It was a Yummy Day!

I should have posted this yesterday, but I was interrupted by life. Here is my sketchbook spread from our Anacortes Sketchers outing to Skagit River Produce.

My friend, Sylvia, gave me the title for this post. It truly was a yummy day!

ASk at Skagit River Produce

It was a yummy day! The weather on Monday was perfect, the bakery outdid itself with fresh pies and homemade soup, and the sketchers worked all over the property, making beautiful sketches of everything in sight.

SOME people made several pages in more than one sketchbook!

The first crop of sketches.

As various people trickled in, we got to share our sketches. If we missed you in the the first two photos, maybe we caught you in the collage! Welcome, new sketchers!

Sketchers, squash, pumpkins and armloads of fresh sweet corn!

It was a Yummy Day!

I sketched at Skagit River Produce today with the Anacortes Sketchers. We had some new ones from all over the countryside, Anacortes, Marysville, Mt. Vernon, Whidbey Island, Camano Island, Snohomish, and more! We even met a Canadian art teacher who was on his way home from the marathon in Portland.
Back in the bakery, Lauren baked fresh pies and the air smelled like peaches, rhubarb and butter all the way in from the parking lot. The pies were still hot when we ate them for lunch. Yummmmm!

My sketches (zoom)

I think Sylvia and I were the last to leave.....we just kept finding things to add to our sketchbooks....and the light just kept getting "yummier"!

A Sunday sketch drive on the road to Lake McMurray

Do you remember taking Sunday drives with your parents, like I did? There wasn't necessarily a concrete destination, just a reason to pile the family in the car and go see what was out there. Sometimes we packed a picnic lunch to eat when we found a likely spot. How about doing that with your family today? Take your sketchbook and camera with you and combine two of the nicest things you can do on a day off.

Look east of the covered porch and you will see another great Sunday drive, the road to Lake McMurray.

If you take Exit 221 off I-5, you'll find beautiful country views, and a great place to stop for lunch and for fresh meat, fish and produce to take home for dinner tonight. Skagit River Produce is family run by some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Kids and Animals

Once I finished sketching in the sun, I retired to the shady porch for homemade soup.

You know what they say about working with, or sketching, kids and animals...... not the easiest thing in the world!! Today, at Skagit River Produce barn, it was a battle between kids and animals. These two guys invented PVC extensions to herd the last few renegade chickens back into the pen. I helped a little bit by triangulating with them and gracefully waving my sketchbook back-and-forth.

People and chickens like picking through the corn.

I stayed there in the back of the barn for a while, trying to figure out why the rooster was trying to sabotage my sketching session. He knew I needed contrast, so insisted on calling the hens into the shade. Once they were out of the sun, he promptly tucked his head under his wing and took a nap. No rooster portrait for you! Apparently, free range encourages lack of art appreciation. Never mind, I got three of them anyway.

Next, I turned my back on the chickens and did a sketch of Gary, one of the owners, and a friend, while they sorted out the flatbed full of fresh, ripe corn. 5 for $1 and we are having some for dinner tonight!

Long Red Radishes

It's fun to alternate between a Micron Pen and a nice pointy brush and watercolor.

I picked up these long red radishes at the Skagit River Produce barn on my way home from Rosario yesterday. No one seemed to know the official name for them. I will report later on how they taste, because I won't let anyone eat them until they are painted.

Update: Pat F. thinks the variety might be "Dragon".