Excited to announce that I'll be one of 60 juried artists at the 26th annual Carmel Art Festival! Mark your calendar: It's the weekend of May 17-19 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

My paintings of the hills behind our house are done and framed and up on the wall!



Golden Open acrylic on canvas. Really pleased with the gold floater frames from PictureFrames.com. Here's how they look in the room.

I've now completed 52 sketches for #OneWeek100People2017! Drawing people makes you notice the characters all around you.

I'm delighted to have been juried into this year's Los Gatos Plein Air event. More than 30 invited artists will be painting in and around Los Gatos, California, from June 13-16, with a public sale and festival on Saturday, June 17. I'm excited and more than a little nervous to be in the company of such artists as Donald Neff, Mark Monsarrat, Marti Walker, and Suzi Long!



In past years, artists have generally been allowed to paint within a 15-mile radius of Los Gatos, so I've been using some mapping tools to see what's in the area. Last Sunday I walked around downtown Los Gatos, and this weekend I hiked in Almaden Quicksilver County Park, which has some great views of the surrounding hills. I'm excited to figure out my "shot list" of what I'll paint over the four days of the event.

This past Sunday, at San Francisco International Airport.







When there is lack of imagination at the highest levels, it is vital for our democracy that we support the arts. So sing. Dance. Draw. And share, and show the world.

Was in Monterey this week for a conference, so I went off to sketch before breakfast each morning.

After our Friendsgiving in LA, we drove out to Joshua Tree for the rest of the long weekend. We stayed in a cabin close to the park entrance.

Dinner on Friday evening was at Crossroads Cafe. It was packed! I liked the pulleys hanging by the window, so I did a quick sketch of the hungry crowd.



There are few good options for fine dining in the immediate area of the park, which is surprising since Palm Springs is a good 45 minutes away and there is no concessionaire in the park itself. Note to self: If I ever have enough money to invest in restaurants.... :-)

The park was vast and beautiful, filled with joshua trees, cholla cacti, and massive boulders. We were surprised to have the landscape to ourselves for much of the time; we expected many more visitors given the holiday. Perhaps the chilly weather put off the climbers.



I was glad to have layers, a hat and gloves as we hiked in Hidden Valley.



The joshua trees had unique "personalities." Even the desert rock formations were picturesque, especially near Skull Rock. This one had a top that looked like E.T.!



We meandered down the remote Black Eagle Mine Road before the swiftly setting sun forced us to turn around. The watercolor on the bottom was done from our cabin window -- that was the view out back!



We drove all the way through the park and had dinner at the Purple Palm, at the Colony Palms Hotel in Palm Springs. The dining room boasted vintage decor, including tasseled drum shades and detailed wallpaper.



In the morning I spied a jackrabbit in the yard so I sketched it while M. went on a bike ride. I don't know what it was eating, but it seemed very focused.



Unfortunately the wind was too intense for a second day's foray into the park, so we headed home. After some torrential rain as we neared LA, the skies cleared up again. And this happened:


I managed one final sketch during our molasses crawl northward on the I-5, of the intense post-storm light and thick clouds over the flat farmland.

Once again we found ourselves in balmy southern California for Thanksgiving. We left for LA very early in the morning, driving through thick fog. It soon gave way to the green and gold hills of Pacheco Pass.



I put away my sketchbook and settled in to listen to Mindy Kaling's audiobook. It made the monotony of the I-5 somewhat tolerable.

After a quick stop in Van Nuys to see M.'s cousin, we headed to Venice where we wandered along the canals and stole glimpses of fancy turkey day feasts taking shape in the waterfront homes.



Then we made our way to the beach, because what's Thanksgiving in LA without sandy toes and a balmy breeze?



Dinner was Korean BBQ at Genwa with an old friend, followed by drinks at the Culver Hotel. The next morning, we headed to Wi Spa for a soak and sauna before heading to downtown LA to meet USk friends Virginia Heim and Shiho Nakaza. We wandered around The Last Bookstore while we waited for them, and then had lunch at Bar Ama.



After lunch, Shiho and I sketched at Grand Central Market's G&B Coffee before we hit the road to Joshua Tree.

Spent a day last weekend meandering along the Mendocino Coast (psst... just as beautiful as Big Sur, fewer cars). It was a challenge to capture the light and shadows on the rocks.

I've been working on a pair of paintings of the hills behind our house. Took the reference photos on a hike and sketched it out quite a while ago. Now committing it to canvas using Golden Open Acrylics and the biggest brushes I can find in my studio. I'm starting with a red underpainting and laying in big blocks of color.

(8x8, ink and watercolor on Fluid 100 block)

The wind was fierce yesterday at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica. I was glad to have my Helly Hansen jacket -- stood up well to the gale! M. took this picture of me while I was painting.

LA was a mercurial teenager on our most recent trip. The wedding we attended was absolutely lovely, but we spent hours on the freeway getting from home to Santa Monica (expected), then hours again just getting from Santa Monica to Long Beach (not expected).

Biking in Long Beach from our hotel (the Westin) to the shopping strip in Belmont Heights seemed like a fun jaunt, but the day started off oddly chilly and drizzly, and carrying the bikes down to the beach was a slog. Then there was an incident with a less-than-accurate eyebrow shaper at a nail salon, and a display of after-dark public road rage that seemed truly out of place for a seaside community.

But again, the wedding was delightful, and I did love riding my bike along the Pacific with nothing to worry about other than sand and sea (and a dozen groups of people sporting matching walkathon T-shirts).

On the last day we chose to meander back north via Los Feliz and Silver Lake, two LA neighborhoods we hadn't explored yet. Things were looking up! We stopped to get dessert at House of Pies and wandered through Skylight Books.

The friendly proprietor at Mission Workshop put us on to his fave casual Taiwanese-Chinese eatery just up the road, Pine & Crane.

It was fast, simple and delicious. And I finally got a sketch in! Just what we needed before we got on the road home.