Oceans…Rivers…Streams
Water. Sky. Sand between your toes. Waves crashing against ancient rock. The heat of summer and icy cold streams. Tubing. Sailboats gliding over water. Wind filling sails. A quiet walk on a beach at dawn. At sunset. Children laughing. Gulls crying. Early morning fog on water. Is there any wonder that the moment I sit in front of my easel to paint I am drawn to the color blue and the hypnotic motion of waves breaking?
Laguna Beach
One December Michael and I spent a few days in Laguna Beach. On a Saturday we decided to have an impromptu picnic by the seashore. Grabbing a bottle of wine, a rotisserie chicken, some grapes, a baguette and some cheese from the local grocery store, taking our sack we headed for the beach. There were people everywhere, so a romantic secluded picnic was out of the question. We plopped ourselves down in the sand and enjoyed the glory of the day and the warm sunshine.
While having our picnic, many people crossed our paths, but this couple in particular caught my attention and my imagination. I couldn’t wait to paint the shadow couple, together but alone, and the sun dancing on the water.
In January 2006, Michael and I ran away to Santa Barbara for the month. My imaginings were that I would spend a good part of my time painting…and I did manage to complete one painting—a scene from our stay in Laguna Beach several years earlier. The palm trees continued to give me trouble—painting from a photograph isn’t always easy—there is a lot of detail that gets lost—so I spent much of my time checking out the palm trees in and around the beaches in SB. I also decided to make the scene more tropical and less gray than the photo I took so may years before.
Jalama Beach, California
During a long stay one January while in Santa Barbara we visited Jalama Beach—a wildly beautiful place about an hour and a half from where we were staying. It was just us, a myriad of seagulls and one lone family—the father on his way to the beach with all of the boys to build a sandcastle. It was a picture I couldn’t pass up—it was a bit of magic—the time of day, the kids, the place.
I started painting it one afternoon using the magical luminescence that can be created from a tiny bit of yellow ochre and a whole lot of white. Adding a touch of orange to the blue to tame the color. A little over a year later I got up my courage and entered it into a Juried Art Show, winning Best of Show. The magic continues.
Smith Island, Maryland
On a map the tiny island of Smith looks like a tattered and shredded rag. It sits in the middle of the Chesapeake, unconnected by roads, accessible only by boat. Its perimeter is fractured with inlets—long and short—filled with reeds, mystery and adventure. And though it is called an island—in the singular—it is torn into several distinct land masses, and the small villages of Tylerton, Ewell and Rhodes Point make you believe you have stumbled into another century.
My husband Michael and I were lucky enough to discover this charming and slow paced way of life during a birthday celebration when we stayed at The Inn of Silent Music which sits at the edge of the bay in Tylerton. The Inn of Silent Music—that name alone should tell the story.
Sun, rain or clouds, canoeing from one small island to another can be a lovely way to while away a weekend. An overcast Saturday afternoon found us canoeing to Ewell, where we lunched and explored on foot.
A blissfully sunny Sunday morning found us canoeing to Rhodes Point where the local watermen go to repair their boats. Finding a place to land a canoe in either place was a challenge, but one we lived up to, and were the happier for trying.
The Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is such a special place, with so many nooks and crannies that beg exploring. All one need do is take the time to follow a winding road and see where the magic leads. In the early autumn, perhaps it will take you to a place of quiet beauty in the morning fog, where the ducks have stopped to rest in splendid isolation.
Big Bend, Texas
I popped awake at 5 a.m. Too early. I tried hard to stay awake till 6 o’clock when finally I forced myself out of bed and into the shower. Ready in record time, and dressed for success during our impending canoe trip down the Rio Grande. Clean hair. No make-up. White-pants. Old T-shirt. When we arrived at Texas River Expeditions we were told that they have rescheduled our trip for the Hot Springs rather than Santa Elena Canyon. I was sorely disappointed, but the water was too low, and we would have spent more time out of the canoe, pushing, pulling, and hauling, than we would paddling the canoe. I made peace with the change.
There was plenty of water beneath us on this river that was as smooth as a lake of glass. The reflections in the Rio Grande of distant mountains and foreground grasses was beautiful. Peaceful. Serene. Only occasionally did we have to oooch ourselves off the rocky bottom. This is a painting of our guide who took us down the river.
St. Mawes, Cornwall, England
After spending a rainy week in London and a rainy week in Wiltshire, we were happy to head for the Cornwall coast and what we hoped would be days filled with sunshine. But was a cold gray day when my husband and I drove into Saint Mawes at the tip of Cornwall along the English coast. Parking the car at his first opportunity the first thing Michael said was, “Why didn’t you book us here for the entire time?” Picking his way across the jagged rocks carefully making his way to the waters edge while I watched from above he looked so English he looked so stereotypically English in his raincoat and cap . Seeing him standing there, partially obscured by the fog, and looking wistfully out to sea, I knew it was a moment to be preserved forever.
