I came across a pad of watercolor paper and kind of fell in love with it, deciding to do a whole series using the bonus discovery (I think a giveaway last year at Blick). Back into photos of my neighbor’s lush garden! I was drawn to the pic of these squash blossoms — they seemed to be reaching and stretching up, wanting to be closer to the sky. These golden flowers felt humble and unpretentious and they appealed to me. In the midst of a day of working on a design project, cautiously poking at the idea of writing a book proposal, studying GGRO protocols for the upcoming banding season in the Marin Headlands and doing a bit of cooking, I opened up the notebook of Fabriano Aquarelle paper, pulled out my tray of paints, squeezed out fresh, gooey globs of cadmium and hansa yellow Daniel Smith watercolors and delightedly splashed away, adding stick-and-ink lines and spatters of acrylic paint. A lovely afternoon (which also included a walk near Crown Beach that yielded a treasure — a washed up baby bat ray, fully intact, dried in the sun). And the grief hoodlum hasn’t hollered at me all day.

12″ x 9″ sticks-and-ink, watercolor, acrylic on paper = $140