mike!

His style was not unsimiliar to her own, although with a definite masculine flare!

This is the back of one of his many quilts in the show!

I have many more photos which I can share at another time.

From there I drove to the home of my daughter/SIL and grandchildren.

It was instantly apparent that my grandma's bag is never ever

going to go out of style!

We did our usual art projects, torn paper pictures; paper airplanes;

felt gluing pieces too.

While cleaning up at home I found these two stuffed animals in a bag in the garage.

They had been my daughters when she was a little girl.

I was about to take them to the thrift store to donate, but DH stopped me.

So instead I took them with me yesterday and the kids, who had not

shown much interest in them at our house

suddenly swooped them up with love and said YES they wanted them! So Lizzy the Lion and Poly Bear have a new home!

This photo is on it's side, but shows the men repairing my grandson's guitar.

As usual we had music time with grandpa playing guitar and singing and the kids joining in on drums and tambourines. GD did ballet, GS picked out a song (really!) on the keyboard!

They also had played basketball out front too on the newly installed 9' hoop

and my little Gson was able to make basket after basket after basket!

He is quite the athlete! Needless to say it was another very very good day!

;-)

Sharing My JOY!

I had a wonderful two days with my grand kids. They picked apples from a tree in their back yard; Ten kids took turns climbing this little step ladder and got to pick an apple from the tree. The apples will be made into an apple pie by my SIL later. Then they were carving and cleaning pumpkins... All this today!

On my my Grandma's Friday I took care of my grandchildren alone! We spent some time at the park across the street from their house, and they did try on their frog costumes I made them! They were delighted with them and I to see them in them. It was a wonderful time. And they did not tire me out completely. But I did sleep well last night!

I did do some sewing while there and I did some sketching too. Maybe I'll blog those later.

Eyes need a new resting place

I have been looking at my quilts for so many hours/days/weeks now that I am TIRED of them. I needed something new to rest my eyes on.

This pomegranate is in my friends front patio on a tree laden with them. They are beautiful. I can only imagine the juicy red juice inside that would drip out all over my fingers if I cut it open with a sharp knife. And I can almost taste that juice, the acidic tart flavor of redness on my tongue.

But in the name of you know what (sewing/incase you did not know what) I did have a free hour and went to the Q-shop today and got instructions for cutting my backing fabric (remember I am new at this). No time to sandwich them there.

Went instead to Michael's to get Frog Costume stuff for 3 yr old grandchildren's Halloween: lime green t-shirts (size small); lime green visors, big plastic doll eyes with blacks that move inside the white ovals; green, yellow and black felt for frog spots. And Halloween stickers of all sorts because my grandkids LOVE stickers.

Came home tonight after work and sewed the backing pieces together...ironed them. Now they are neatly folded waiting to see if I can do the sandwiching on my queen sized bed (tomorrow morning the plan is to get started).