From The Nest

" all our bags are packed, we're ready to go"....

"all our bags are packed, we're ready to go"...

and we are off for 15 days to Norway....I will be sketching and taking lots of photos to report in when I return.

Until then....safe journeys for all those traveling....

later,
carol

one more day to Norway

We're just about set....got the maps, our passports, the brochures, the itinerary, all that I have left to do is print out our boarding passes......WaHOOO......and finish packing.

I love having adventures with the Captain!!

later,

carol

Norwegian Coastal Voyage

What a sight this is....from the moment I saw this photo I wanted to go there, I mean who wouldn't, it is just so beautiful with the ship surrounded by the majestic mountains with the waterfall cascading down and the sea meandering around the bend, the little house tucked way up on the hill overlooking the fjord.....and guess what, we are...we leave in 2 days for a trip to Norway and we will be on that little ship!!

Here is the map of where we are going. What makes this trip so special is that we are going to be taking a mailboat, called the " Hurtigruten" out of Bergen, which is the dot on the very bottom left hand side of the map of Norway, along the west coast, stopping at 34 ports of call along the way and up over the Artic Circle. Then we travel out to the Lofotin Islands, thru some amazing fjords and up and over the tippy top of Norway thru the Barents Sea and over to the Finnish/Russian border. I mean you are up there! The scenery is suppose to be dazzling, the fjords, the snow-capped mountains, the farm lands, the fishing villages tucked in between the rolling hills....known as the "World's Most Beautiful Voyage."

When we leave this week, we fly to Oslo thru Newark, New Jersey. Then we spend 3 days in Oslo sightseeing, taking the famous Flam railroad on the fourth day there, from Oslo down to Bergen along the coast where we will meet the ship. This is a magnificent trip as you start high in the mountains at almost 3,000 feet and travel down and thru 20 tunnels to the plateaus and highlands and finally down to Bergen on the sea. We spend a few days there and are actually visiting a friend's son and his family who live in Bergen in a little house right on a fjord! They have very nicely invited us for a home-cooked Norwegian dinner which we are looking forward to.

Then after a few days, we start our journey as we board the MS Richard With, named after the founder of the Coastal fleet. The ship is 121.8 meters long, 19.2 meters wide and has 490 berths and goes out of Bergen and up along the coast stopping at all the little fishing villages and cities and towns, delivering mail and packages.
Because of the warming effects of the Gulf Stream, the weather along the west coast of Norway is quite mild. With a multi-national mix of passengers on board, it will be most interesting to meet people from different countries. The ship cruises at 16-18 knots, so it is a leisurely pace, giving us plenty of time to enjoy the surrounding scenery. It is one of the things we especially enjoy about traveling is meeting and talking with others who have the "wanderlust" just like we do.

We have planned several shore excursions to visit and tour some of the cities and towns while we are in port, to spend the day at the Svartisen glacier, tour the Polar Artic Experience, go to the North Cape, the northernmost point of all of Europe, go out to the Lofotin islands and at the end of the boat trip, we are going to spend 4 days in Lapland, visiting the land of the reindeer and the Sami culture and learning about this interesting part of Finland.

So, stay tuned for I have packed my sketchbook and pen and plan to do some drawing while I am on the trip and when I return in 2 weeks I will post some photos of this most amazing experience.

later,
carol

summer snows

Look what arrived today from Department 56..........

more samples of the bikini clad snowmen Christmas ornaments that I designed and licensed to D-56!!

I mean, these things are so cute...each one is sprinkled lightly with sparkles, their little bikinis have great details, some have a flower in their hair or a pair of sunglasses on their head and they all look so happy.

But, it is the way they are standing that is the cutest of all.
Some have their hands on their hips or up over their head or with one hand up on their head and the other hand on their waist that gives them the great attitude!

As a designer, it is delightful to see your artwork manufactured into a product that actually looks like your artwork......these folks do a bang up job of making it look like your designs. It is very rewarding to see!

For all you beach buffs and coastal living peeps, watch for these and more in the stores for the upcoming holiday season......

snowmen in their "itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow, pink, blue, red, and green polka dot bikinis"........just too cute for words.

later,
carol

what's the story, morning glory??

"What's the story, morning glory???, What's the word, hummingbird..........have you heard about Hugo and Kim, did they really get pinned, did he pin the pin on" ???????

....talk about High School Musical.....when I was in high school we did "Bye Bye Birdie" as our senior play and this was one of the songs that we sang that was so much fun.

I was in the chorus with a bunch of my friends and we sat up on ladders and pretended to be on telephones for this song, talking to each other about one of the couples that was dating in the show....

I guess just seeing the bee visiting my morning glories this morning made me think about the song and the senior play and all of that....

memories sometimes come flowing in at the funniest times...don't they????...

anyhow,

What's the story, morning glory???.....

later,
carol

summer sailings

Off the shores of Marblehead there are just hundreds of sailboats racing along with the summer winds, having fun, playing and enjoying this wonderful summer season.

Just a little painting I did of one of those cute little sailboats that I sketched as it tacked along side the "Carol Ann" one day while we were cruising.

You know the kind of day it was, one of those beautiful, warm, sunny days where life seems to be just perfect, bobbing along, eating a lobster roll with your Captain, blue skies above, drinking lemonade, enjoying the calm seas, the fresh salt air, laid back and relaxed........ just glad to be alive kind of day.

later,
carol

cascading mussle shells

Back to the beach!

I can't seem to resist those blue mussle shells so I have painted them once again, this time cascading down the page with a little background texture. That blue is just so wonderful.

I use Winsor and Newton Designers gouache or Turner Design gouache for all my paintings. It is very forgiving, as it is an opaque watercolor and even after it dries out, you can reclaim it by just adding a bit of water.
All the paints have now gotten very expensive for just a small tube, so it is a nice feature of the paint to be able to reuse the mixed color again, even after it has dried out.

So, the beach keeps giving me more treasures that inspire me.

later,
carol

summer tees

Summer tees really tell the story don't they?

I mean, next to the ubiquitous flip flop, the tee shirt says summer is fun and summer is easy and just slip me on and enjoy the day.

Anyhow, this cute tee shirt design I did has been licensed on place mats and stationery and is available for a number of other products as well.

stay tuned!

Wouldn't this be darling fabric for the summer??..... I'm thinking tablecloths, runners, napkins, sun dress, tote bags, beach wrap....all sorts of things...mmmmm

later,
carol

bikini snowmen in the grass

These are a few of the samples of the bikini snowmen line that I licensed to Department 56 that arrived on my doorstep today. More ornaments are on their way - the teeny tiny bikinis in resin and then some in blown-glass, but these are the larger blown glass ones that are really special.

They are all beautifully hand painted wearing colorful bikinis and shaking maracas and playing a ukulele and wearing their grass skirts..how cute are they?

D-56 does such a great job creating the product from my drawings and color specifications.....make sure to watch for them in the stores this Christmas.

I think that they look pretty cute on the grass!!

later,
carol

beach roses

The rosa ragusa or beach rose is just so lovely as it grows up along the shore. It has the most wonderful smell and at our beach the roses are just like in this painting I did, bright pink with shiny green leaves growing out of the rocks along the beach.

It really seems pretty neat to me that something as delicate as a rose can withstand the ocean breezes and the wind and salt spray....but it just seems to thrive on them and does so well.

I thought they were so pretty that I had to paint them.

always finding inspiration at the beach....

later,
carol