Someone please tell me what possessed me to try to paint white poppies on a Moleskine page previously toned with darker paint? As a first attempt with a difficult flower it would have made a lot more sense to use watercolor paper and reserve the whites. But no … I had to do it the […]

A different view of an opening magnolia blossom from Descanso.
As part of an ongoing experiment with some art friends, I painted the background with Van Dyke brown watercolor, then scumbled some white gouache over top. When that was dry I drew the flower and stems and painted it with watercolor and gouache, and touched it […]

For more current spring paintings from my journals … click here .
Last springtime, a finch family came looking for nesting quarters and decided that the eaves were not nearly as hospitable as one of my hanging Boston ferns. I saw the frantic search for twigs and grasses, the constant flying to and fro of the […]

The magnolia shrubs are in full bloom at Descanso, and I had the opportunity to paint some of them in my botanicals sketchbook a week or so ago. I will probably do another page with the blossom fully open, but at the time I loved their sculptural look in well-formed bud. It’s no […]

Every now and then a random image comes along that just seems to sum up the spirit of the times. Last Sunday this was one of them.
Where is California these days? Heading right? Heading left? Going retrograde? Or just heading for the beach?
It’s all a conspiracy - possibly a Swedish one - and there’s […]

Seen at a farmer’s market … a man and his lizard. I liked the look of the these two buds, hanging out together, getting some fresh air and a snack. Some days it actually is easy being green.

I am visiting Descanso Gardens several times a week now, weather permitting, just to capture the changing beauty of the season. Day by day the garden seems to change. The rain that nourishes some buds to open washes away others in full flower. It reminds me that beauty is very fleeting and that the time […]

This is a watercolor sketch done a few weeks ago at Descanso, in the Japanese Gardens. Who says that granite has to be gray? Perhaps it can catch a bit of reflected light and afternoon sun, intensified by choice. There weren’t really bushes behind it, like that, but I was experimenting with contrasting shapes and […]

This monochromatic acrylic sketch, which I did last night while looking at a large photo for reference, is part of my ongoing preparation for life drawing sessions. I have used acrylics a few times but not nearly enough to get comfortable with them as a sketching medium, so I thought this might be a good […]

Spring has returned and walks among us.
The warmth of her step wakes the earth.
Look for her tread in drifts of daffodils.