California Road Trip final destination: Pacific Grove

After Ashland and Half Moon Bay our final stop was Pacific Grove where we stayed for several days and enjoyed this sleepy sea side town. Deer literally wander around town amongst the Cypress and Eucalyptus trees. The coastline is so beautiful its hypnotic to just sit and watch the surf rolling in. I will definitely be coming back here!

Beautiful architecture.



Peppers Mexican restaurant - awesome Mexican food and ambiance!

Totally chillen' at the beach... while we were there we saw a pod of about 14 dolphins jumping and playing out in the ocean.
Nothing like the Pacific Coast...

Courtyards within courtyards at the B&B where we stayed. Quiet and quaint.

Road trip stop #2: Half Moon Bay, California

Our second stop was to visit our friends Tom and Rachel the co-authors of Alfonso the Christmas Pumpkin, a sweet children's book and wonderful gift for any little ones in your life. They were expecting a baby any minute when we were visiting...so if you see their picture and she looks pregnant - she is!!!

Tom and Rachel live in quaint little Half Moon Bay, California - right outside the San Francisco Bay area. This time of year was the Famous Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, so there was pumpkin paraphernalia and decorations everywhere. Here are a few photos from our explorations around town and along the coast...

Tom and Rachel minutes away from baby delivery...a nice pre-child dinner out.

Greg & Deb done up and out for dinner in Half Moon Bay.

Gorgeous architecture...




pumpkins everywhere..










Believe it or not I think someone lives in this reconstructed boat!

A retreat center we came across on the beach...very interesting

Ashland, Oregon

This October I drove from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, California to meet with a friend who is opening an art gallery downtown San Francisco next year.

My boyfriend and I decided to make a trip of it and made a few artistically inspirational stops along the way that I wanted to share with you here from our trip.

Here's our first stop in Ashland, Oregon -where the annual Shakespeare festival is held- and where we enjoyed some fabulous food at the Dragon Fly Restaurant, a walk through town and some time in nature at the park located in the center of town.

Recent Studio happenings - October 2010

Recent studio happenings from this summer 2010 and fall...

Lulu Fiedler, jewelry maker by trade, decided she wanted to learn abstract painting and signed up for a series of six private lessons with myself in the studio. Her jewerly work is fabulous and for view at www.starfishbylulu.com. Lulu is working on abstract landscape pieces and her goal is to paint a large piece for her home.

This painting in process is making me think of frogs and frog ponds!

I"m in love with a new liquitex product! Liquitex Pouring medium - its like using the gloss medium and varnish but with a lower viscosity. Very cool.
A glipse of my new custom made dry rack table. I can work on up to six large painting and have them dry flat underneath the table. Works really well for my painting style.

Getting organized with a tryptic commision painting on the right table there. In the background is a piece that needs a few more layers...I'm still getting up the courage to touch that one!
In the background on the wall, Song for a Winter's Night painting in process. Just a few more layers and she's there. Love the dark graphite underneath the thick snow-like glossy waxy layers. I used Nancy Reyner's Encaustic formula for this one as well as lots of other products such a s moulding paste, pouring medium and regular gel! It's been a labour of love!
Odd random studio shots....

Often times when I'm working I stop and stand on a chair to give myself perspective on the painting I'm working on. Here's what It looks like up on that chair!