My life lately....

It has been a week (or two) of ups and downs, highs and lows, scratches and smiles, and bad news that turned into good. It was the last week of school and we have recently found out my son will start a new school in the fall that will be a better place for him to be. That felt bad at first as it's a long trip for him but turned out to be good news!
It was a hot summer solstice, too hot to do anything but sit and sweat. I spent a 93 degree lunch hour sitting near the river sketching, but at least it seemed 10 degrees cooler next to the water.

 and one day on the top of the world sketching...

My daughter saved two out of three baby ducklings literally from the claws and teeth of my killer cat, she and my parents tried to feed them so they could live long enough to set them free in a pond or somewhere. We have no rescue center nearby to take wild animals to, and sadly they didn't make it through their second night.

Cute, fuzzy and yet

survival of the fittest

is still very sad

We go to a state park for vacation very soon, and I am looking forward to canoeing, swimming, hiking to the ponds and sketching while my husband fishes, eatting barbecue and probably ranch chicken wings. I can't wait!
This week I created a mandala for the summer of color, inspired by the baseball nut, black raspberry cone...

I am also linking to the artists playroom for their theme of monochromatic art as this is all shades of raspberry, and to paint party friday. And...Here's my zentangle for iamthediva's challenge using the tangle called Cadent...

See you all soon! Thanks for stopping by!

Summer of Color

Here's my mandala inspired by the Rainbow sherbert cone over at TwinkleTwinkle for the Summer of Color, I missed it last year and wanted to play along this summer. Even if you don't go see all the other rainbow sherbert colored art, You should follow that link just to see the great photo of the inspiration icecream, makes you want to eat some, even at this time in the morning! It will bring you JOY! These are just such HAPPY colors!

 I liked this mandala until I added lines with a pink and an orange gel pen instead of my usual black one, then it just started to loose all contrast and blend together. It helped a little when I added white correction pen highlights.

Then for Iamthediva and Artist'sPlayRoom, I  zentangled with the same colors in black sharpie, pink gel pen and orange watercolor. This tangle is called Bridgen....

See you tomorow for more glimpses into my sketchbook and a haiku....