Yosemite - part three - plein air

Yosemite is one of the most inspiring places to be, and I just love doing lots of art in my little travel journal while there. Here's a little sampling of this year's sketchings.

This year we attended one of the free art classes that are offered in the valley. This time it was a watercolor class (last time we did a class we did drawing). The instructor had us paint over by the Ahwahnee Hotel. Here's my little rendition. It's always interesting to get critiques, and the instructor gave one for my painting.

Some things I agreed with, some not ;) But since I don't paint a whole lot of landscapes I think it was pretty helpful.


This was painted from our camp looking at the little cliff below North Dome.

Yes, I do have a tendency to use "pure" colors. Maybe it's the palette I bring on vacation.


Or more likely, it's just my style. I can't seem to paint a landscape to exactly match it's subject. The instructor wanted us to use "fun" colors. And I did just that, maybe just a bit too much.

Here's Half Dome from the bridge near the campgrounds. It's a long tradition of ours to paint Half Dome at sunset. I'm not sure if I improve each time, or not.


Here's Yosemite Falls from the meadow just across from the falls. Well I actually had to imagine the falls, since they were pretty dry. This one looks a little incomplete because it started raining. We had to quickly pack up and ride our bikes to shelter. It was very beautiful!


Another quick pen drawing of Yosemite Falls.


Here's another view of Yosemite Falls as seen lounging on the river by the Swinging Bridge.


And my last painting. Yet another view of the famous Falls from the river right by our camp in North Pines. I've also done many paintings of this view, because we've camped many times in North Pines.

So what do you think? Is my landscape style just a little too colorful? Should I cut back on my vibrant colors? Do you have a favorite? I'd love to hear!

Yosemite and It's Wonders - part two

As promised I had to continue with the Wonders of Yosemite.

We hadn't been to Glacier Point in quite a while, so we made sure to visit the amazing spot this trip. Here's the view of Yosemite Valley. Not for those sensitive to heights! Hold on to your hat!


Here I sit with another extraordinary view from Glacier Point. You can see Nevada Falls way beyond, as you look to the left of me. Next to the falls you can see one of the many enormous pieces of rock, Liberty Cap.


And here's Liberty Cap again. This time we were sitting right beside it, at the top of Nevada Falls.


Yosemite has the some of the most relaxing bike trails, with spectacular sights every where you turn.


Including the many bucks that you see daily, lounging in the shadows of the meadows. In the early evening you'll see them get up from their rest, maybe to get a snack from the nearby apple trees in the Camp Curry parking lot.


Some of the best swimming is in the Merced River, with the natural beauty surrounding you. It is very awe inspiring.


I often wonder how so much beauty could be placed in one spot. It just couldn't be an accident. I can never get enough!


And finally, it just wouldn't be a vacation for me without getting a really cool shot of some kind of exotic bug! This guy just wouldn't move as I photographed him in the natural garden for the fairies... The Fen.

And tomorrow I'll post some of the art I created while in God's Masterpiece. No place inspires me more than Yosemite.

Yosemite - part one - The Mist Trail

I've been to the beautiful Yosemite and back. If you've never been, I have to say it's a must see, even with it's over the top amount of people! Since we were there in August of a dry year, Yosemite Falls was dry, but Vernal Falls is gorgeous as ever.


We took the Mist Trail up the many stairs to the top of Vernal Falls. It's called the Mist Trail because you can feel the mist as you climb the stairs beside the falls. Very exhilerating!


Once at the top of Vernal Falls you reach the Emerald Pool which you aren't suppose to swim in, but many do. Many people make this their destination, but not us. We followed the north side of the trail to the top of Nevada Falls. This side of the trail is shorter, but hot and very steep. You get some great views of Nevada Falls though.


We took the long way back down. Longer but more comfortable, less jarring on your knees, and less of a feeling that you're going to completely bite the dust! It's an all day event for us, with an over 6 mile round trip hike. After the hike, a beer and rinse off in the river is the best!

I'll share more photos, and Yosemite art soon... Like tomorrow.

Many Varieties of Cute

We went down to Orange County again for a visit. A couple of days filled with fun and cuteness!

Here you see my mom's new puppy, Marvin! So little and ever so cute!


She also has a very cute bunny... can't get much cuter than a bunny!


