12″ x 16″ watercolor
Paddle boats, canoes and sailboats are available for rent at the Shoreline Park Lake boathouse. It’s a lovely spot and I enjoy painting the lake and wildlife habitat in the area. Shoreline Park is right in Silicon Valley though far away in spirit. I’ve imagined this guy is taking an afternoon break from a high stakes tech job for to sail and recharge.
Market Street in San Francisco takes on a different feel through the day. It can be very quiet first thing in the morning. Here there are just a few people waiting for the Muni F line headed to the Castro with the Ferry Building glowing in the background.
Point Lobos has been an incredibly special place to me since I was a child. It was near this spot that I happily remember looking (but not touching) sea creatures inhabiting the tide pools. I also have a happy memory of my brother, then a toddler, bringing my mother a rock and saying “Mommy! mommy! I caught a rock.” Here are recent Point Lobos paintings in my sketchbook.
These days, it’s a short drive from our home to Point Lobos, making it a place we visit often and treasure..
Part of the love I have for the Wolseley Restaurant in the Mayfair district of London comes from my fist dinner there. I was in London for business with a welcome night alone between meetings when I ducked into the Wolseley as a way to escape the rain. I enjoyed a lovely dinner in a cozy room right off of the entrance.
The Wolseley is one of those places that oozes charm in a way that conveys comfort and effortlessness. The building began life as a swanky car dealership in the 1920’s and later became a bank. The charming room in the front used to be the bank manager’s office. Now, a there are a small number of tables that look through windows at the rest of the large two story restaurant. And … there is a sparkling cake table at the center. One of these times I may even order dessert.
Today was an absolutely beautiful day for plein air watercolor sketching at Filoli.
These potted tulips are early arrivals. In a couple of weeks there will be tulips everywhere at Filoli. With all of the rain we’ve had, Filoli and the bucolic landscape around it, are wearing bright spring green. It is so wonderful to enjoy the sunshine and no-jacket weather.
I’ve visited Filoli many times and it’s an absolute treasure. I’ve written about Filoli and posted pictures over on the Arid Gardening website here.
Carmel-by-the-Sea is always beautiful but I think I like the town the most in the winter. Fewer tourists. Less fog. The sunset view above is painted from a perfect spot on Scenic Avenue at 8th where the view is framed by an old cypress and the surf sounds serve as a backdrop. Here are a few other Carmel views from the trip.
My husband and I enjoyed a recent trip to Carmel which included opportunities for plein air painting. Sometimes, plein air painting involves some degree of discomfort … cold, heat, glare, wind. This time early morning and sunset views of the town of Carmel with the pacific ocean in the background were painted from the balcony of our hotel room. Such luxury!
This phrase comes to us from John Muir who is forever linked with Yosemite. After several winter snows, the park is dressed in white as the snow is melting into the Merced.
This view of Half Dome is from a spot adjacent to Sentinel Bridge. Most of the 4 million visitors who come to Yosemite each year see the Merced River and Half Dome from this spot.
Yosemite is a quiet place in winter. There have been 137 Christmases celebrated at Yosemite Valley Chapel. It was built in 1879 and it is the oldest structure in Yosemite National Park.
A couple of weeks ago I was able to spend time with friends in Southern California. Here are a few pages from my sketchbook.
I was also able to view the National Watercolor Society 2016 Exhibition which is on view at the NWS Gallery in San Pedro. This year’s work is amazingly impressive. The exhibit will be up in San Pedro through December 18. It will be traveling to other locations after that. The exhibition can also be viewed online here.
The foothills near our home include many treasured spaces. After a casual lunch at Alice’s Restaurant (the one from the Arlo Guthrie song) we spent the afternoon at the David C. Daniels Nature Center.
We had the pond and surrounding trails to ourselves as Mark took photos and I painted. The Daniels Nature Center is adjacent to Russian Ridge which is at the junction of Page Mill/Alpine Road and Skyline (Highway 35). So close … but … so far from the hustle of Silicon Valley.
I will likely add some of the foreground reeds to the painting. If you look closely, you’ll see that I’ve just started to sketch them in. I planned to add them at the time but needed to wait for the paper to dry to enable me to paint the crisp sword-shaped spikes.
Rylan turned 3 today. It was fun to paint this small watercolor to mark the occasion. Just wish we lived closer to this amazing guy and his terrific parents!
