#170 On the Hard

I've been hanging around the boatyard here in Portland a lot these days, waiting for repairs to our boat Claudia II. Boatyards are fascinating places. This sketch is of the Grey Ghost. I found her around the corner one late afternoon.

The Grey Ghost is "on the hard" waiting for her turn to be launched*. The official definition of "hard" is "a section of otherwise muddy shoreline suitable for mooring or hauling out."  I use it here to describe a boat that has been hauled and is now sitting on dry land.

Our boat has been on the hard in Portland for about a month. Tom and I, and the boys at the boatyard. including two Robs, two Mikes and two Eriks, are making all necessary repairs before she can be launched. We've fiber glassed (badly) and epoxied,  frigged-around-until-it-works with hoses, thru-hull shut offs, straights and elbows. We can work a screw driver, wrench and ratchet upside down, wedged over a bulkhead on our bellies and in a full mobious, all at the same time and while trying to remember to breathe.

Have a great week and a safe July 4th, 2014. Signing off from the belly of the Claudia II.

On the Hard • 8" x 8" gouache framed to 12" x 12" • $200

 

* The Grey Ghost has since been launched. The CLAUDIA II remains on the hard. In fact, right after I post this, I am headed back down to the boatyard with a new freshwater pump.

SOLD - In the Garden

I've been rummaging around in my flower gardens the past two weekends trying to clean them up. They're a mess. Overgrown, overwhelmed by weeds and totally unruly, they fit my personality perfectly, and unfortunately.

My neighbor Sheryll's flower gardens are superb. Well placed, color coordinated and beautifully designed, they are the antithesis of mine. But we compliment each other I think. I tempt her to loosen up a bit. She's British and can't help having a proper garden. It's in her blood. Hers makes me think maybe I should put more thought in to what I'm doing - be more conscious and perhaps a bit more serious. Gardening is an art form after all, her gardens say.

This sketch is of a woman gardener I saw on Monhegan Island. She was older and fully engrossed in the work at hand. Her garden bordered on out of control, but wasn't. It looked wild but not quite. Maybe I'll aspire to something Zen but not altogether Zen.

In the Garden • 8" x 8" watercolor and gouache framed to 12" x 12" • $200

SOLD - Busy In To Summer

Saturday will be the first day of summer and the landscape here in Maine has finally changed over to full bloom. Ever notice how busy everything suddenly gets when that happens? Stand still and look around out there for a minute. It's just plain busy - things are moving non-stop in all directions.

I have just today started my annual two-bin clothing changeover.  It's usually pretty routine, but this year I will be holding back one pair of wool socks and fleece jacket for a bit longer. I'm feeling like I just can't bring myself to trust it all quite yet.

Busy In To Summer • 8" x 8" gouache and acrylic framed to 12"x 12" • $200

SOLD - Kay's Flowers

These flowers - I think they are Iris - grow next to one of Kay's two barns in New Vineyard. I pass it on my drives to and from Kingfield.

Kay is the mother of a friend of ours. I don't know her all that well, but I do know that she's an extremely cool woman. I played tennis against her a few times years ago. She was one of those superb, wiley, poker-faced veteran players that drive you nuts with their bag full of skill, tricks and traps. As much as I loved those matches, they scared the hell out of me.

I have been meaning to do a sketch of this for a long time. She lives in a little piece of heaven with her German Shepard named Mimi. The land it sits on is divine and her home something you dream about.

Kay's Flowers • 8" x 8" acrylic framed to 12" x 12" • $200

#166 Cat Nap

Between working on the boat, clearing out and planting the gardens, regular work work, and the recent spate of sun and 80 degree weather, I've had a hankering to take a cat nap come 3PM or so. Of course this is entirely out of the question, though my MD who is light years younger than I, says he takes one whenever he can. He has a sofa right in his office - I've seen it.

I suppose the day will come when I'm told it's time to take a nap, like it or not. I've heard this happens when we get old and start to revert back to our infancy. Our children become our parents. But until that day arrives - when hell freezes over, I've decided to try napping vicariously through this old fella I saw out on Monhegan one year, just to see if it's something I could ever envision myself doing.

Cat Nap • 8" x 8" acrylic framed to 12" x 12" • $200