Well, I think turtles and tortoises are very cute, indeed! This one's been in the neighborhood for who knows how long. My mom acquired him over 20 years ago.


Look how cute he is when he bites a carrot!


We spent a couple of days at the beach, this time Sunset Beach. We saw this flock of sandpipers. I think they're one of the cuties of the beach. The waves were bigger this time on account of a hurricane to the south. We still spent lots of time in the water though.


And finally, we spent some time with the winners of all cutedom. My twin nephews, they're 2 1/2 now. They're little monster animals, but very cute non-the-less!

Day at the Beach

Earlier in the week we went down to the OC to hit the beach. We went to Corona Del Mar, one of the nicest beaches around. Growing up in Orange County, I went to all the beaches, but rarely to this one. So this was quite a treat.


Wesley caught some of the perfectly small waves. Having wiped out myself in many large waves, I think it's much funner when the waves are nice and small. Wouldn't you love to stay in that house boat for a few days?


Yeah, Corona Del Mar is pretty nice... if you like that mulit-million dollar mansion over looking the Pacific sort of lifestyle!

Another Trip!

We're leaving on another trip. Not as far this time, but don't expect to hear from me until after August 21. It's been a while since we've been to the bay area, and I'm so looking forward to it! As usual, my time is running out, so I've just found an older painting I did of my dog, Ziggy. He's all grown up now, almost 2.

Why did I choose Ziggy? Well, he's going on vacation with us, and whenever a huge dog is with you on a road trip, well it pretty much takes over a lot of your thoughts!! I've got my list of all the beaches that allow dogs, and we'll be camping, so I think we'll do ok!

Look for me after the 21, and do enjoy the remaining moments of your summer!

Beautiful BUGS!!

Today, at my mom's, we had a most interesting visitor. And how lucky was I to capture the extreme, intricate, beauty of this dragonfly! If you create a beautiful, natural setting you can have these lovelies visit you, too!... even in Orange County! What's funny is it kept returning back to this EXACT same spot, as if it wanted me to get it's picture!



Here's another gorgeous character that I was so fortunate to capture, digitally. This guy was found on our walk, at my Grandma's, way deep in the heart of Texas. Outside Austin.

And sorry for the BAD QUALITY of this last photo...



This much scarier bug (scorpion) fell down from the ceiling in the spare room at my Grandmas. Luckily I saw it land, because as you can see, it's EXACTLY the color of the carpet!! It wouldn't stand still long enough for a better pix, And Wesley soon killed it. CREEPY!!

Veggie Across America

Hello, My Dears...

You may have figured, or not, that we ran into some difficulties with the connection to the internet with the laptop. It was a little disappointing, but we took it in stride and had an adventurous time anyhow!

My Dad is vegan, and I'm vegetarian, so we went to restaurants with a veggie flare across the country. I'm going to give a little review of the ones we went to.

In Flagstaff, Arizona we ate at the New Frontiers Natural Market, at the deli. My Dad loved the Cashew-Tomatoe soup. I enjoyed the tofu patty. They had a good variety of prepared salads and eating outside was nice since there were some clouds, and it wasn't too hot.

We ate at an Indian restaurant called Gopuram, in Oklahoma City. Indian food is always so full of exotic flavor, and this restaurant had lots of vegetarian dishes, and the service was excellent. They gave us special treatment, and we had an interesting conversation.

My favorite place that we ate had to be Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville, North Carolina. We had some awesome vegan nachos, and I had wonderful veggie burger. Not the average frozen patty sort of burger. I loved the atmosphere of this place the best of all the places we ate. It's very old-school hippie. Not your new-age, clean-and-simple-lines, type of place. More artsy, funky, colorful and kick-back style. I really like the colorful murals in the balcony eating area. Asheville is just the best town!!

This is a pix of the ultra cool "balcony" area...



Our stop in Memphis, Tennessess was a little different. It ended up being a bar called RP Tracks that must just try to have a little bit of everything for every type of person. They did have vegan nachos, but it was pretty much just some BBQ-Sauce-Tofu with chips. My veggie burger was run-of-the-mill. The waitress was ultra-sweet and helpful though.

