Life's A Beach!

Our beach vacation has come and gone!  How could two weeks go by so quickly?

It was great to have our whole family together.  We celebrated several family birthdays (including mine!) and Fathers' Day together.  Charlie and I took two of the older grandchildren on an excursion to the North Carolina Aquarium in Fort Fisher, NC.  That involved a ferry ride that we all enjoyed as well.

This summer they have a special exhibit of animated dinosaurs on a nature walk outside the museum.

I took many projects and art supplies with me, but did almost no art work the whole time other than coloring with the kids and making Fathers' Day cards with them.  I have gotten a few new Bible journal pages done, however.

This is one of my favorites, and was inspired by a video lesson by Gina Lee Kim titled The Versatility of Blue (available from Interweave.com.)

I tried collaging a paper napkin onto the Bible pages for this one, and added watercolor background and stamping.

This one is just ink pen drawings and watercolor.

Sunset Clouds

Clouds...beautiful to look at, harbingers of rain, symbols of happiness when puffy and white, depression when dark and gray.

I spent some time painting clouds using different techniques yesterday.  Here is one that I liked well enough to finish as a gift for my husband for Fathers' Day on Sunday.

Marsh Sunset, Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2015

A highlight of our Sunset Beach vacations is always watching the sun set over Madd Inlet from the cottage on 40th Street at the end of the island.  

Here are some of the other cloud studies.

Wet paint blotted with tissue.

Watercolor wash dried, then re-wet with cloth towel, and color lifted with towel.

Wash of colors for sunset clouds.  This one led to the colors used in the Marsh Sunset painting at the top.

It has been extremely hot here in Raleigh, NC, this week.  We are heading for the hills for the weekend.  We have not been to our cabin for almost a month, and we are needing a fix, as well as a respite of cooler temperatures!

Here's Something I Made

It has been a very busy time since Memorial Weekend!  We just got back from a week at the beach with our family.  Our granddaughter Lily had a birthday, and I finished the patchwork bag that we started together when she was on spring break.

The lovely posy was made by my friend Tama Brooks as a remembrance after my father died.  Lily selected the rest of the fabrics to make up the front and sewed them together.  I then added enough patchwork to fold over and make into a tote bag.  

The way I have been making sturdy tote bags is to make a regular quilt complete with binding, then hand-sew up the sides.  The back of the quilt becomes the lining of the bag.  I also make handles that are quilted, and securely sew them to the bag.

Unfortunately, we left the bag of birthday gifts at home, (along with all our towels and the paints and papers I meant to bring) so she will have to wait until we see them in a couple weeks to get her finished bag.

She will also be getting tho framed print of pears on a windowsill.  She was going through my stack of finished paintings and expressed an interest in this one, which surprised me.  I thought she would want one of my more vibrant paintings.  I think it turned out very nice matted and framed.

I have continued with the Fabulous and Free Journaling Challenge with Irresistibly Moi on Facebook.


The "Stamp It Out" prompt produced this ocean scene, just before we left for the beach.  I used a commercial stamp for the ship and also for the little shore bids in the foreground.  I tried some home-made stamps from a carved Styrofoam food package for the clouds, sun, and waves.  Then I brushed on some more paint to make it look more artistic.

Another prompt, "Numbers," happened to fall on my anniversary.  So, I had fun with the 44 years we have been married, and the wedding date.  Watercolor, markers, and white dimensional paint.

I did this quick watercolor painting in response to the "Monochrome Mania" prompt.  It is of course inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Here is our family group at the beach.  We had a wonderful time, great weather, good food.

And I will leave you with one of our glorious Sunset Beach sunsets.

Back From the Beach

Our annual family vacation at Sunset Beach, North Carolina, was the best yet.  While the Raleigh area suffered damaging thunderstorms, winds, and rains, we had beautiful beach weather every day.  There were a few lightning displays at night, but nothing to keep us from enjoying our beach week.

From the cottage that we rent, we have views of the Intercoastal Waterway, the marsh, and the Atlantic Ocean.  There are great sunsets to enjoy with an adult beverage and the ones that you love.

