Painting with Jennifer

I spent a day and a half with my sister, Jennifer Thompson, at her home in South Carolina. Although I had previously visited the area, it was before Jennifer lived there, so this was my first time to visit her there. Jennifer is a wonderful hostess, and we ate delicious meals she prepared, did a bit of sight seeing and gallery-hopping, roamed on a remote driftwood-covered beach taking photos, and mostly, we painted.

Jennifer photographing the dunes

I always love painting with my sister, and it was a special treat to paint her world this time. She took me to a beautiful stretch of road, where we sat on some big rocks and painted the marsh on one side of the road, then turned around to paint the beach on the other side.

 

Looking one way we painted the marsh…
…then turned around and painted the shore.

We painted the marsh and beach till we were hungry, then went to the nearby Lost Dog Cafe for a delightful lunch on the outdoor patio. Dogs are always welcome at this cafe, and there are water bowls beside the tables for the four-footed guests. There are Grackles calling in the trees, watching the diners and waiting for them to leave. When the people at the table next to ours left some food on their plate, a Grackle swooped down and enjoyed a hearty meal of bread and meat.

After lunch Jennifer took me to the Angel Oak, where we painted again. I learn so much from watching Jennifer paint. Our styles are a bit different, and seeing how adventurous she is with color encourages me to branch out.

Jennifer’s is on the left; mine is on the right

In the evening we went out to the Old Pitt Street Bridge off of Mt. Pleasant to paint the sunset, where we had an amazing 360 degree view and where we saw birds, dogs, and people strolling. By the time we got back to our car, the moon and stars were shining. A perfect close to a perfect day. Thank you, Jennifer!

You can see Jennifer’s account of our day on her blog at http://jenniferashethompson.blogspot.com/

Fun in the Snow!

One of the things I love about my dogs is the way they make me smile and laugh and play. I know I could play in the snow without them, but I doubt I would as much, and I know I wouldn’t laugh as much as I do with them. We had 12 inches of snow last night, which was perfect for snow fun today.

Nothing like a good roll in the snow

Petra bursting out of the snow
Milo, the rate prick-eared Beagle
 

Oopsie!
PJ bursting forth
My handsome Rowan

Leaping for snowballs!
Biting snowballs!
 

Cool shadow
What’s under the snow?
 

Petra! How did you get up so high?
Let me try…
 
Watch me, Rowan!. Look how high I can jump!
Now jump with me…
There you go! Nice height, Rowan!
That was fun!
Watch me run!
I’ll run with you, PJ…
Thank you for the fun!