In Fayetteville, Arkansas we ate at the fairly new Greenhouse Grill. This place had terrific service from a friendly guy (maybe the owner/manager?) The Greenhouse Grill was very clean, and the food was excellent, and had a bit of gourmet quality. Wesley said that it was the best food that he had on the trip. Wow, that's saying a lot!!

Another cool experience was in Dallas at the Cosmic Cafe. This place was decorated so great. Lots of influences from India, with colorful murals, and interesting items. Bursting with energy, and color and the waitresses were very nice. My only complaint about this place is I think they need a little bit of kid food. Pretty exotic, and kind of spicy stuff. Although Wesley did love the samosas appetizer that we had.

Even the parking area is groovy...



We didn't eat in Austin this year, but I know I love to eat at Mother's Cafe. I'm sure there are other great places to eat in that town.

Our last restaurant that we ate at was in Tucson called Lovin Spoonfuls. Cute name! This place is all vegan. We ate lunch there, and I'm wondering if they have an entirely different menu for dinner. We had sandwiches, and some kind of yummy fake-chicken nuggets. I loved the carrot salad that was an option for your side order with the sandwich. Another spot with excellent service. And it must be pretty popular in the desert town, it was packed!

Of course while traveling you can usually find a Whole Foods, Wild Oats. or Greenlife in a major city. It's nice to get a break from your usual roadside, Interstate-Gas-Station food and eat some quality food, and truly experience the veggie side of America!!

Check out Happycow.net for some other restaurants that serve vegetarian/vegan food. It can be an adventure.

You can expect to see me updating my blog more regularly, well, at least for a couple of weeks until my next trip!!

Yay! It seems to work! (except I can't seem to get a title on my page...I miss my Mac!!) Day one of our trip with my Dad, we got to Gallup, New Mexico. We stopped to eat at a natural foods store in Flagstaff. I've never stopped in that town, and I'm glad I got to see it this time. It's very nice, and the historical downtown is so awesome!

We went to see a couple of haunted places that Wesley had read about in book about the Haunted places of Route 66. This is the Riordan Mansion. How beautiful, enormous, and rustic. I guess there's ghosts there that like to play pool. We were there after hours, so we couldn't go on the tour. Save that for next time.

Sorry, I'm a little rushed, AGAIN. We've got to get on the road.

I've Been Tagged!!

Yes, I have been tagged by the lovely Sandra Eileen - Artisan Jewelry. How nice that she thought of me!

I'm to do a little write up about myself. So tough to sit and contemplate yourself!

The Rules:

--List seven random facts/habits about yourself
--Choose another seven bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog
--Leave your seven tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.



1. My favorite thing to do is go on a road trip and do some art in my Travel Journals. I love getting an ice mocha at an independent coffee house and sitting a bit to doodle. This pix is a journal entry from my last summer's trip.
2. I'm NOT a morning person.
3. I absolutely love swimming. I need more places to be able to do this.
4. Despite it's being overly commercialized, and is brain washing our children - I love Disneyland, and most all things Disney.
5. I'm a big fan of old music. All decades really, but especially 20's and 30's jazz or country.
6. I live in a funky old house but have one of the best yards around.
7. As a kid I usually had different interests than my friends. When my friends loved Leif Garrett, Andy Gibb, and Scott Baio, my hero was Grizzly Adams! This is the trash can I've had since then.



Now I must go and tag 7 more bloggers...

The oh so sweet SamIAm Creations
The ever so witty mrs. kwitty
The most gracious gardenpainterart
The very kooky handbag maker - cArried AwAy
The oh so rare and fun RetroAttic
The most charming fluffyflowers
The ever so talented redheadart

Thank you ladies!

Happy Earth Day

Finally the Earth is getting some real big-time media coverage. Earth Day's been going on since when? Like 1970 or something like that. It's only taken close to 40 years for more people to actually take it serious. Well I'm glad to hear it.

We live in a society of convenience, and I agree it can be hard to always do the best thing for the environment. We all can't afford a hybrid car, or have solar paneling for our power. Riding a bike to work just isn't possible! Here are 10 simple ways that can help to save the environment.

1. Paper or Plastic?...Neither. Reusable cloth bags are not that hard to use. Especially for just a few items. I can see that it would be harder for your major trips to the grocery store. A Trader Joe's near by had some for only $.99. I'll make sure to get a few next time I'm there. Of course, you can readily find more expensive canvas bags.

