The hike along Cascade Head is one of the most spectacular on the Oregon coast. If you can tear your eyes away from the distant views of rugged coastline and crashing waves to look down at your feet, you will see an beautiful array of wildflowers blooming in the windswept meadows in spring. The conditions […]
A Sketching Short Cut
January 25, 2017 by · 14 Comments
Sketching helps me be more aware of not only the natural world, but of the urban scenes that surround me every day. For some reason, when I sketch something, I am forever bonded to it. I find that worries drop away as I forget everything but the scene or plant in front of me. Besides […]
Organizing Pigments
January 7, 2017 by · 14 Comments
I find the wealth of watercolor pigments available these days exciting…and a little daunting too! There are so many colors and so many manufacturers of quality pigments…how does an overwhelmed artist know which to choose? More than once, I have impulsively purchased a fabulous ‘new color’ only to find that I already had the same […]
The March of the Insects
November 19, 2016 by · 4 Comments
Insects keep crawling in…through my sketchbook and into my paintings! I know this sounds like a problem that requires a quick search down a store aisle for a certain spray or powder…but I actually invite the insects into the picture. I want to indicate that these plants belong to a community, to hint that there […]
Sketchbook–Quince Fruit
September 30, 2016 by · 6 Comments
We have an old gnarled Quince tree (Cydonia oblonga) in our garden that produces an abundant crop of fruit each year. We propped up the main branches recently lest they become so bowed down with fruit that the tree finally topples over. Quince trees have been in cultivation for millennia, in fact as a Greek […]
This blog is about my journey as a botanical artist--what I am learning, what inspires me and what I am currently drawing or painting. My desire is to continually hone my skills to better express my wonder and gratitude for the beauty of the creation around me in the Pacific Northwest (USA).