Pashima Stole in cashmere

Sometimes you just need to surround yourself in cashmere because you deserve it. For 3 months, I have knitted and purled on this beast, thankfully it was pretty mindless. It has stripes of spring and summer, and is the perfect weight for cool summer nights. The pattern is called Pashima Stripes, but should be called Pandemic Stole as it will always remind me of this pandemic we are currently in. The yarn was a mix of (in green) Flying Goat Farm Zephyrette and Lux Adorna Knits for the other 3 colors.

Now I can move on to a new project, I thought I would never finish this one!

California Quail

In the last 3 months, we humans have fretted over toilet paper shortages, complained about not getting haircuts, wore masks, stayed six feet from each other, and now riots are currently embroiled in major cities across the US. Meanwhile, it makes me wonder how animals are seeing our current world. National parks and forests have been closed, and there have been less cars on the road, which we can assume has been beneficial for them, right? After all, they were here before humans invaded their spaces.

Here is a bird that has adapted quite well to the invasive species of human beings, and is the California State bird. It has been over a year since I opened my bird journal. Hearing and seeing the finches early in the morning in my yard has renewed my admiration for birds. What would it be like to just take off and fly if you need a change of scenery? Painted on 100% cotton paper in watercolor and ink.

Gouache still life for life being still

So we are in a pandemic which requires us to stay home in isolation. Perfect timing for a still life set. My kitchen needed some upgrades in wall art, so here are two paintings in gouache of still life in the kitchen. My style is the black and white border around objects of prominence, and slight fauvism to enhance shadows and highlights.