Crabs, Crabs, Crabs

On Friday Jerry and I headed down towards Washington DC for his nephew's wedding. We left here at 5 am to avoid the rush hour traffic. That put us in the DC area for lunch.  I had googled restaurants that served steamed blue claw crabs which the Chesapeak Bay is noted for, and we went to a great one, the Quarterdeck in Alexandria, VA. I did stop and sketch them before I ate even one morsel (such restraint) LOL. Then I finished the sketch while Jerry was finishing the remaining crabs. 

El Toro

The other night while we were in Fredericksburg we went to a Mexican restaurant called Pancho Villa. Since we usually stay at the same hotel we had eaten there before, and I knew there was a lot of color and interesting objects. Of course I brought along my sketchbook just in case.  I had forgotten about the huge bull head that was hanging over the stone fireplace, so when I saw it I made my sister switch seats with me so I could face it to sketch. I couldn't fit everything on the page so I concentrated on El Toro and the objects on the wooden mantle.

Dinner

I guess I am becoming one of those sketchers who sketches their meals. lol My Wed night sketch group leader suggested that everyone sketch their dinner because of the snowy conditions in NY the other day. I was on the road in Roanoke, VA so I sketched my steamed shrimp, hush puppies (a dead giveaway that I was south of NYC) and a sweet potato...very healthy because I didn't touch the hush puppies. For those of you who don't know what hush puppies are they are deep fried corn bread pieces.

Here are a few photos from my trip so far.

We visited my nephew, John, in GA. Here we are at the river. Left to right are my sister Mickey, my nephew John, my sister-in-law Joan and me.

Mickey, my brother Joe, sister-in-law Joan, and me.

Mys sister Mickey met a long-time internet friend, Angel, for the first time in Blue Ridge, GA. Angel lives in GA.

Mickey and I arrived in Myrtle Beach, SC for the workshop we are taking.

We hit the beach for a walk...beautiful weather!

Sketching in Union Square Park

My sister and I went into the city yesterday to see the AWS Show at the Salmagundi Club on Fifth Avenue. If you get a chance to go...do it! It is a wonderful art show.

I drove to her house in NJ and we took the train into the city. We were there early enough to have lunch and then do a few sketches from Union Square Park before we went to the show. I would have loved to do some sketches of the flower vendors but it was much too crowded over there. I wouldn't have been able to sketch without people knocking into me. So we walked around the other side of the park. I stood to do these two views looking out from the park.

We went back on the PATH train to Hoboken and had nearly an hour before our train was leaving. I never let time like that go to waste. I sketched the doors going out of the waiting area. (The rest of the waiting area was under reconstruction.)

Next comes the update on my "fake" blog.

April 7 - Assateague Island.

Arboretum Flowers

While I was at the arboretum I also painted some flowers. I love the look to these but I have no idea what they are. They were in the camellia house but were't identified. This is in my Stillman & Birn journal and is about 4 x 6.

And the next installment of my fake journal.