Beauty

This cooler weather brings out the adventurer in my husband and me.

We spent a long weekend camping and kayaking down on the Edisto River in lower SC.

I'm guessing that the water was a bit too cold for any alligators (or snakes either ) (thanks goodness)

but we did see lots of shy turtles, slim egrets and a heron or two.

The trees down there are so beautiful...those tall, wide cypress trees.

The base of some of them were wider than our kayak (and we paddle a tandem that is about 18 ft long).

This one was about 10-12 ft wide at the widest area of it. Wide and flat at the base.

I love the way that the reflection of the tree is swirling in the water.

The entire river reflects the shore in some spots...it can fool you if you let it.

Look at this shot. I originally took this photo because I was interested in the lower water level.

You can see how low the water level was by the marks on the trees.

After I got home, I noticed that the beautiful reflection.

And the occasional traffic sign.

You know...just in case you didn't know the correct place to stop at...

We couldn't figure out...well, we just couldn't figure it out...

But what we do know is this - that river is beautiful. 

The sounds she makes, the song she sings.

The animals that call her home.

That black water that swirls along her banks.

 Just beautiful.

First Friday

Greenville, SC.
Artisan Traders.
1274 Pendleton Street in the historic West End art district.

That's where I was last night, along with my incredibly handsome and hard working Art Husband.
Along with a few of our friends.
Art Friends.
Art Lover Friends.
And the nurse from my internists office ;-)

Really - we had a grand time there - eating good Italian food, drinking home-made wine, tasting Art Cake, gazing at fine art and talking to fellow art makers and lovers.

Art lovers or just lovers?
Oh, a little bit of both I suspect (that's my Saturday humor kickin' in!).

Today I am starting in our bedroom -
I am being
RUTHLESS
and throwing out, donating, giving away and otherwise cleaning out my house - room by room.
I am tired (sick and tired actually) of a cluttered, dusty house and I am going to do something about it!

That's one big draw back to being a collector of things...
a repurposer of all wonderful things in your artwork...
a sentimental fool that wants to hang on to that book cause your mom loved it...
or that half made doll from your grandmothers sewing stash...
or a rusted old bell that, well, you just might need one day...
It all begins to pile up, to crush your creativity or at least your house cleaning.

Can I get a big "hell yeah!" from all of you that completely understand what I'm sayin?

Most of what I have could be found again.
I'll hang on to a few (maybe more) things but I am at the point that the rest
has got to go people.


And what is up with the return of the horribly hot and humid weather in upstate SC??
Someone told me last night that the thermometer downtown was reading 102!

I sure do hope that this won't be one of those years that fall just passes us by...
or it lasts for two days and turns to winter.

I miss my river time.
I want to go camping in some cool weather.
Looking for sharks teeth.
Wading in the Charleston Harbor.
Kayaking in the Atlantic.

I have been away from the healing powers of our kayak,
missed the flow of the river and her cool waters.

What are you missing today?

Charleston Harbor

My husband and I went on a long weekend camping trip with family members.
We took our trusty (and trust worthy) sea kayak -
as we were headed to Charleston, SC.
I'm not going to add a lot of verbiage...
just photos and to tell you where we went.
On Saturday, we kayaked out of Shem Creek.
There is a boat ramp around the corner from Coastal Expeditions.
We went over to Crab Bank - it opened up on Friday Oct. 15.
We found TONS of fossilized shark teeth!
We love to look for sharks' teeth.
On Sunday, we put our kayak in at Wapoo Cut Landing, near the Ashley River Bridge (Folly Road Drawbridge).
We kayaked around the Battery.
Which was just awesome!
It looked different from the water side...
As you go past the Battery, this is what comes into view (not quite as close).

The Cooper River Bridge.
Such a beautiful bridge, especially at night.

We went over to the USS Yorktown.

And then across to Shutes Island (Castle Pickney).

We found this sign (after we got out onto the island), tossed into the shrubs.

If you're interested in the history of the island (pre-civil war) follow the link.

