A favorite meal.

Spent some time on Saturday wandering around Fenway by myself so of course I stopped by my favorite Thai restaurant for lunch. Being home with my two children full time over the summer is a lot of fun but it is also exhausting and it is important that I take time to be by myself whenever possible. So my husband Jon took the girls on a hike at Drumlin Farm and I headed to the Dick Blick in Fenway. While I did not end up buying much, being able to shop and then getting lunch at my own pace and not having to manage other human beings was such a welcome break. I left the weekend feeling ready for another week with my little girls.

Som Tum or Green Papaya Salad with shrimp and sticky rice. A little bit sweet, a little bit sour and a little bit spicy and very refreshing. 

Drawing what I see on location.

Happy Monday! Drawing what I see on location with ink and watercolor is my current way to challenge myself and learn more about how to use these materials.  I do get to make choices about what goes into my drawing and what doesn't. But as I get better at it and my confidence grows more and more makes it into my pictures and I am picking more challenging things to draw. Many times when I start a sketchbook drawing and the ink is on the paper I think to myself "Oh crud! What a mess of a drawing I have signed up for with this one." But then as I work on it the drawing starts to come together and usually works out just fine and surprises me. I am getting more confidence to draw strangers incognito, I am sure that one of these days I will get noticed and asked and I need to prepare to be able to talk to strangers. I plan on ending summer with a sketchbook filled with this type of on location drawn from life sketching.

two strangers eating lunch and talking while I sketched them before I picked up my kids from school.