Another view of Sarah's Garden

"View from the Patio, Sarah's Garden"
Pen and Ink, 3.5 x 5.5 in.

This small drawing was made last evening in the same location as the previous sketch but facing away, into the wooded fields beyond the house. It was a lovely view, especially with the late afternoon sunlight playing across the leaves and grasses.

It feels good to have a pen in my hand once again. Next up...a watercolor brush and some paints!

Sketching in Sarah's Garden

"Sarah's Garden," pen & ink and colored pencil
in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook

The other day I did some plein air drawing for the first time in quite a while. How immensely satisfying to sit in the warm Spring sunshine and lose myself to the sounds of nature and the feeling of pencil and pen on paper. Pure bliss!

Sara drawing in Sarah's garden.
(Thanks to Linda Brown for snapping the photo)

Fairy Tale for a Modern Woman

Today I was inspired by a blog post in the Hairpin to write my own "Fairy Tale for a Modern Woman." Here it is...

Once upon a time there was a woman who liked to learn. By middle age she was good at many, many things but none of these brought her the satisfaction she craved. The woman realized that a change was in order — her point-of-view was sitting cock-eyed in her head. So she shoved and twisted and man-handled that stubborn point-of-view until it was in a new and brave-faced shape. Then she saw the truth…happiness was inside her, it always had been, she just hadn’t noticed. After that, she lived happily…for the most part anyway.

The End.

For those who don't know me I'm an artist who writes, paints, and illustrates real and no-so-real things. One day, I hope to paint a picture of the ugly Queen and show the world that her heart is really quite lovely, she's just been stuck with an ugly mug.

You can follow me on Facebook at Flying Pony Studios or on Twitter at @saralightwaller.

How Time Flies When You're Not Looking! (Or, How did it get to be April?)

“Grandmother Pohutukawa Tree in Auckland,”
6" x 9" pen and ink in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook.
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2016.

“Two at Te Henga (Bethells Beach) in Auckland,”
6" x 9" pen and ink in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook.
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2016.

Since I last posted anything here I’ve sold my house, been to New Zealand for three weeks, bought a new house, and am about to move two hours to the south. Wow!

While in New Zealand I did a few sketches of local flora and took many, many photographs to be used as reference for future drawings and paintings. The two drawings above are the first of New Zealand pictures — a small but decent start on what I hope will, one day, be a large body of work. :-)