I recently went to Omaha and, while there, visited the Glacier Creek Preserve, where the Tallgrass Prairie has been restored. It was great to see it and imagine what the area looked like 500 years ago. I did not have time to paint, but I took photos and used one as a reference for this sketch.
I visited my youngest sister, Lisa, last July in Portland. She lives in a lovely home near the downtown area. Our parents were avid collectors of Mexican folk art, and our childhood home was filled with beautiful pieces from that rich tradition. While each of my siblings has created a home of calm and beauty in their own way, it is Lisa who most fully embraces our parents’ deep love for Mexican folk traditions—and makes that legacy a visible, living part of her daily life.
With this woodcut, ‘Lisa at Home’, I wanted to show one part of how Lisa connects her space to meaning and memory. When she sits on her couch, she is centered by a Tree of Life, watched over by winged angels, and surrounded by folk mirrors, woven baskets, clay vessels, textiles, and candlelabras.
Although I usually work in gouache, I made this piece a woodcut because Lisa has long favored that form. Woodcuts, including several of mine, appear in many corners of her home, quietly communicating what she loves and appreciates.
Happy Birthday, Lisa!
This is based on a photo from Humbolt State Park.
This is a cheery scene from Batiquitos Lagoon. I liked the light and air.
With this plein air piece, I wanted to capture the sunshine and shadows that fell between the eucalyptus trees on a hillside.
Waiting for the Green Flash: This painting was also painted during the Oceanside Museum of Art’s Plein Air festival. The OMA held a sunset paintout at Robert’s Cottages. After I finished a so-so painting of the cottages, I turned my easel 180 degrees and caught the silhouettes of people mesmerized by the setting sun. Many thanks to the jurors and judges, Peter Adams, Toni Williams, and Maria Mingalone, for selecting it to be part of the exhibition.
As part of the Oceanside Museum Plein Air festival, I painted most of Sunday at Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad, north of San Diego. By my fourth painting, I was ready to try something new. I looked across the water at a little house perched on the edge of a mesa that was surrounded by strong shadows, and sketched it out on paper prepped with a red casein underpainting. I blocked in the sky and water with gouache, but by the time I got to the dried grasses on the hillside, I realized I loved how the blue contrasted with the beautiful red color of the underpainting. So I revised my plan and let the red dominate the scene.
Many thanks to the festival jurors and judges, Peter Adams, Toni Williams, and Maria Mingalone, for selecting it for the festival exhibition.
Deliberate Sketching 