I spent a most delightful afternoon today with my friend Jude from No. California who was down in LA for a high school reunion and shopping trip for her very successful glam-clothing enterprise Sparkle Plenty Creations. Judith is a drawing friend who I met through the net, and we’ve enjoyed sketchcrawling together. Jude’s creativity busts […]

Presented for your consideration, a portrait of my all time favorite snack. Yes, I am a pretzel addict. I like chips but could pass them up. Candy? I have only a vague interest. I can even pass up chocolate. But I absolutely adore pretzels, a taste acquired, I’m sure, from my Pennsylvania Dutch forbears.
Here […]

A few days ago, when we were sitting in the dining room having breakfast, I noticed the way the light from the western window was falling on my husband’s face. I asked him if he’d pose for a few pictures so that I could attempt a watercolor study and this was the result. Details […]

I don’t usually paint from other people’s photos (unless it’s by request) but I make an exception for Wet Canvas’ Weekend Events because it’s so much fun to see what many different artists do with the same image. A photo of Asilomar Beach in No. Calif. was a starting point for this painting, which […]

This watercolor sketch of the Descanso Gardens Rosarium was actually painted about a month ago, at the same time that I was primarily posting daily sketches of Cat Mandu. I knew that we were on borrowed time with her, and I wanted to share her drawings while she was still alive. The flowers will always […]

Remember that charcoal drawing of clouds over the mountains I did a few weeks ago - a value study?
Well, I finally got around to turning it into a painting and decided to be adventurous and try something in oils. It’s been a long time since I’ve used them but it was more of a pleasure […]

Well this will teach me to repeat something I’ve heard before vetting it through Google. I was told that this shell of a house was the house featured as the Bruce Wayne manor on the late 60s TV series Batman. However, a little searching reveals that Batman’s house was actually down the block and was, […]

It was another hot one today, but under the oaks on the edge of the arroyo it was downright tolerable. Three of us set up our gear facing this sweeping view - the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is on the right, and the Colorado Street Bridge (Arroyo Seco Bridge) is to the left. […]

Here’s something a little different. Usually I’ve been using my whole sketchbook page to do a study. This time, because time was short, I decided to break the page up into smaller frames, sort of like an old photo album. The house, for example, is about 2.75 x 4″ This page represents the […]

Yesterday our So. Calif. sketchcrawl group went to the Getty Museum in the Sepulveda pass (not the villa at Malibu) in the hopes that it would be cooler on the west side than it was in the valleys. Good thing we were there. According to the news reports, yesterday was the hottest day in Los […]