March sun on the Olympic Mountains!

Spring IS coming. As we say in the Northwest "The mountains are out today!"

This little Navajo chicken I found

in Tucson is waiting for spring too.

Sketches from Whidbey Island

The birdfeeder in our neighbor's yard is what

I look out at when sitting at my computer.

From North Whidbey, looking toward Mt Erie

on the left and across to the La Conner area.

Deception Pass bridge on the north tip of Whidbey.

One of my favorite places on the Island is Crockett Lake

near the Port Townsend Ferry. It changes constantly

with the light and the seasons, and is filled with a wide

variety of birds.

Greenbank Cellars Vinyard in the fall.

Greenbank Farms , many many great walking paths.

Chochokum is Langley's summer Arts Fair.

This was the view from Whidbey Island Fine

Art Studio's booth, a center of demonstrating

artists and much fun.

Lucy is a landmark at the Recycling Center

near Freeland.

Music for the Eyes in Langley. I sipped

hot mint tea as I sketched, surrounded

by rugs and fabrics of every color

from all over the world.

Bayview Corner is the home of our

summer Farmer's Market. Definitely worth

a visit if you are on the Island!

High tide at Deer Lagoon

Barns at Hedgbrook, a creative retreat for

women writers.

Summer dahlias in our front yard.

Scarlet runners in our backyard.

Oaxaca cricket on my desk.

Day trips from our house

Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo is fun in any weather. Almost...

The Primate House is always entertaining!

Colorful Kyaks, and a crow, on the Port Townsend

waterfront. This from one of our sketcher's trips!

Point Wilson lighthouse, Port Townsend.

The new ferry, Chetzemoka, makes this a relaxing

and scenic trip.

Looking toward the Cascades from the PT waterfront

Happy Hour at the Brick in Roslyn!

It is often more winter, and...summer on the

other side of the mountains. I sketched this from

the window of our friends' house in Roslyn.

December.

In motion, driving up Snoqualmie Pass.

Tulips near La Conner. This is an old sketch,

I hope it dries out soon for the crop of flowers this

spring!

Early morning looking west from Orcas Island.

From a sketcher's trip to Guemes Island.

Valentine's Day color in the Keystone

Center in Anacortes. With the

Anacortes Sketchers!

More rainy March sketchbook revisits....

By the pool in Cabo...

Picking bananas right from the tree in Alamos, Mexico

Cabo Bello view, Cabo san Lucas

Morning in San Carlo, Mexico

Superstition Mountain, Arizona

Sketch at the Grand Canyon

Closer to home, a view from our tent

camping at Second Beach, WA

Another tent view, Lyon's Ferry in the Palouse, WA

Elk River Falls, Idaho

Sketched on rice paper, not so close to home, on a visit to son Jake.

Tokyo, Himonia Park

Definitely not in any logical order,

a ginko tree and one of many

churches in Brooklyn.

I had a fabulous pastry while

sketching this. It was June, hot!

Coffee under the colorful umbrellas.

The Brooklyn Library is at the edge of

Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Dupont Circle, DC. from a visit to son Sam while
he studied at SAIS.

Several years ago we went with friends

to see the John Singer Sargent show in

Boston. This is an early morning view

from Cape Ann, MA.

A painting trip with Stellar Arts took

us to Tsaravets Hill, the main fortress of the medieval

Bulgarian capital, Veliko Tarnova.

This hill was inhabited as early as the

2nd millenium BC. Many old stone

walls, layers and layers of history.

In honor of so many

The Eternal Flame

Hiroshima, Japan

From a visit in 2000.

Sketches from where the Sun Shines

What is so marvelous about sketches is their

ability to take us back to where they were done,

even tho it can be years. We stayed in a

little cottage on Kauai six or seven years ago, surrounded by plants

rescued from the local dump! They were lush and

thriving and rich with color! I could go there now..

this record rainy March.....

Yes, and Ke e Beach!

Seven Pools on Maui, just past Hanna.

We will have colors like this here soon,

when the rhodies bloom.....

This was the early morning view from our house

in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. A mixture

of sounds came with the light, church bells,

roosters crowing, dogs barking and often fireworks.

Colorful doorways everywhere in San Miguel.


Some of our best trips have come from visiting my 2 sons
in their adventurous  travels.
While Sam  was in the Peace Corps in Guatemala,
we spent some time in Antigua.

 Each morning we   took our coffee and

sketch boxes to the rooftop of the hotel. This is

the volcano Agua. Somehow it is more impressive

in my sketch than in the photos we took.

The next morning we painted this direction,

Volcanos Fuego and Acantenango.

And then we painted this way.

This takes me back to sitting under

the Arch of Santa Catalina in Antigua,

waiting for yes, Frida's to open, so we

could go in and have a late afternoon beer.

One of the old convents in Antigua had been converted

to an elegant hotel. The courtyard was filled with scarlet

Macaws. Someone came in the evening with a long pole

and each bird climbed onto it and was carried in for the night.

Ambergris Caye, Belize. I could definitely go

back here now..

From the ruins of Iglesia y Convento de la Recoleccion

near Antigua, Guatemala, destroyed by an earthquake in 1773.