Apple Blossoms

Last month I was awestruck by the apple blossoms in my backyard. I kept admiring them, but by the time I found time to sketch them -- most of them were gone. Fortunately I was able to find some time to paint a few of the last ones. Now I'll just have to wait until next year to paint more of them...

Just an old Banana

Things have been a bit busy, and I've gotten out of the routine of sketching/painting and posting to my blog. There are a few items to post, but I really need to get the creative juices flowing again with some new paintings!

Anniversary reflection

Its amazing how time passes, especially as you get older.... April was a milestone for me -- I've been blessed with 30 years of marriage to my husband. My recent blog images are from our little anniversary get-away to San Luis Obispo in California. It was sad to see our trip come to an end, and go back to our normal routines. I am thankful for our trip, it was a wonderful chance for us to get away, reconnect, and celebrate our significant anniversary. I came home with many new memories, and my simple journal pages to cherish.

This is the final image from our trip and it sort of summarizes some of the things that we did during our anniversary trip. My husband and I spent our precious days together relaxing and touring around the San Luis Obispo area. I've included the names of some of the places that we visited. The two brown background images are street signs for major streets in SLO. Since my college days (we both went to Cal Poly) I've always loved the lettering and style of the San Luis Obispo street signs. Most of the other images are related to our various meals and stops for something to drink. Another love of mine is California Poppies (the state flower), and we saw many during our trip.

The original is a two page spread in my Moleskine, so my middle son Sean helped out with graphics support by gluing the two pages together. Thanks Sean!!

Cafe Andreini

On the last full day of our anniversary get-away we explored areas south of San Luis Obispo. One of our final stops was for coffee in Arroyo Grande. This cute cafe was suggested to us by our oldest son Ryan. He wanted to make sure that we celebrated our milestone. I had to call Ryan in Texas from my cell phone in the car in order to get directions to the cafe. Meanwhile Ryan had to search on the internet to remember the name of it, and where it was. I'm happy to report that our efforts paid off and were very worth it. My husband and I enjoyed some time relaxing in the cafe with our hot drinks. While he read a book, I sketched this page. Ryan highly recommended their Chai Latte so I spoiled myself with two drinks - my usual Vanilla Latte and the Chai Latte. Yum!!

After our coffee stop, we headed north and enjoyed watching the sun go down from various spots on the coast on our way. The day was coming to a close in the same way that our short get-away was coming to an end.

The Scoop

After driving down the coast a bit, my husband and I walked around Pismo Beach. We were a bit surprised that it didn't seem as quaint as some of our other stops during our get-away. We were heading back to San Luis Obispo when my husband suggested that we get some ice-cream. This was unusual as he doesn't normally eat it. He found a hole-in-the wall ice-cream place in an old strip mall and we went in and made our choice. I chose the Kona Coffee and Espresso Chip, and he opted for Rainbow Sherbert. The cold treat just hit the spot! Although the little shop didn't look like anything special, I did want to remember the special time and I loved the lettering on the window, The SCOOP.

Morro Rock

During our April anniversary get-away, my husband and I enjoyed an afternoon drive from San Luis Obispo out to Morro Bay. We wandered along the main street by the water and went in a few shops. Our favorite was stopping for a break (wine for me and coffee for him) in the Otter Rock Cafe. We relaxed and enjoyed the view of Morro Rock in the distance. I got brave and pulled out my sketchbook and small travel palette to record a memory of our time together. We had visited out here many years ago when we were still in college, and in years since with our kids in tow. But, this time it was back to just the two of us - just like in the beginning.

Joe Momma's Coffee

Last month, my husband and I managed to get away for 4 nights to celebrate our Anniversary. This is not something that we are able to do very often.... so it was a special treat. One of our first stops was Avila Beach, California. While my husband participated in several conference calls (from our car), I kept myself busy in this small coffee shop. I enjoyed a great cup of coffee and had fun playing with my art toys. It is amazing how absorbed I can get when I'm working in my sketchbook. The time just flies by.... ! Stay tuned for more of what I did during our get-away.

P.S. The "latte art" (the design on the top of the drink) was awesome!

Anticipation

I'm a bit behind in my posting... This winter I spent some time in the garden doing pruning and general clean-up. Its lots of work to do some general clean-up in the yard in preparation for the coming spring. An afternoon in March I was out in the yard and I was quite taken to see the new growth appearing on a variety of our plants and trees. I took a couple of photos and then chose 3 images to sketch: a Gerbera daisy plant (my grandmother's favorite) on the left, a rose bush, and a tomato plant. Seeing the new growth, and anticipating the coming blooms and harvest, certainly boosted my spirits, and sure felt like a reward for the efforts spent cleaning up the yard. I felt excited as I anticipated the further growth of everything in my garden. Anticipation is fun - just like planning for and anticipating a vacation.

I'm having so much fun checking in on my garden now - especially all of my roses which are blooming. It will be fun to try my hand at sketching the flowers as they bloom, and vegetables as they ripen.