Family Winners

 Mother's Day was pretty uneventful. Jesse came up and had lunch with us. I fixed fajitas. We sat around and visited. She always brings her little dog, Rosie. Rosie and the new puppy, Rocket are wild. Well, the new puppy is wild. Rosie just snarls and snaps at him continuously. The puppy is a pest, but I love him. He is also a clown and keeps me laughing.

Jesse came back up this weekend and actually spent the night with us. She and I participated in the CTAC Paint in the Park. Last year, I judged it and did not get to participate. This year, I wanted to paint. My little art student, Alayna painted too. Rather than painting in a park this year, we painted the downtown area. I really liked it - so much better than painting in the park and all those greens. Alayna and I met downtown earlier in the week and took pictures and planned our strategy. I am a fast painter and can get lots done in a couple of hours. Alayna is slow and precise. I told her to keep it simple and focus on something small. 

Although it has been raining here for days, the rain held off for us on Saturday morning, and we had great weather for painting. I had tried several different sketches from photos taken earlier and decided to do the big tree on Main Street. Alayna chose a bust from a store window nearby where I set up my easel. Jesse chose a building in an alley. There was another lady who also did the big tree. The lady is a good artist and I had serious competition. But when all was said and done, I won first place.

The top painting is the one I did at the Paint thang, and the other one is my sketch. I like the sketch better. Jesse won second place.

Alayna won third place. Keeping it all in the family! Jesse said that I had cheated ( just giving me a hard time for beating her) by doing the painting at home first. I say it was just good practice :) I actually thought Jesse's was better than mine. Alayna's was very nice too. I am pretty proud of my girls.