Again this year we spent our second session at Brookside Gardens, and again the weather was delightful. Kay, Elaine, Maria, and I all arrived about 10 am and wandered about a good bit ooo’ing and ahh’ing at the gorgeous flowers before finding Barbara already set up and painting at the Japanese Tea House. It looked so nice that we all joined her there, including Mary, who arrived a bit later. We focused on different views across the ponds, and actually enjoyed the chaotic invasions of elementary school kids who were very excited to discover turtles and barn swallows just below the decking. This time I worked on a small piece of PastelMat, a new pastel paper from the French firm Clairefontaine, sold through Dakota Art Pastels (see

http://www.dakotapastels.com/pages/paper-pastelmat.aspx ). Every time I try this paper I like it better! I’ve posted my work, “Turtle Pond” here.