Emerald Lake Watercolor Painting

Just one month ago we were returning from a fabulous vacation in Banff, Alberta, Canada.  Now here I am in hot southern Florida, and decided to try my first watercolor inspired by the trip to to that cool, beautiful place.

Emerald Lake, Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2015

We stopped at Emerald Lake on the same day as our trip to Lake Louise.   It rained for a little while, so we ducked into this lovely dining room and enjoyed some Sangria.

When we left the sun was shining on one of the high Rocky Mountain peaks and lighting it up.   Here is the inspiration photo.

I also reworked the latest Sunset painting by making the sun a little more shapely and changing the sky just a bit.  I like it better now.

Colorful Sunset, Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2015

A Look Back at Some Old Quilts I Made

I have recently been looking for old photographs, and came across some of quilts that I made before beginning my blog.  There are lots more that need to be scanned, but want to see some of them?

The first one resulted from a swap of "citrus" blocks with members of Cyberbee, a quilt bee that formed back in the nineties when some members of Capital Quilters Guild in Raleigh were just getting into "e-mail."  The citrus blocks were exchanged were so bright that I pieced them together with cool blues, greens, and purples using a Sharyn Craig-type setting.

The next one is on our guest bed in the Raleigh house.  The four-inch center squares were from another exchange with members of an online quilting book club I belonged to.  The swap continued for over a year, and the blocks tended to be themed by season.  I arranged them in rows according to season, and named it "Wishing My Summer Vacation Could Last All Year."  That was a couple of years before I retired.  Again I used a setting from one of Sharyn Craig's books.

This one I made for my husband's birthday.  I used a paper piecing pattern by Karen Stone called Jewels in the Grass.  By changing the green strips to blues, they became jewels in the sky.

This one was a wedding gift for one of our mountain neighbor's daughters.  I used lots of floral print squares and set them on point.

The next one is a baby quilt that I made for my great-niece, Hunter.  (She is now about sixteen.)  I just made nine-patch blocks, made a little heart block for the posts, and added points at the end of the sashing strips.

Some Artsy Things

Still down here in southwest Florida, keeping an eye on the storm named Erika to see which track it decides to take.  

I brought my watercolor palette with me and fooled around with a sunset picture recently.  If you haven't painted for awhile, it helps to do some warm ups.  I consider this a warm-up because I recently did a similar painting of a marsh sunset.

Here is a nice surprise inside a ladies' restroom at The Crab and Fin Restaurant on St. Armand's Key, Sarasota.  The stall doors are painted like dresses on hangers or manikins.

Here are two more artsy things from the Ringling mansion.  I love the compass rose made of mosaic tile.   It is outside on the walkway leading to the mansion.

And here is another window facing the marble tile patio.  It looks like patchwork to me!

Every morning we get up at about 5:00AM and leave before 6:00.  On the way to Sarasota we see a sunrise almost every day.  God's own artwork!

Ringling Mansion and Circus Museum

During the first week of Charlie's radiation treatment, we tried to venture out afterward to some of the beaches and attractions in Sarasota.  Yesterday, we went to the Ringling complex to see the mansion and the circus museum.

John and Mable Ringling loved everything Italian, and built themselves a palace at the edge of Sarasota Bay much like the palaces on the Grand Canal in Venice.

All that tile in the foreground is a marble patio.  Even the boat dock is marble.

Most of the windows are tinted glass or stained glass.  I love the glowing patchwork appearance of the windows.

Here is Mr. Ringling's personal bar, with lots of beautiful glass, wood, and tile.

I loved this wooden door.

The grounds were beautiful, with bromeliads, 

banyan trees with aerial roots reaching the ground,

and a rose garden with lots of sculptures. 

On the same grounds as the mansion, there is an art museum and a performing arts center.  We saved the art museum for another visit, and saw the circus exhibits.  I was drawn to the costumes on display.

Here is a ringmaster's jacket and top hat.

The elephant blanket and this dress from one of the parades were the best textiles on display!

There was also a fantastic miniature circus that took up an enormous floor space.  It took fifty years to build.  The pictures don't do it justice.

For color inspiration, there were quite a few of the ornate circus train cars on display.

May all your days be circus days!

Under the Sea at the Mote Aquarium

Today after radiation was over we took a field trip to Longboat Key, Sarasota, to visit the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.  And look what a treasure I found inside!

Under the Sea, by Raynore Pope



The quilt is large, bright, and full of dimensional marine plants and animals.







The two lower corners are anchored by tall ships with billowing sails.

Well done, Raynore Pope!  What a wonderful gift to the Mote!

I liked these seahorse sculptures aside the doors.

                                                 

But the real stars of the show were the flora and fauna of the ocean.

Lion-fish

 Carolina Diamondback Terrapin

They have two male manatees on display, Hugo and Buffett.  Only one was receiving guests today...the other was napping in a back room!

OOPS!  Not that one!

 Here we go.  These very peaceful creatures, sometimes called Sea Cows, are vegetarians that live in the shallow coastal waters of Florida.

 There was color inspiration everywhere...

Lots of wonderful creatures...

And even a beautiful setting on Sarasota Bay.  A very nice morning!