At this time of year when I've just finished up a novel (and am in the final stages of editing, getting it ready for the printers), I'm really missing my painting. A friend I used to visit nearly once a week, especially during the spring/summer/fall months, is preoccurpied with caring for a failing husband so she isn't available at all anymore. Which means, I need to find my own time to get up into my studio and paint. With all the art supplies I have that are just waiting to be painted on, I really need to take time away from everything and just paint. 

The deer are back! Although I did see them around this winter, nibbling at our Holly bushes at the front of our house and at the deer lick at the back of our house and at the edge of the woods, they are becoming regular visitors to our property now. And I love seeing them!

Although this was not the best week for me since I tested positive for COVID, I did sketch the previous week with the subject Kitchen Utensil Sketches. This was fun and I sketched a couple of spoons; a wooden spoon and a slotted spoon.

An artist I know put out a challenge on Facebook for other artists to work on their sketching skills for the month of March. I thought, why not? I'm not painting as much as I have since I'm spening more time with my writing, but I miss painting and since each weekly challenge takes a mere 15 minutes to complete, I knew I could do that. I'm a little rusty, especially with my pastel pencils which was the first challenge (sketch a food item) so I then did a pencil sketch, which came out better than the first sketch. 

Just when we thought spring was going to arrive early in the Northeast, we had another snow storm. Not a big one, certainly not a Nor'easter, but my husband had to plow and shovel so about 4-5 inches. And the cold wind is back, too.