Mark takes the day off so we can continue my Birthday festivities with the new Steeplechase exhibit at the NSLM, some delicious pub fare, an errand at the secondhand tack shop, and a visit with a friends feisty black colt. I tear and fold a little concertina spread, and drip and splash inks in advance.
But first, Friday Painters at the Arboretum. We love this place! After we say hi, we drive around a bit to see what calls to be painted today. So much amazingness in this sprawling wonderland! When we get to my rocks, I ask Mark to drop me off.
I sit and just soak up the scene for a few minutes, listening to the landscape. The sun burns relentlessly somewhere on the far side of the mist. These 3 rocks, as they march across the hilltop, whisper of rolling waves and I think of lava deepdeepdeep in the earth’s core, in long ago time. I imagine all the swirl and fury trapped in sharp immobility, yet somehow remembering endless motion.
Blind contour drawing. Splashes of watercolor, still unfamiliar.
My bladder urges me on, long before the sketch is “done.”
Mark had planned to run a few miles while I paint, but instead takes a well-deserved snooze.