Interesting stuff.

A shot of the crumbling fort with a fantastic little tree on top.

The island is slowly being reclaimed by nature.

It is beautiful.

A beach shot of the crumbling fort being circled by birds (mostly pelicans).


This was an interesting sight!

I followed it as it went around the island.

The ship, the fort and the beach.

No pirates...;-)

It was a very long kayak trip -

NOT for beginners or the faint of heart.

We were in the water, paddling for about 7 hours.

All I can say is

"Look at those biceps!"

Mid October?

Yikes!

My how time flies around here...
It's already Oct.11!
I've been finishing up a couple (or four) teaching proposals,
writing out instructions booklets and
messing up my studio...
I mean trying out some new paint and stuff.

My husband and I went kayaking on Sunday.
We were sitting up on an overlook
and a HUGE hawk came flying right by us!
It was an awesome sight.
As was the river from where we were sitting.

I get so much inspiration from beautiful place.
The river, the forest, the animals...
I have had a piece of artwork in mind for a couple of years now
about this area where we kayak a lot.
It has been through three major changes through the years.
I believe that my ancestors originally walked that land.
Probably canoed in the same channel.
I feel that I could honor them in a triptych.
Side by side by side.


I hope that everyone is feeling well in this wonderful weather.
I love having our windows open at night -
and all day a couple of days!

September News

This past month was a blur...
I spent a week in Colorado Springs, teaching at an art retreat.
Four days after returning home from that, I participated in a two day arts festival in West Greenville, SC.
Five days after that, my husband and I went away for a few days - to Virginia to see friends and we managed to sneak in a day or two in DC...
After we got home late Saturday, we switched clothes and supplies in our back packs to go kayaking.
We met my husband's sister and her husband at their dad's house.
We drove the five minutes to the lake to let them try out our tandem kayak.
They did great of course!
After that my husband and I practiced flipping the kayak...
and "rolling" it...
Which is a "wet exit" in kayak terms...
I now have a few more bruises for show and tell.
Oh, and this watercolor sketch/painting of a feather that I found.

I used a travel size watercolor set and Koi water pens.
Oh, and my usual Pitt Artists Pens.
No running, no bleeding and no worries...

Get you some!

SC Gators

Santee National Wildlife Refuge in Santee SC has 15,095 acres of mixed hardwoods and pines, freshwater marsh, croplands, old fields and open water. It is also hailed as one of the best birding areas in SC.
The refuge is home to 296 birds as well as 45 mammals, 54 reptiles, 35 amphibians and more than 100 fish species.
It touts walking trails, biking trails, canoe/kayak trails and an interpretive wildlife drive.
We spoke with one of the rangers at the Visitors center
who helped us decide which trail to utilize that day, based on the weather and available time.
We decided to tackle the Cuddo East canoe/kayak trail.
This is a photo of the very beginning of the channel.
It's actually a channel from an old rice plantation.
just perfect for kayak travel and...
the American Alligator.
Look at how dark the water is.

The channel was fairly narrow for a few hundred feet and then opened up into a smallish pond area.
Full of water lilies, birds and
Alligators.
Here is one of them.
These pictures were taken from my vantage point in the kayak - no zoom lens here.

Notice the trail of bubbles behind this 12-14 foot gator...that is one way to track them.

Here's a different one - another 12-14 footer. I guess we actually saw about 10 different gators.
We saw many more bubble trails than that though.

After the pond area, the channel narrows back down to the previous width.

This shows the trail of two different gators that were hanging out under osprey nests.

Think they were waiting for mom to drop a fish

or a baby to drop out?

Everybody has to eat...

We had a fantastically scary kayaking trip that day.

I used to think of myself as a real scaredy cat...

guess I'll lose that title for a while, huh?

All is well that ends well.

This is what we saw as we drove out of the wildlife refuge that day.

A beautiful rainbow.

Tomorrow I'll try to post photos of the cypress forest that sits out in Lake Marion.

