Savannah

Each day began with meeting bright and early to read our Bibles and ended with curious late-night discussions.  Perfect bookends to any day, let alone four straight days.  And in between: extensive walks, new friends, an impromptu party (a large gathering of friendly people at Seth's house eating their fill of delicious food prepared with a smile by his housemate, Brad) tennis, vintage stores, hidden bookshops, friendly animals, caffeinated drinks, porch-swings, more outstanding homemade meals, heartwarming hospitality, strange stories, much laughing... I'm not sure how visiting Seth at SCAD could have been any better, except that I wish I'd packed sunscreen.  Also I could have done without the goodbyes at the end.

I don't know what else to do here except thank Seth and his friends for being so kind and generous... It really was a breath of fresh air.  I mean the actual air was thick and muggy, but the people were absolutely lovely and I haven't felt so encouraged in a long time.

Here are the snaps I took, with random editing and comments.

Sitting among the cat books.

(Trying to get the perfect selfie to document our two-hour-anniversary of friendship)

I was actually a little obsessed with these great girls and their adorable house.  All three are studying fibers at SCAD.

Reid chopped some vegetables and later read us a book.

Thanks to Ashley for being a wonderful tour guide and photographing us with this nice donkey.

Tea was sipped, FIFA was played, National Geographic magazines were flipped through...

Another friendly shop pet.

I asked Seth to take a nice picture of us.

Photo credit: strangers

 The End

Everything's Fine

Maybe someday I'll admit that I recovered from a slight social anxiety panic attack one morning by wrapping myself in a strange creature-blanket under storm clouds or smoke or something (via pen and paper, if you were wondering).  

Like, this wasn't me thinking, 'oh this would make an interesting picture'.  It was literally the only thing I could think of to do.  

But it also probably had everything to do with my addiction to caffeine... A few sips of coffee before I entered the public world and I probably wouldn't have been so stressed.  Thus also considering "Everything's Fine" as the title, because of course everything was.

I guess today will be the someday.

Locked Out

I detest standing outside locked doors under porch lights while fifty frantic bugs flutter around me.  I can hardly bear it.

But this naturally glamorous moth kept quietly to herself, and I admired her for it since her kind are normally the most fluttery of them all.  Maybe she wanted to keep her antennae nice, or maybe she just wasn't the in-your-face type.  I would have liked to know her story or where she bought those expensive-looking wings, but then someone unlocked the door and I bolted in and never saw her again.

Finished (or Destroyed)

My original plan: a monochromatic scheme of greys and browns... What happened?

And why did I chop it all up with scissors?  I don't have the answer to these questions, although I will try from now on to avoid making art when I have a headache... I think my discomfort carried over into the work...

W.I.P. with Ink and Tape

W.I.P.

"Don't overthink,

Stay confused,

Reject boredom."

- Allan Espiritu

One Lovely Farm

Stephen's bike broke so Olivia and Seth and I left him behind, and while traveling one rocky road we passed by a particular farm.  We couldn't help but stop to look because there was an adorable donkey and a pony (a mirror image of Samwise Gamgee's good old Bill) and a large number of white ducks in a pen.  Later, as we passed the farm on our way back, Seth convinced Livy and I to dismount our bikes and walk up to the door with him.  He knocked.  "We were just wondering if we could come back later and paint your animals."  The lady was quite shocked and told us absolutely not.  The door was nearly closed when she suddenly opened it again and asked if we meant to paint the animals or paint a picture of the animals.  We had a good laugh.

She kindly welcomed us to come back later with our paints and sketchbooks.  I brought my watercolors, while Seth managed some very nice oil studies of the horses, mules, and donkeys as they munched a pile of hay.  We had no idea how many animals were actually on the farm until we came back that evening and they had all come out of the barn.  An old hound rested in the grass, a mother hen scurried around leading her little ones here and there, soft cats stepped daintily, investigating things, a baby pony came out with its mama... The white ducks were deathly afraid of Seth for some reason... after long moments of hiding they would come awkwardly outside, nervously muttering to themselves; I could sit and draw nearby, but the instant they caught sight of Seth they would all turn and speed-waddle back into the darkness of the barn, nearly tripping over one other in their hurry.