The Sea Center, part of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, is located right on Stearns Wharf, and it was a great place to visit for some onsite sketching during my recent trip to Santa Barbara. The displays are outstanding and feature a rich variety of wildlife from the Santa Barbara channel. Jelly fish, […]
Category: California
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 6: Lil’ Toot
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were enjoyable and 2023 is off to a great start for you. My Santa Barbara travel journal project had to be put on hold for the holidays, but I’m back to working on it and I have a couple of completed pages to share today. It was Halloween […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 5
I’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays, painting Christmas cards, baking cookies, and trying to do a little decorating despite the upheaval here, with our basement construction project still in full swing. We have boxes filled with plumbing supplies, flooring, lighting, and much more piled in the front hall and spilling over into the […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 4
Okay, I know Halloween is over but I just couldn’t resist sharing this fun sketch with you. Two-page spread in a 10″ x 7″ Handbook Field Watercolor Journal. Ink & watercolor. The day my friend, Karen, and I went to the Omni Resort for a sketch outing (read about it here), there was a “Monster […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 3
Before I left for California, my friend asked what I wanted to see and do while I was visiting. I told her I just wanted to hang out, talk, relax, and paint. And that’s what we did! We sketched and chatted and laughed and inspired each other. We watched sunrises and sunsets and drank wine […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 2
I love getting together with other artists to paint on location. It gets the creative juices flowing and pushes me to look at a scene from a different viewpoint or try a new technique. I’m always inspired by the originality and creativity that flow from the most self-effacing people. I had a chance to meet […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 1
The month of November usually conjures up images in my mind of dreary grey days, sodden brown leaves, wind, rain and sleet, but this year was different. As autumn gave way to wintry November, I found myself flying off to California for a 5-day workshop with a great group of painters. Happy painters at the […]
California Road Trip – Part 3: 17-Mile Drive
One of the prettiest stretches of coastline that I saw during my recent trip to California was 17-Mile Drive in Monterey. This scenic road meanders around the Monterey peninsula, offering spectacular views of rocky beaches, crashing waves, and abundant wildlife. Ink & watercolor in a 5″ x 6-1/2″ Khadi hardbound sketchbook with rough textured 140 […]
Rincon Point Beach Sketches & More!
During my recent Santa Barbara workshop, I took the class on a sketching field trip to Rincon Point Beach, which was just down the hill from the barn where our class was held. Rincon Point is a world-famous surfing spot, but we settled in on the quieter side of the point where a long, crescent-shaped […]
Santa Barbara Mission Sketches
It’s the week before Christmas, and I’ve been busy shopping, wrapping, and making my signature Dark Chocolate Pecan English Toffee, but I thought I’d take a break from Christmas preparations to share a few more sketches from Santa Barbara that I hadn’t gotten around to posting earlier. This one is my favorite painting from the […]
