I have a great office at work.  It’s actually a converted two bedroom cottage.  There is a small kitchen and an all purpose dining living area that’s now used for meetings.  The bedrooms are offices. My desk is in one and our Landscape Ecologist (LE) has the other.  The cottage is off and away from the flurry of the Nature Center that houses the rest of our staff.

Another bonus for me is Karl’s (LE) love of vegetation, be it grasses, trees, shrubs or flowers.  He’s a native plant aficionado and always shares information about what’s in bloom on the island where we work.

Now that the members are back and we are in high season, work days are quite busy.  The other day Karl came in with some beautifully colored leaves.  “I decided to bring some fall color into our space since we can’t get out to enjoy it” says he.

Big trouble….. I’ve deadlines but so need to paint this lovely surprise! I’m happy to say I accomplished both 🙂  While my lunch was heating up on the stove, I sketched with my waterbrush and tiny travel palette that contains six pigments: aliz. crimson, aureoline yellow, quin gold, ultramarine blue, peacock blue and opera in my Stillman & Birn Epsilon journal.  Took a break to eat then back to paint. Total page time: 15 minutes.  So great to start the afternoon fresh from an art and lunch break 🙂