2. Buy Organic whenever possible. Not only are the pesticides bad for all species, they also use more energy to produce the final product. Non-organic cotton uses a whole lot of chemicals, so if possible buy an organic cotton t-shirt. A fabulous blog on the subject of organic is Vegetarian Organic Life. Even better than organic is biodynamic farming.

3. Plant a tree. My fave of all! We need more oxygen! Go to americanforests.org for more info. For each $1.00 spent there, 1 tree is planted. Pretty reasonable price, really.

4. Don't let your car idle while waiting to pick someone up. Turn the car off. Walk whenever possible for short trips.

5. Use Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL). Replacing 5 regular bulbs with these can save you $60 annually. That's so easy!

6. Instead of bottled water, use a reusable "good" plastic bottle with filtered water. Naglene, and SIGG make some nice reusable bottles. There's also a cool corn resin bottle with built in filter that you can refill up to 90 times and biodegrades in 80 days. It's at New Wave Enviro. I want one of those!

7. Eat less red meat. Even just one less meal a week can help. For every pound of meat it takes 840 gallons of water to produce. This is easy for me since I've been a vegetarian for 20 years. Now a days it's so much easier to go vegetarian with all the mock meat available. Most are very tasty and make a wonderful substitute.

8. RECYCLE. So much more easy to do than it use to be. You can find ways to reduce your junk mail at ftc.gov. Pangea Organics makes skin care products with packaging that uses 100% post consumer paper. On top of that you can simply bury the box and grow a plant. There's seeds in there! Also, you can find a lot of hand made items made with recycled products on Etsy!

9. Get a powerstrip that stops the electric flow to your appliances. This is just a waste of energy. I need one of these, because really now, it is just sometimes impossible to unplug your appliances constantly. One I've learned of is a BITS Ltds Smart Powerstrip.

10. Use more environmentally-friendly cleaning products. You can even use baking soda and lemon juice for a lot of it. Some good products are Method, Mrs. Meyers, and Seventh Generation. I found Method products at the Target nearby. They have some great scents too!

For more information on saving OUR EARTH go to :
www.earth911.org
www.greendimes.org
www.treehugger.com
www.earthday.net
Nature Conservancy

Now as for the little froggie!! While we were driving the lonely Hwy 395 this summer up in Oregon, we luckily found a place to stay the night! It was pretty slim pickins up there for any kind of business. Well, at this Mom-and-Pop RV Park, there were a large group of these little frogs all around the restrooms. Don't you want to do what ever you possibly can to try to save these fragile guys? I know I do.

Painting A Day - Ostrich ACEO

We saw this beautifully unusual ostrich on Route 66 near the Petrified Forest. These birds are so very interesting I just had to do a painting that has been in my mind for a couple months. We stopped to see the ostrichs on our way home from Michigan in July. It was a bit intimidating to feed these guys from a plastic cup!

This is an ACEO/Artist Trading Card, size 2.5x3.5 inches, acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

-SOLD-

I see my painting a day didn't go far. I woke on October 26 with a cloud of smoke looming 8 miles away. The day unfolded into one of the saddest days our little mountain community has seen. The death of the five firefighters from Engine 57 deeply affected many people, near and far. The week was just filled with too much sadness, and busyness that my art suffered. In the midst of this tragic, unusually busy week, I turned 40. I think I'll have more time now, so I should be back again soon.

Painting A Day - "Sunset on Half Dome"

This is my "Painting A Day" - number 2. It is watercolor on 140 lb watercolor paper. 5x7 inches. I'm surprised I finished one on a Wednesday. Today is the day I go to volunteer in my son's class. Fifth year of doing that, every Wednesday. I usually don't get a lot of art done on these days. I'm usually pretty tired after helping in the class. I love the kids, but they really can be mentally draining! But I'm breaking old patterns and doing art in spite of being drained. Yay!!

I thought I would do a vacation-inspired painting on this day. I've done many Half Dome paintings in my travel journals. It's a tradition for Wesley and I to do at least one Half Dome rendering at sunset. So I used this year's journal entry and a photo we took as inspiration for this little painting. Yosemite is such an extraordinary place. I often wonder how so much beauty can be in one place.

I'm offering this painting for sale on eBay - $9.00 opening bid. See the link to the right. Thanks!