A Watercolor & Marsh Adventure

Anne Frank ~ The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.

The quote above is a favorite and it makes me wish for warmer weather and more time to spend outside on the nature trail. Within the last few months, my friend Hannah and I have had plenty of fun on the nature trail, rain or shine, 20 mile treks, you name it. Our last outdoor adventure was in September. On this particular outing, we packed up our watercolor gear and biked along the trail to find just the perfect spot to spend the afternoon.

Since I live right near the trail, I've been able to venture out more often than Hannah. On some of my solo rides, I kept my eyes open for a spot for us to watercolor. There were a couple of spots I had in mind before our watercolor ride. At one spot along the trail there is an open path that leads to a large field of wild vegetation. I thought we could park our bikes in the open path so they wouldn't block the actual nature trail.

This was the path that led us to our destination.

Upon arriving to this spot, we rode our bikes along the open path closer to the open field. Along the edges of the field it was more or less cleared out. We decided to walk along the edges of the field as we looked for a prime spot. As we walked we continued around the corner edge of the field still not satisfied with a spot to watercolor. Thus, we kept on going leaving our bikes in the distance. This was all unchartered territory and it was fun to discover new places. Awhile after turning the field's corner, we noticed some water between the tall grasses and plants to our left. Then I vaguely spotted an Egret sitting in the water. As the vegetation thinned and we could see the pond more clearly, our new Egret friend started to fly away.

Hannah taking photos by the marsh

We were thrilled to find this peaceful sanctuary to set up our watercolor workshop. We got our blanket and set up shop for an afternoon of watercoloring and snooping around the marshy area to take photographs. And of course, I brought along one of our favorite snacks to eat, dried apricots.

Hannah watercoloring her masterpiece

We saw flowers, cattails, frogs, dragonflies and more while venturing around the marsh taking photos of anything that caught our interest. At one point, our Egret friend was flying over head nearly landing in the pond once again, but then abrupty changed his mind. Some ducks visited the pond and when they flew out of the pond, we could hear and feel their wings thrust against the air. Our time spent there was simply wonderful.

Me watercoloring at the marsh

Please take a look at some of what we saw during our "marsh-safari" and see the watercolors that each of us created while there.

Some Queen Anne's Lace, so delicate and pretty!

Possibly a dried out Queen Anne's Lace?

Tiny purple daisies!

Oh look, what did I find? Um... I can't remember.

One of our feathered friends left a piece of them with us.

Our marshy view, isn't it nice?

The "watercolorists" with their works of art.

Hannah's watercolor from our marsh visit.

My watercolor from our marsh visit.

Turtles & Pizza!!!

Yesterday, a good friend of mine, Hannah, and I went on a bike ride on the nature trail and we spotted some adorable turtles during our visit. I thought I would write a turtle themed post today. The pic above shows one of my watercolors for my storybook idea. It's Toby the Turtle and his friends around his shell.

And here is Toby in 3-D form, made with Apoxie Sculpt & acrylics. This sculpture is the largest one I've made, it measures approximately 20 inches long.

And lookee here, this was the second turtle that I ever saw on the trail. I saw this one last summer and my first one the summer before. I get so excited when I see turtles on the trail and turtle sightings are rare.

This is my favorite turtle pic from all of my turtle sightings.

This turtle was one of the turtles that we saw yesterday. We think she was trying to lay eggs in what looked like a chipmunk hole. She was about 5" long. I thought my friend Hannah was teasing me when she said, "There's a turtle laying eggs." When we first started our bike ride I said, "I want to see a turtle on this ride," thinking it probably would not happen. Then we see a turtle. I asked Hannah what else we should say we wanted to see while on the trail and see if we would see it. She said she wanted to see a fawn. And awhile later we saw a deer jump a few yards ahead of us on the trail. We thought it was so strange. I said I'd like to see a crane, but no luck. However, we did see a cat and it starts with a "C" like crane. Lol! I also mentioned that maybe we should say we wanted to see money fall from the sky, but that didn't happen either. Bummer!

On our way back on the trail we saw the same turtle and then just a short way from there we saw this little fella, maybe they are a turtle couple. Awwwww!

And ta-da, here's our yumm-a-licious pizza we made before our bike ride. I found the recipe here. It's a Red Pepper and Eggplant pizza and it's scrumptous. And really there's so many good veggies on it that you really don't need to put cheese on it. Can you imagine, that me a cheese-lover would say that? Take a look at the pic at the recipe site and then compare with ours photographed above, pretty close to the recipe's pic, wouldn't ya say? We didn't have the fresh basil for ours so there isn't the lovely green basil in our photo.

Talk to you later. :-)

Summer relaxation . . . need a break?

Take time to relax. Ahhhh...!

I've neglected to blog the last few days. This week was just one of those weeks when I needed to take a break from the normal routine and step back from the computer. Ever have one of those times? Since I was not on the computer as frequently this week, it gave me time to write some letters to friends. Yes, the good ol' fashioned hand-written letter! I'm still a fan of a handwritten message vs. a computer print-out. For quite some time I've abandoned the hand-written letter habit that I used to do regularly. It was nice to look through my collection of greeting cards and pick out a card for each of my friends that I decided to send a message to.

And speaking of greeting cards, I want to find some greeting card companies to send my artwork to. That's always been a dream of mine since I was a young girl drawing pictures whenever I could. Sometimes I'd grab a TV tray with my drawing materials and draw outside on our grassy lawn. I fondly remember those moments of creativity. I also remember the excitement of having a blank drawing tablet ready for new artwork. It's hard to describe the thrill of a new supply of paper and drawing tools, partly due to the anticipation of new ideas and the act of creating. Over the years, I still hang onto the excitement of obtaining new art supplies. It's so exciting anticipating the new creative opportunities and endeavors awaiting in new supplies. Yay!

The photo above is a watercolor I made of my Lilly the Ladybug character relaxing among the flowers. To see other samples of my watercolors, please stop by my website, Lilly Bug Studio.

The Birthday Bug Parade! :-)

Look, it's the Birthday Bug Parade marching into the Spring Season! These bugs are ready to celebrate along with you. They are also here to bring you an update about the Recyc-a-lite bunnies. Due to Christine's camera's batteries dying, the bunnies weren't able to do a photo shoot as planned. However, they should be able to reschedule for a photo shoot as soon as the batteries are re-charged. Stay tuned to see the bunnies in color.


As you can see the Birthday Bugs will travel far and wide to wish you the best, brightest and joyful birthday ever. They are excellent at climbing up front porch steps, despite their small size and paper-doll physique.


As seen here, they will come in black and white or in color along with streamers. Just invite them and see how much fun they bring to any birthday. And take a look at how the Birthday Bugs came to be who they are today.


The above photo shows the bugs being created on a very heavy litho stone. They were printed as Lithography prints. Afterward they were colored with watercolors, hand-cut, and assembled into the birthday bugs you see here.



The Birthday Bugs wish you a Happy Birthday whenever your birthday may be. And they'd like to share with you a website in honor of birthdays. It's where you can find out what type of specials are offered to you on your birthday, such as a free dessert or a free entree at a restaurant. Just visit the Free Birthday Treats website and search by your state or online. You can also search for birthday offers for your kids and your pets. Pretty Cool! :-)