Yoohooo, anybody there?

I’m without a sketchbook to apply myself to at the moment.  Wondering how the 3 of you are doing & how it’s going, where you are at in the process.
--Marcia

It's here!!!

WOW! I mean ... really ... WOW! This book is so beautiful. It's so wonderful to see Masha's and Marcia's work together! What a delight to see it in person. Marcia your gulls are stunning! So rich and lively and full of texture and depth. LOVE, love, love them. (all three) :-)
Masha your birds on a wire are even more charming in person than on the blog. When I first showed them to my husband he said they reminded him of Ukrainian Easter eggs.

Masha's book is ready to go!!!

Black-Backed Gulls and seaweed on the beach at Montano de Oro State Park, California

I was able to incorporate wild fauna and flora from my trip to California after all.  These gulls are apparently the largest along the Pacific coast of California.  Aggressive scavenging carnivores, their presence while my husband and I picnicked on the beach was awe-inspiring &  scary. They kept circling us closer and closer.  I expected them to swoop in and snatch my sandwich at any moment. This composition was invented from photos I snapped that day & memory.

Tomorrow, I'll package Masha's book to send to Katie.  I so enjoyed the challenge of  your theme, Masha.  It prompted me to create an image via a different process, outside my usual. (I rarely work from photos!) And I am, for the most part, pleased with my result.  I hope you like it, ladies!

Masha's book--Marcia's working sketches

I'm well into drawing my installment of Masha's sketchbook, but I thought I'd give you a progress report by posting a rough sketch of my composition & a tangle of seaweed vignette.  It was indeed a daunting, scary thing to put marks down right on the page next to Masha's delightful, crisp & clean ink drawing. I'm using charcoal & graphite!  I'm working from my photos & memory of seagulls & seaweed strewn on the beach from my recent trip to California.  The gulls are Great Black-Backed Gulls.  The seaweed: kelp.  I hope to post the finished or close to finished work soon.

Katie's book is ready to go!

This shows part of Katie's first drawing plus my contribution to the book.

Marcias book is ready to go!

I'm done with Marcias book! I even have an envelope for it. I am not going to send it in a box this time because it was more costly to ship that way. It is late Saturday afternoon so I won't be able to mail it until Monday.
I have also included a note as you requested Marcia.

Almost done with Marcia's book

So this is what I've got. This is stuff that I found while going through old photos. The pocket knife was my dads and he gave it to my husband who loves pocket knives. The buckle with serpents on it probably belonged to my grandmother, the thimbles were my mothers. I still use many of her thimbles when I do handwork. The jewelry box was my mothers and possibly her mothers before her. It has rings and buckles and a silver baby rattle which was my uncles in it. The earrings I don't know much about. They just seemed to fit with the collection. The letter is one written to me while I was in my early 20s.

I plan on adding more color before I send it off to Rosie. I used your suggestion Marcia, and had the letter fade onto one of Rosie's pages. I plan on adding a card with a verbal account of the objects in the back pocket of the book too.