I'm back!

Dear Friends,
After a very long hiatus from blogging, I am back. :) The main reason for my absence was the loss of the cord that connects my camera to my computer. In its absence I couldn't get photos off my camera, and attempts to do so by other means were disastrous. I nearly lost all 1,100 photos I've taken over the past 10 months. But luckily, Applebee's image centre came to my rescue and managed to recover all the photos from my camera's corrupted memory card. This means that I now have 10 months worth of photos and events to catch up on!
I'm going to start with one of my favourite annual events; the St. Andrews Artists by the Sea event. This is a charity event which raises money for the hospice of charlotte. Local artists gather to paint on-site for a weekend, and the paintings are auctioned off in three silent auctions, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. My sister and I have been participating in this event together since 2007 (with last year being the one exception). This year I thought I'd be brave and try her chosen medium, watercolours. I'd never painted plein air (or on-site) with watercolours before, and it presents an interesting and completely different challenge than painting plein air in pastel. Anyway, the two paintings in this post are my first two (and favourite) attempts.