Autumn in the Sierras

Grey-green sagebrush and its spicy aroma. 

Bright yellow aspen leaves shimmering against a deep blue sky. 

Ghostly bare trees among deep green pines. 

Creative catalyst.

Come say Hi and see my new Autumn in the Sierras paintings. Opening reception at Topaz Salon this Sunday, 22^nd from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.  

Topaz Salon, 1995 El Dorado Avenue, Berkeley next to the Solano Tunnel on the Hopkins Street side.

More Open Space Paintings

Tilden Park, Vollmer Peak

My love affair continues with the East Bay Regional Parks. There's one thing better than hiking the miles of open space and that's reimagining them in watercolor, crayon and bees wax on wonderfully heavy paper.

Claremont Ave. & Grizzly Peak Blvd.

Sibley Volcanic Preserve

How sweet it is . . .

My first solo show, now through October at Fournee Bakery, 2912 Domingo Avenue in Berkeley across the street from the Claremont Hotel tennis courts.

These watercolor and beeswax paintings illustrate the many enjoyable hours I've spent hiking, bird watching, photographing and painting at Tilden Park and Sibley Volcanic Preserve.  

When you go, treat yourself to Fournee Bakery's delectable goodies. Tres bien! 

Open Space Series

Tilden Park one  

Claremont Canyon

Sibley Volcanic Preserve

Tilden Park two

Above the Steam Trains, Tilden Park

A few of my favorite things: hiking, bird-watching, painting . . . and painting the areas where I hike.

Some of my recent paintings:  6-inch square in watercolor and beeswax. Mmmmm, they smell ever so slightly of honey.

Channeling my inner Wayne Thiebaud

Every Day in May painting for the prompt 'Cupcake'

Wayne Thiebaud is so synonymous with the depiction of baked goods that it’s impossible to paint a cupcake without unconsciously painting the thing as Thiebaud might have. 

Thiebaud taught at UC Davis for decades. How wonderful would it have been to take a class from this icon? Here’s a great short film about a sweet great artist:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_QJ5D9Qm8

Hello, it's me . . .

My good friend Karen reminded me that I've not blogged here in way too long.  That's because I've been participating in the Every Day in May blog on Facebook.

We were given a new drawing prompt every day in May. These were mundane objects that could easily be found and drawn at home.

We posted our daily drawings on the Every Day in May Facebook page. So fun to see how people from all over the world interpreted the same prompt.  My objective in doing this exercise? To incorporate a daily creativity habit. I think it's working . . . so far.

Here's a few of my favorites from my Every Day in May posts. The prompt is written on each drawing. Funny, how many of my drawings are about food!

Northern Spotted Owls

I attended Dave Quady's Audubon Owl ID field trip this past weekend and observed a pair of Northern Spotted Owls! As the sun set, we studied a male and a female owl at close range through scopes and binoculars for nearly an hour. I sat down on the trail and made these small paintings, which I overworked later at home. 

Perched on a bare redwood branch nearly at eye level, the male Spotted Owl slowly swiveled his head, watching us as we observed him. A pattern of concentric dark and white feathers gave his dark eyes a deep-set appearance.  He settled on his perch, fluffed up his feathers and urped up a bolus that dropped to the forest floor.

The male Spotted made a few calls, described by Dave as "a rising series of barks followed by one or two 'whoo' notes," and began vocalizing more regularly at sunset. In response, the female Owl uttered a "single rising whistle plus short, quieter whistles." The male flew to the female and they mated (if you blinked, you missed it). The male then flew silently away and out of sight, and I fought the urge to stand and applaud.

Unfortunately, a few shutter-snapping marauders have done some pretty unethical things in the pursuit of a good Spotted Owl photograph. Because of these knuckleheads, we're sworn to secrecy about the location of this rare sighting.

Finally, here's a Spotted Owl that I painted last year in the studio.  Much more exciting to paint from live birds on location (and more challenging)!

California Raptor Class field trip

Learning a lot and having a blast hanging out with other raptor enthusiasts in the Audubon Society's California Raptors Class led by Eddie Bartley of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.

On Sunday's field trip to Rush Ranch and Jepson Prairie near Rio Vista, spotting scopes on tripods gave me a great opportunity to sketch from live birds. The most exciting moment was discovering a Great-horned Owl snoozing (with one eye open) above our picnic table lunch at Rush Ranch. He sat there for hours.

Later in the day I saw my first Ferruginous Hawk sitting on the ground in the sunshine and two Burrowing Owls hanging out near, and in, their ground burrow. I sketched in waterproof ink onsite and added watercolor later at home at the kitchen table.