New Sketchbook

Here's a picture of the lovely new sketchbook that my husband bought for me.

It's a reproduction of an antique so the cover is really an interesting design.

I began with that garden photo that hadn't quite worked out for me in my last post and went on to sketch it again.

As you can see this paper handles watercolor much better and I was pleased with the results this time.

I went on to ink the outlines and my husband fixed the image so I can use it on the computer and to design products with.

Goldfinches on the Sunflowers

Still Obsessed with Sunflowers

We still haven't been able to get good photos of the goldfinches landing on the sunflowers and working so hard to pull the seeds out but we've really enjoyed watching them.

I was hoping that this picture would capture the feeling of being surrounded by Sunflowers and that you might enjoy it as much as I do.

Sunflowers and Lilies

The last of the sunflowers

As these began to droop they started to block the sidewalk so I pulled them and cut some of the better ones into a vase to be used for a few last drawings and paintings.

These sunflowers in the front border were the last to be planted so they're the smallest of all. I find it amazing that one bag of  one type of seed came up so many different ways all over the yard and garden this year.

Today's Blooms

 I love the way these sunflowers look but hate the garage and the trees in the background so I'll take it to  a paint program and see what I can do with it.

3 of these flowers were from a neighbor and the rest were from my front garden. I plan to do some drawing and painting with them later in the day.

I started working on this photos to blend out a few extra leaves that I didn't want in the shot but got bored with it and decided to put it up here anyway.

Sunflowers!!!

These are the tallest sunflowers here this year and are the ones I planted next to the new cedar planter box.

As you can see, they're a LOT taller than I am.

 I LOVE it!!!

 I took a number of photos with different amounts of sky and trees in the background to give me some ideas for a painting I'm planning to work on this winter. I usually like to work from live or fresh flowers but there's so much to do in the garden these days that I won't have much time to paint them now.

Meanwhile, I just couldn't resist a few more pictures with my friends before they're gone this season.