After months and months of ignoring my tired old blog, I decided to come back for a visit. I have been busy with the show, illustration and painting commissions, visiting my family for the holidays and getting ready for my next adventure this spring—5 weeks in Spain Walking the Camino de Santiago.
After six months of painting for the art show and numerous holiday commissions I have finally put the oil paints away for much needed break. Back to my roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, I am enjoyed a visit my family. With a sketch book and colored pencils I spent an afternoon sitting with my 87 year old dad at the assisted living facility that he now calls home :(
California was around 65° and everyday I would take a five mile walk in the hills near my parents home in Portola Valley. Ground squirrels running freely in and out of there underground homes peeking up to check what their neighbors are up to. At the top I can look out over Stanford University to the Dumbarton Bridge across to the East Bay. Around the first bend is a view north of San Francisco.
This is a crazy sketch (notice giant mutant ground squirrels) done over prepainted paper while talking to my sister late one evening. Maybe coming home did make me a little crazy…
Back in Maine
After a month with my family in California I am back home in Maine. In between working on more illustrations and painting commissions, I decided to do prompts from the two books by one of my teachers, the talented Veronica Lawlor and Studio 1482. One Drawing A Day and One Watercolor A Day.
One Drawing a Day—Still Life sketch with crayons (my friends grandson's crayons)
One Watercolor A Day—Exercise #2 Wet on Wet and Wet on Dry
"It means I get to read more books in my life"
I had never met the infamous Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch and his half brother the Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Hallor—my new heroes…along with Jack Reacher. They did the above short article as a new audiobook listener for their first publication in 2014.
Happy New Year