Wednesday, June 2, 2010

An Apple A Day

watercolor 9 x 12

This week I am posting another oldie but goodie.  We have been traveling and I just didn't have time to fit in a painting.  I painted this picture when we first moved to Germany and I started teaching watercolor class.  I had everyone paint an apple so I set this still life up as an example.

Steven painted a wooden croc this week.  I think this guy is adorable.  I found him at Michael's for $2.  They also had snakes and lizards.  Steven loved it so we bought several.  I also used this as an opportunity to discuss what is going on with the oil situation, such a mess!



I mentioned that we've been traveling.  We started our journey by accompanying Brian on a TDY to STL.   We didn't actually make it all the way to St. Louis, we stopped in So IL to visit family.  It happened to coincide with Brian's brother being on TDY also to Scott AFB.  So we met up with Jon, Sarah and Luke at Grandma Betty's.  Debbie and Amy made it too.  It was a mini family reunion, we don't get to see Brian's brother and family very often because they are stationed in Washington state.  Since a lot of my family lives in Illinois also we visited with Grandma's, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.  So much fun!  It was really neat to see how much fun that the nephews had together.  I can envision lots of fun family gatherings in the future.

We then departed Illinois for Baton Rouge, LA where Brian's parents live.  Steven spent many an hour in Grandma and Grandpa's sand box.  It's funny, they have a pool, but because we have one that isn't the highlight.  Brian and I were able to get away for a night and go to New Orleans.  I really hadn't spent much time there.  It was a very nice trip.  It reminded me of our pre-kid lives when we gallivanted all over Europe.  New Orleans had a similar vibe as some European cities.  New Orleans is a dirtier version without a clean bathroom anywhere, but it was still lots of fun to visit.  Seriously the city needs to invest in some of the self sanitizing porta potties, there is a lot to be said for clean bathrooms with toilet condoms, as far as I'm concerned.

I enjoyed looking for painting inspirations.  I found lots of interesting ideas.  I really enjoyed checking out the hotels, they always have great design ideas.  I found some fascinating lighting, pictured below.  We also had a terrific meal at Bocca.  I had lobster and shrimp ravioli with caviar in a champagne sauce and Brian had Bocca shrimp.  It was very tasty.  We had a terrific time just wandering around the streets of New Orleans.  Brian introduced me to Cafe Du Monde, the beignets were out of this world.  We visited artists galleries and antique shops.  It was a great mini-vacation.

Below are lots of pictures from our trip.

See everyone next week:)



6 comments:

  1. I know it was sooooo good! Worth standing in line:)

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  2. The water color is wonderful. Apples are a vivid, very realistic. I admire.
    Hi Steve. This crocodile're decorated very nicely.
    I envy you your mini-vacation. I traveled last maybe two years ago. Now I prefer to lay on a sunny beach somewhere. For us it is still as nasty weather :-(. It should be warm. It's a terrible mess. Everywhere in the East are flooding our country. The houses are completely waterlogged.
    Thanks for the example of those beautiful pictures. You are right that it looks like a place in Europe. Perhaps the photo of streets in New Orleans. It's like the Italian town.

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  3. Thank you J.B. I wish I could send some sunshine your way, we have plenty of it here, it is in the 90's and sunny. Sorry to hear about the flooding, hopefully it will subside soon. I agree with you laying on a sunny beach sounds good, hope you get to one this summer:)

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  4. First of all, beautiful painting! I love those apples, they are rendered perfectly and the contrast is wonderful :)

    Steven's alligator is so darling :)

    And now I am totally jealous of your fun inspiring trip! Sounds like a blast, and that ravioli YUMMY!!

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  5. Thanks, Crystal!

    I always enjoy getting your input on my paintings:)

    Our trip was very inspiring. I came home with tons of ideas. Now I just need to get to them before the motivation is gone:)

    Hope you find some inspiration too!

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