"Waiting For The Rain to Stop"

Due to rain Wednesday evening....we decided to eat in.... and then paint. After dinner we all set up our easels and painted from our covered screened-in porch in our cabin in Baileys Harbor.

Our cabin was called "Sunflower".... and it had every kind of sunflower in it that you could imagine.... pillows, bed coverings, wall hangings, salt and pepper shakers.... etc. It was too funny and cute! Apparently the manager loves to go garage shopping.... and collects all of the sunflower themes she can find... and adds it to the growing collection found in Sunflower.

It was beginning to get dark and rainy, and I tried to capture the essence of dampness and rain of the evening in this little study.

The cabin is right across from Sunflower... right on the edge of the water. It is a lovely authentic old log cabin that has been modernized and updated .... called Kangaroo Kastle, complete with a "cadmium red" deck! In the driveway that circles the cabins.... there is a beautifully landscaped flower garden. The local flower gardens in Door are beautiful. You will find little pallets of color tucked in everywhere. Hollyhocks as tall as a man.... hydrangeas.... cosmos... etc... a joy to behold

I hope you enjoy little snip-its of my trip to Door County. This is the resort that we always stay... and if you are in the area I highly recommend it. It is deep within a wooded area... opening right onto the lake. Here is a quick link so you can see the pictures of the cabins at Sunset Shores Resort. Usually we stay in Lakeside cabin... but it was leased out that week.

No Vacancy - The Black Smith Inn

Early Tuesday morning, we headed into Baileys Harbor to paint in town. I picked a nice shady spot to paint the entrance to this beautiful bed and breakfast...... called The Black Smith Inn. The entrance faces the street, and the back faces the lake. I loved the way the sunlight spilled in between the two buildings.

It is best to paint with your canvas and palette in the shade... not only for comfort.... but for achieving the correct values. Remember that ultimately your paintings will hang on a wall under indoor light. If you were to paint in direct sunlight, you would not be able to judge color values well and the painting, when brought indoors would be too dark overall.

The abundance of flowers are everywhere you look! I am in heaven.... sipping cappuccino in my left hand.... and my paint brush in the other!!! A perfect summer morning.... cool breezes... birds singing.... great painting buddies.... who could ask for anything more.