Hope that you all are flexing your creative muscles...

as well as your"I'm a Brave Girl now" muscles.

Santee State Park or Gator Hunting

Well, warmer weather is here and you know
what that means for my husband and I...
Nature Trips and Kayaking.
If that bores you or just doesn't interest you - stop reading here.
But if you enjoy living vicariously through someone else's adventures
or you love nature
or you love kayaking
or you love alligators -
Read On!

Here is one photo for you stitchers out there that always looking for patterns on things.
This is a photo of the under side of the roof on an activity building
at Santee State Park in Santee SC.
It has several nests (Martin's) in the corners of the timbers.
The birds were sitting on side timbers
watching us as we snapped pictures and watched them.

We saw so much wildlife at the park, it was unbelievable!
A lot of deers...
Big deers, tiny deers
deers with big racks (antler, that is...)
Here's a night shot where a "family" was going back to their tent...
mom, dad and three kids.
Look at them...going in through the "Do Not Enter" road!
Some animals just don't follow rules well.

Even the sky was beautiful! This was shot on the way out of the Santee Wildlife Refuge.

What an Awesome place to visit if you love observing wildlife and nature!

We were in the "Cuddo Unit".

They have a "Wildlife Drive" that has an accompanying Interpretive Guide with it.

As you drive along (it is a 7.5 mile road), you will pass numbered signs that you reference in the guide. It gives great information about the area that you're in or about the animals that you will likely see.

The guide did mention we might see Wild Turkeys.

It didn't say that they would jump out on the road in front of us, running 20 miles per hour as we lagged behind.

Nor did it mention that the original three turkeys would be joined by three more of their friends.

And run for about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile before jumping off the side of the road.

We didn't follow them the entire time. We stopped and just watched them continue to run.

It must have been a neighborhood jog night.

The first day that we were there we went for a short kayak trip in Lake Marion.

We wanted to take a peek at the cypress forest that stands in the middle of the lake.

According to the park brochure "Lake Marion is a 110,00 acre lake that is more shallow, full of stumps and trees (including a deciduous cypress forest gracing the middle of the lake across from the park) and is adjacent to thousands of acres of pristine, secluded wetlands and forest."

I'll post photos of that, along with the up close interaction with several alligators we met...

How close? you ask.

Very close...

Sketching on the Road

When my husband and I go places, he usually drives.
I usually draw.
The South Carolina roads can be very bumpy
which is aggravating while driving
but can provide some pretty cool lines while drawing.
I suppose this could be another example of making lemonade from your lemons, huh?
Anyway, here is a two page Moleskine spread that I started when we backed out of the driveway
headed to Charleston.
I drew some of it while watching a Citadel baseball game
and completed it on the drive home.
This one was done completely on the drive home - notice the jiggly (meaning jumpy) lines.

There is a detour on 385 North going towards Greenville right now due to construction.

You have to go through a little town called Laurens and some really bumpy back roads.

They provided the opportunity for the nifty jiggly lines on the drawing that I could not have obtained any other way.

My friend Liz Kettle (over at Textile Evolution) was in Charleston this weekend as well.

So we all (her family and my husband) got together

and went kayaking in the Charleston Harbor on Saturday.

We had a blast!

If you're ever in Charleston and want to kayak (with or without a guide)

go here - Coastal Expeditions.

These folks are great! And reasonably priced also.

Weekend Art

My husband and I went to Charleston this weekend for a little camping and kayaking.
On the drive down, I pulled out my sketchbook and a book that I had carried with me.
I love to thumb through source books or other illustrated books
for pictures or illustrations that catch my eye. Then I sketch them out in my journal or sketch book - it's a warm up of sorts to drawing what's around me. Even though I draw a lot, I still require some warm up exercises most days to "get in the groove" of things or to just keep my drawing skills up to date.
While at the camp site, I had the occasion to pull out my trusty compact watercolors to add a little color to the pages.


