Hello and happy sunday – especially to those visitors from the other side of the pond who are lucky enough to just be starting theirs!

True to my word I managed a weekend wander and a little outdoor sketching today. Given that Saturday was taken up by visit to Basel, that left only sunday for the wander, which also meant merging it with some family time. No problem – there are great outdoor places aplenty here that appeal to both the bigs and the littles.

We went to the Natur und Tierpark Goldnau  today – a 34 hectare wildlife park only a half hour drive from here in the shadows of Rigi. While the kids were crazy about the deer and mountain goats wandering the place hitting up children for food pellets, my husband and i were in awe of the spectacular boulder-hewn scenery. I think I have found source material for another painting. Yes, more boulders, moss and pine trees I am afraid….

Later in the day I went for a second little wander to my favourite “meditation” bench for a bit of sketching. Man o man, sketching from life is going to be a bit of work. It certainly takes more concentration and time than I am used to spending all at once. I wisely kept it “contained” though. A tree – a single tree was all I could handle. And guess what? My tree looks like my paintings and not much like the actual tree. It then occurred to me that working towards a bit of realism via plein air sketching/painting may inadvertently move me further into abstraction. It was, however, a start – and the most productive thing art-wise I have done all week so I will take it, and hope for more of the same, only better, this week.

As always, thanks for dropping by and happy painting!