Breaking with my daughter as she views a sunset after a nice bike ride together on the Great Allegany Passage.  It is a nice way to stay healthy in between working on art.  If you are ever in Cumberland MD and need a place to rent great bikes, go check out the Cumberland Trail Connection, in the Shops at Canal Place.  Hutch will hook you up. http://www.ctcbikes.com/

Chincoteague + girls + art + BILL = fun!

So we left the big city behind by crossing the linear and cool geometic Bay Bridge on our long girls week & end adventure to go hang at a cute little vacation pad on Chincoteague Island in Virginia, owned by another friend who graciously said - have it.
We arrive to see lush, marshy areas as we made our way to the island.
The trip surrounded this lovely chickie because it was her special birthday. We all got to enjoy the yummy peachy dessert Ceil made for Dalis.

And who could resist purchasing her something from this way cool shop!
Truth be told, we must have been in here a half dozen times, at least during the trip. This coffee and way fabulous art shop sits right at the entrance to the island and you can't miss it or it's quaint attitude!
We just couldn't leave it. There was something crammed in every nook on both floors.

So we went to the island for the water, right?! Annie had a wonderful suggestion that we take a tour with Captain Ray. We got to explore for 3 hours, since the Captain was passionate about the island. Good thing we thought to bring wine and cheese over this dinner hour! Ceil and Annie were enjoying the wonderful breeze of the evening, prior to spotting some dolphin. Favorite quotes from the Captain? "Maam, I think you're losing your dress!" and "My goodness...."
And speaking of the sea... do you sea what I sea?

Annie in her new island cowgirl get-up, that has made it's way back to Cumberland.

A nifty assemblange.

Who

can be so close to Ocean City without going and

playing with Ceil's family who has a vacation home by the beach. We got together with them for a fun and fabulous dinner at Fager's Island. Elizabeth , Theresa, Helen and Maria told us wonderfully entertaining stories.

Maria has a lovely

evening walk way through the dunes to the beach outside of her condo.

One of our mornings,

we decided that Dalis, Ceil and I would take a bike ride through the Assateague Island Wildlife Refuge.

The mist was still apparant above the water.

The Great Egrets could be seen in large flocks having marsh parties.

I was taken aback at how uniquely beautiful and preserved this area was.

I thought perhaps I could sit here for days. That could have been the case, had it not been for the plastic bag that was wrapped around my camera, that came loose and took a hike on the wind, making it's way at this beautiful scene.

My mad dash to stop the tumble of the plastic bag into the marsh, put me behind a bit and I had to pick up my speed to catch up. Trust me, these girls have been exercising a bit more than me lately. I did so, right about the time of seeing Dalis and Ceil pass through these tall trees. I felt almost as if we were going through a tall gate, because all the surrounding trees were dwarfed compared to these tall'ies.

I wanted to stop and sit right there to see what would pop out of the refuse, but alas, the girls were always ahead of me and we had a beach to go plop our butts on. Annie was already there by car, waiting for our arrival.

We got detoured one last time, to see the famous wild ponies of Assateague Island. They were all bowed down to nibble on the grass and one little one decided it was nap time.

The beach is only backed by the Assateague Island Wild Refuge, so there are no condos, restaurants or shop in view. Only nature. AND BILL. He was always around, every day we went to the beach and loves Goldfish brand crackers.

This is BILL, BILL, BILL, BILL, BILL, BILL & BILL.

I am and forever will be a texture girl. I love applying it to my art in so many forms. So my images tend to not be of the people on the beach, but the waves crashing in, creating such a mix and play of colors, shapes, light, and I can almost touch the bumpiness of the view.

The transistion of the color and textures are fabulous. I found myself almost trying to pick out shapes to throw into my jewelry designs. Almost! I was tired from all the biking and decided to go read a book on my new beach chair as the breeze and mist from the ocean washed over our mini vacation. Okay, okay, so MY final trip to the coffee art shop ended up in more purchases, to include a little cup like vessel from this artist. AGAIN with the texture. Love it. Too bad I procrastinated and missed a set I was going to purchase. But I was happy to take any one of these little guys home for my art collection.
Our mini vacation was coming to an end and we had had a fabulous and relaxing time of it. I enjoyed my time on the beach with great friends.
BILL was even there and we learned he spied something else orange on the picnic table behind the pad. What's witht he orange BILL? I'd like to think he was there to say goodbye.

Hiking with the girls!

A few of my favorite artist friends decided to take the day off from our studios and go for a hike in the Appalachian Mountains of Western Maryland.
For me, it was so refreshing to be out and crunching on all the crispy leaves with Ceil, Dalis and Piver, smelling that wonderful smell that only happens with the changing of summer to fall.

Ceil and Piver decide it is waaaayyy easier to decend the trail, than backtracking up it.

Just look at all the wonderful colors that surrounded us as we talked about our lives, and yes, our art!

What inspiration of color for us to take back to our studios or just the quite peace that allowed us a breather from our busy lives.

We had to gingerly step on mossy slippery stones and decided it was necessary to use sticks because a couple of my friends accidently dipped their feet in the babbling stream!

Ceil, myself and Piver, after stripping ourselves of some layers and saying goodbye to the warm fall day, jumped in the car with Dalis and decended the mountain back to our busy lives. Now, where did I put those pliers?

Taking a break...

We took a break over Easter from work, school and art. Yoki, our very loveable yellow lab, decided to get in on the art of dying Easter eggs. She had to be a part of the Easter egg hunt, finding more than just eggs that E. Bunny decided to drop on the ground at the cabin. A quick and always inspirational trip put us on the lake with our daughter and her new kayak. She jumped right in and took off, even though it was quite chilly out. Would you believe we were the only ones crazy enough to play on a very cold wet body of water on Easter!?!