We kayaked in the Charleston Harbor - out to Crab Banks.
We found some awesome shark teeth! One was over an inch tall - that gave me a moments pause when the waves hit three foot and our kayak was bouncing around...
I suddenly recalled the serrations on that big ole tooth...
and had to frantically push away the fright bubbling up in my chest.
We did some of what my husband called "kayak surfing" as we rode that wave in.
It was a lot of fun (at that point) and we will definitely go back for more of that.
I hope that your weekend was filled with a lot of love for what you were doing -
and who you were doing it with.
Mine sure was.

Adventures in Nature

Continuing in the same vein as before, I'll be winding down the photo's of the kayaking trip this past weekend.
We did come upon some of the local wildlife...

He looks like he has a sand beard, doesn't he (or she)?

Here are some great shots of a tiny 'shroom and a snail's shell.

I snatched up the shell for my brown bag project...

Oh, I forgot to tell you about eh "Brown Bag Project", didn't I?

I'll tell you another time - remind me if I forget.

A little different angle here. Such beautiful moss in the forest bed.

In case you're wondering - the non rolling stone does gather moss...

sorry - couldn't help myself...

If you've never kayaked before, you should consider giving it a try. It is a wonderful form of exercise (gets your core really beefed up) and can be a cool solitary past time as well.

Even though my husband and I have a tandem kayak (a two seater) I'd love to try out a one person one. Our is very stable - after getting turned over by a couple on a jet ski (they were wayyyy to close to us)- we opted for a wider one that wouldn't roll as easily.

And the best part?

Being so close to nature...

Being able to paddle right up to all of the little islands, seeing the water animals face to face

and spending quality time with my best friend.

I hope that you take the time to exercise your creative spirit today -

you'll be glad that you did.

Lower Whitewater Falls

Continuing with the waterfall story here...

The "logs" that you see in the first photo are actually two tree trunks.

They were probably about 20-30 feet long. This should give you another idea of just how large this waterfall is.
This is one of the smaller side falls. My husband climbed up higher than I did. His legs are much longer than mine so he was able to go farther...

I asked him to take this photo of the kayak so you could see how far we (I) went.

I have a slight fear of heights...I didn't know that he was taking this.

I wanted to look over the side of the rock but kept getting kinda dizzy when I tried...

This position made it a lot easier!

He evidently went up much farther than I thought...

Isn't this beautiful?

Here's another photo of me that he took from his vantage point. Such large rocks!

Isn't this awesome!? Life does find a way, doesn't it?

These skinny trees are growing up out of a crack in the boulder.

I'll post more photo's tomorrow.

T.R. found a cute little (dirty) turtle.

I hope that all of you look around today -

check out your surroundings for inspiration.

You just never know what you will find!

Kayaking

My husband and I went kayaking on Lake Jocasse Sunday.
We haven't been in a while and as is our usual M.O. - we probably stayed a little too long...
or paddled a little too far.
We put in at about 1:30 and were packing up at about 7:30.
Lots and lots of paddling - apx. 12 miles or so.
And yes, we have some awesome biceps...oh - pictures of that later...

Last year during the drought, we went to the same place at Jocasse - looking for the waterfalls that are so talked about.
But when we got there, there was no waterfall...
anywhere...
nothing but a bunch of big ole rocks and a tiny trickle of water...
hmmm...
but this year - WOW! The water is back and it is magnificent!


The closer we got, the more tree limbs and logs there were.
It was kinda difficult to paddle through them but we persevered.

I have no idea how tall this particular waterfall is

but we lost sight of it after about 150 feet.

(I looked the info up and it is a tad over 200 feet tall).

There is also a couple of pretty big ones to the side of the main fall.

Along with a muscadine vine that would be great for some little ole bear...

These rocks are hu-mon-gus...

Here's the view after we got out of the kayak -

standing on a sandy area right at the base of the falls.

Three unhappy fishermen - they told us they were "not having any luck" that day.

But boy, we sure did!

I'll post more photo's tomorrow.

We found so many beautiful things to look at.

Nature is so inspiring.

She knows it all.