During the day we spent all of our time on the beach.  All together, my extended family had five cottages.  It was fun to see all the cousins playing together.

I love the photo I took of little Holly wearing my hat.  This might be a future painting subject!

Baby Charlie enjoyed the beach, but took advantage of the tent that her parents set up for nap time.  Cousin Lily joined her for a little nap a couple times.

When Charlie was not in the tent, she wore a little sunhat.  Here she is with her dad.

I always enjoy seeing the watercolors in the cottage done by Brenda Butka, one of the owners.  There was a new one in our bathroom that I just loved.  Wonder if that was me?

I like the colors in this picture of the marsh.

All good things must end, and this vacation did, too.  Monday through Wednesday I spent babysitting for little Charlie.  Such a delight!

Beach Weekend

We took a long weekend starting on Thursday to celebrate a whole bunch of family birthdays at Sunset Beach, NC.  Our son, Bryson;  his son, Avery; our daughter-in-law, Emily; and her mother, Maribeth.  The weather cooperated and we spent each day out on the beach.

After arriving late Thursday afternoon, we let the kids go down to the beach in their clothes with the admonition, "Just don't get wet."  Yeah, right!

 

Friday was supposed to be a wash-out, but the rain ended early in the morning.  It was windy but so nice to be on the beach.

 

 

Notice we had both our dog, Kasey, and Dave's dog Roo on the beach with us.  In the summer, they cannot be on the strand during the day.  We got Kasey's hair cut the day before we left just in case it was hot.

 

This was our granddaughter Charlie's first beach trip.  I think she liked it!

 

 

The condo we rented was ocean-front, but there is a large buffer of dunes and scrub trees between the houses and the beach.  We were startled to see this deer right on the sand dunes in front of our place.

 

 

I got up early on Sunday morning to walk the dog and take some pictures of the sunrise.

 

 

Sure hated to leave on Sunday morning.  We are lucky to go back to Sunset Beach every summer for a week of vacation with our family.  This was a good preview!

 

Family Wedding at the Beach

It was a beautiful night for a wedding. 

We had a pretty cake...

A pretty flower girl...

three somewhat bored little groomsmen...

my three handsome men

and a happy bride and groom committed to loving each other and their children. 

Oh, yes, and some wedding guests...all family members.

These are all the Mr. McBrayers

and all the Mrs. McBrayers

Charlie and I are truly blessed.

A Week of Family Time

Last Thursday, we went to Sunset Beach, North Carolina, for a family birthday weekend.  What a great time, with good weather and lots of good food!  Charlie and I were the first to arrive, and this is how the beach appeared.  Just the way I like it!

The water was cold, but that did not keep the grandkids out.

Although they were tired puppies after braving the chill.

The beach lived up to its name each night.

On Saturday, it started out rainy, but it let up enough for us to go back out on the beach.  There were some storm clouds inland, but they stayed offshore.

On Sunday, Charlie and I loaded up the three kids and brought them home with us, since it was their spring break.  On Monday, I took the kids to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science.  They loved all the exhibits.  I had not been since they renovated the museum, and really liked the improvements.

I tried to take them to Pullen Park in Raleigh, which just re-opened after extensive renovations.  We could not find a parking place, so we went to Shelley Lake in north Raleigh and enjoyed a picnic at the park.

We vowed to get up early the next day and try Pullen Park again.  We got there eight minutes after it opened, and there were only a few parking places left.  We took advantage of the great weather and stayed all day.  The newly painted carousel looks amazing.  It is shiny and all the paint has been freshened up.

The horses and other animals look beautiful.

We even went on the paddle boats, and the two oldest kids did the paddling around the lake.  Lily had to practically lie down to reach the pedals.  Avery was the chief crew member.  Caden's job was to sit still and not fall out.

What a great day at this beautiful jewel of a park in Raleigh.  Even with long lines for almost everything, these three had a wonderful day.

Today I met the parents halfway, and transferred the kids to them.  My house is quiet and I am tired, but I loved this special family time.