someone cute came up for a mini art retreat on my birthday.
one of my presents. accepted with glee!
just a few of pam's pages below. some she did here, some from before.
i saw her bag and immediatly wanted to draw/paint it.
so i did. and also copied some flowers from her sketchbook.
i drew/painted 2 bags on facing pages, but detested the final outcome. the pattern is way too bold to live easily next to each other. i did what any rational person would do and cut it out. and threw it away.
gasp! blasphemy!
yeah. whatever.
our sketchbooks were spread out all over drying. guess what we had for lunch?
i'm going to start "styling" all my photos with either pizza or cat boxes. what do you think?
this is ONE of my birthday presents.
starting to work on the bag sketch. i didn't notice till later that the handles looked like banana peels. sketching is hilarious. a total mood enhancer.
fly swatters also work well for unstyled photos. what do you think? someone told me once that my wooden angel head i lugged back from san miguel de allende 12 years ago looked like bill clinton.
ever since then it's all i see when i look at it.
good thing i'm a fan.
bill's been hanging around my kitchen for a dozen years.
but he's only been tilted for the last 6 or 7.
I love your subhead “random blathering.” In fact, I love your site; it gives me a lift of happy.
I love the fat cat by the sliding glass door.
you are so funny – really quirky and random and funny…please move to NC so I can come over and paint w/ ye…truly I need to find a tribe with Mary Ann types in it
aah girlie~~~ Happy Belated birthday to you. Love your birthday celebration, GIFTS!! and your play date.
The colors are luscious!!! Looks like you had FUN….which at our age is an absoLUTE necessity….HA
Love, love love the Clinton with wings…..;)))
Hugs, Peace and wonderful happenings for your new year ahead.,
Sass
Obviously you had a lovely birthday with such good company! Oddly enough I just ordered that same bag that Pam has this morning! I’m Loving your sketch book loveliness. I cannot even tell you the deep regret I am filled with at not having signed up. Please tell me you will have it again and soon? I have a vintage christmas ornament made from tinsel and mercury balls that I loved so much I kept it all year long. Right up to the point where a friend suggested it looked more like male anatomy than holiday festiveness. Ruined. But I like Bill!
Happy belated birthday! One of my friends recently celebrated her “birthday week.” We need to celebrate ourselves for a whole week, on occasion. I hope you did just that!
Looks like Bill even had a great time. What fun and I love your kitty. He looks like you should feed him more….. Thanks for sharing and again Happy Birthday.
looks like a fun birthday.
Loved every bit of this post… Smiling all the way through, just like being there. But you should tell Bill to straighten up and fly right. xox
Happy belated birthday, Mary Ann! you are such a great story-teller, sometimes I would almost trade one of your splendid pictures in a post for an additional sentence 🙂 Blasphemy? Actually purely a honest compliment. your sketches have the same effect on me than the work of Nathalie has: they evoke sensations of joy, very pure and full of light, like only children can feel, which is a very precious thing once one grows older.
What a great way to spend a birthday! I hope you’ll be offering Sketchbookery again, I just can’t commit this year. I think it would be agreat present to myself when we leave for Beijing in 2016. In the meantime – I love the Bill Clinton angel and those yummy watercolors. You are both cuties and I love when you share each other’s pages. xo
Happy birthday! Looks like a great way to celebrate. I can see why you wanted to sketch that bag, it looks fabulous (too bad we cannot see the brand….). The banana handles made me LOL.
Wait! where is the bill Clinton angel head?? Inquiring minds want to know. Is it hidden under all the art supplies? Looks like you had a great birthday!!
How fun! It’s so nice to have good friends to make art with. Thanks so much for posting.
I tried to wish you a “happy birthday” on FB, but FB wouldn’t let me. I thought maybe you somehow turned that function “off”. Anyway, I was thinking of you and wanted to wish you well on your birthday. Happy Belated!
Smiles,
Briana
Happy belated birthday Mary Ann! I’m a wee bit jealous of your birthday presents 😉
Oh Happy Birthday my favorite cat lady for life! Lol in re. your Clinton angel. I thought the same thing when I sketched him last time I watched your sweet kitties. I see Wyatt waiting by the door behind Pam and wish I was there frolicking with you all.
Hi Kristi- I found it on Amazon! I just did a search for Nathalie and it came up 😉
Mary Ann, happy happy joyful birthday and year ahead to you! What a perfectly perfect way to ring in a new year of your lovely life – doing art with a friend. Tee hee re: Bill Clinton angel (looks like he’s getting ready to play the sax!). I adore your gift from Pam; any idea where she found it? Nathalie Lete’s work is such fun.
Have a super de duperdee year!
Kristi xo
Looks like a PERFECT birthday! So glad you had a fun day! Happy day, MAM!
Happy belated! The cat wants out!
– Tina
You had FUN!!! How great is that. I’ll see if I can find an angel who looks like HIllary! (too funny). xoDonna
Happy Belated Birthday Miss Moss! Looks like you had a wonderful day spent having fun with Pam. I have to ask: What is the thing next to the sliding door in the last photo…next to Pam’s foot? Looks like the old Schmoo cartoon character. But you’re too young to remember that. Is it the cat wanting to go outside?
Good, Lord, it DOES look like Bill! How wonderfully wacko and weird. I love it.
Speaking of SMA….I’m going back in October and taking 2 friends for an art week. We will overdose on art journaling, walking, gallery sleuthing, eating, tippling, laughing and oh! making art! Such a grand idea. Finalizing on the house we wish to rent right now. Mexico City in March, SMA in October. I got a plan!
Do you like cranberries? Would you like me to send you a jar or two of my special spiced cranberries? Just for fun?
XO
This was some cool bash. Especially like the soup cans. And did you ever let the poor cat out?
Who wouldn’t want to be there!
Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!
Still chuckling at ‘banana peel’ handles and Bill Clinton. Love the Cat Lady bag. Looks like a fun day was had by all. 🙂
My new mantra: “sketching is hilarious”… I so need to remember this; very funny. Glad your birthday was wonderful!
Though I’m late I still shout BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mary Ann. Love your optismistic outlook and humor. Have a nice day today. Carrie
You are so stinkin funny…….I’m still laughing about the Bill Clinton tilt! I always leave your blog smiling and wish sometime I could be on one of your mini retreats at the Moss Cottage……..but I will just keep tuning in to see what you have going on………thanks for being so incredibly talented and funny!
Beyond fun!