Elfin Forest

I was in the San Luis Obispo area over the weekend and painted the following sketch from 'Siena's View' in the Elfin Forest.  The viewpoint also overlooks the Morro Bay estuary which supports 100+ species of birds!

watercolor - 4" x 6"

A 'Zentangle' Day...

An extremely basic tangle but still a lot of fun to create.

Experiments with Character Design

I have been playing around with a little bit of character design this summer with some friends from the AAU.  The robot below is my design for a 'futuristic female robot' which I imagine to be a shopping companion / virtual stylist that would help you find the best price on items and give opinions on potential purchases.

Avocado Leaf

watercolor on hot press watercolor paper

The final assignment for Watercolor I at Filoli was to paint a leaf of our choice.  I wanted a subject with some variation of color so I chose an avocado leaf from the tree in our backyard and waited until it had begun to decay.

Vintage Pastel Instructional Pamphlet

My husband's grandmother, Gladys (Patsy) O'Toole was an artist in Southern California working mostly in the 50's into the 70s.  I have been fortunate to inherit many of her old supplies and while I never met her, I enjoy using them and continuing the pursuit of art in our family.

The following pages are from a pastel instructional pamphlet I found at the bottom of her wooden supply box.

While I unfortunately cannot tell when this was published, it would be as early as sometime in the 1930's.

My favorite line is the first 'Hint' given at the end..."Never dwell upon details."

'Key Leaf' Key Cozies!

I was searching the internet one day, looking for a keychain cover for my keys to prevent them from scratching my cell phone in my purse.  Since I was unable to find what I was looking for, I decided to make one myself and the 'Key Leaf' below was born!!

The 'Key Leaves' are handmade using felt and wooden lady bug buttons, which I painted.  The key ring is attached with a 'stem' of waxed cord that can be attached to another key ring if desired.  They will be available for sale soon so please comment and let me know what you think!

Watercolor 1 at Filoli - Session 3

The third session of Watercolor I at Filoli focused on formulas to mix grays for shadows as well as different greens.  We then used the mixtures to paint 5 different leaves which are shown below along with the ingredients for all mixtures.

leaves and watercolor of hot press watercolor paper