Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A California Christmas

I spent Christmas visiting my family in the San Francisco Bay Area. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. They have lived there for 55 years and married for 60—wow! Not much time for sketching except for my afternoon with Myrna Wacknov.

I did notice that the next door neighbor's had three pomegranate trees, the branches laden with fruit bursting open with juicy red seeds. And like the rest of the neighborhood I helped my self to an armful, but I waited until dark. I brought them inside and painted them while we cooked dinner.

I brought my dog, Sophie, with me. Being only 14 lbs she fits easily in a carrier and under the seat on the plane. She was fairly appalled when I shoved her in a carrier and then gave me the face through the mesh openings. Once on the plane she fell asleep only to wake up once and of course give me the face, again. Once in California, she had a great time romping at the dog park everyday and having many people to pay attention to her, take naps with and laps to crawl in.

On our walks around the neighborhood I noticed these wonderful Ponerosa pine cones and once again was stealing from the neighbors.

We had the best time.

My amazing family.

9 comments:

Peachtreeart said...

You have a lovely family and it seems the plane ride was worth the journey for your dog!

Claire M said...

How fun to hear that you were in the Bay Area recently. I live in the South Bay.

It is great that you got to spend some special time with your family. Mine is so important to me. Happy 2012!

Sandy in Michigan said...

It sounds like you and Sophie had a wonderful time visiting your family over Christmas. I love how you've handled the colors in your sketches, and you did a lovely job depicting some very detailed subjects.

Mari Brown and Colourblob said...

What a treasure hunt you got there, all I could get from my neighbours here would be rocks and stomps, and snow (if I wanted more to my side that is)... The pomegranet look so good, love the colours, and teh pine looks great too. You have a lovely family and glad that you had a great Christmas trip (even with the looks from your pup)...
Happy New Years!!!!

Revelle Taillon said...

You naughty klepto! But I do the same thing! What you do with them is amazing. Maybe you could send the owners an anonymous print of your anrtwork from their bounty! Hahaha!!!

A Brush with Color said...

What a lovely family photo, Jennifer. Love the watercolors here--so loose and oozy. Happy New Year!

Margaret Ann said...

Lots of love here...You are very blessed indeed...:)

Aubrey said...

Wow! Congrats to your parents (good for them!)and lovely little sketch paintings, too.

Aubrey said...

Wow! Congrats to your parents (good for them!)and lovely little sketch paintings, too.