People – At Work & At Play
Add an individual to a painting and you automatically add a story – and lots of questions. Who? Where? When? Why? For many I know the answers, for others I can only guess.
Wiltshire, England
This is perhaps my very favorite painting. I love the colors. I love the subject. I love the memory. While still working for J&J, in 1999 I won a trip to London. Michael and I decided to extend the one week trip to three and stayed for a week in (Winsley) Wiltshire and another in Cornwall. Heather joined us for our week in Winsley. For seven days I followed the backsides of father and daughter as we traipsed through manor houses, cathedrals, villages, towns and pubs. While exploring the grounds of Stourhead, I lagged behind as usual, losing both Michael and Heather. When I finally crested the hill I saw them standing in the old ruined temple where statues should have been. They scrambled down immediately, but I insisted they get back up on their pedestals so I could take a picture. I wanted to preserve the moment forever in oils.
Michoacán, Mexico
High in the volcanic mountains of central Mexico in the state of Michoacán is a magic place where over 300 million monarch butterflies migrate from the northeastern US and Canada each year to spend the winter. Our trip to see this phenomenon entailed a long day’s journey from San Miguel de Allende by van, by horse and on foot. On the final leg of the journey we attacked the dusty 11,000 foot mountain on horseback; guided by a spry seventy-six year old Indian woman who gave the horses a run for their money. When we finally arrived at the preserve it was like walking into a Walt Disney movie…sunlight, the silence of a forest and butterflies flitting everywhere.. Only the music was missing.
Wood…Stone…Stucco
San Miguel de Allende
In January 2005, Michael and I traveled to San Miguel de Allende for three months. He headed for Spanish lessons each day while I commuted thirty minutes by foot, three times a week, to the studio of San Seaman on Hombono to take art lessons.
It took me forever to paint the cement surrounding the window. I used the tiniest of brushes to get the speckled cement the way I thought it should look. Each art lesson lasted three hours, and I probably painted one block of cement per lesson. Everything was a challenge to me. When it came to the greenery, Sam’s advice was, “Use a pointed brush to do the pointed things, and a round brush to do the rounded leaves.” Then he kept asking if I wanted him to go cut some geraniums so I could study them for the painting. I told him “no,” I kind of liked them as they were. The trailing vines and the reflections in the window are another story. But, in the end I was pleased with my first attempt.
When living in San Miguel for three months during the winter of 2005, I walked to and through town almost everyday—on my way to Sam Seaman’s art studio on Hombono. And everyday I passed this fountain, a landmark letting me know that the long climb to the Jardin was almost at an end, and I was halfway to Sam’s. One day there were donkeys and a small pony, but no master. Untethered, they waited patiently. My original title for this work was Where is the Master? I couldn’t help but wonder. However, in the end I settled on exactly what and where it is.
I also love the colors and the decaying walls. Returning for another visit in the summer of 2015, the walls were painted and the whole place spruced up. I was sorely disappointed at the change.
I first came face to face (literally) with this dome while having cocktails on the rooftop terrace of a restaurant directly across from it. The view was glistening dome and pristine sky —breathtaking! An artist friend commented, “It is like sitting in the middle of a painting.”
Ceferion’s Dome—designed by self taught architect Ceferion Gutierrez Munoz—sits atop the church of La Iglesia y Convento de la Concepcion in San Miguel de Allende. It is said to be one of the largest domes in Mexico. The winter sky in San Miguel de Allende is such a pure deep blue that people have accused photographers of enhancing their photos. My original version of this painting tried to capture that sky with just a few wisps of clouds. After a month I decided my sky was too cerulean. Too fake. Even though it was in fact, very real. I began filling the sky with clouds.
In Central Mexico there are many haciendas. Some defunct. Some in operation. Some on the verge of going under. Others on the verge of rebirth. This painting is a depiction of one of them. A good friend of mine said she loved this painting because she could feel the heat and the sun shining on her face; a Chicago native she searches for the sun. I was attracted to the magic of this place because of its glorious colors, the aged worn steps and the blue sky. The scene was painted looking up at the roofline from the middle of the courtyard.
Mineral de Pozos
An hour south of San Miguel de Allende likes the sleepy ghost town of Mineral de Pozos. Streets are mostly quiet and many buildings are derelict. Looking up at the clear blue sky one winter day, the clean sparse lines of the church steeple seemed to capture the essence of Pozos. I have been told the painting feels like Greece. We are of one world.
Ruins of Temple of Castor and Pollux, Agrigento (Akragas), Sicily.
The second picture I painted while in Sam’s studio was this one taken from the tiniest photo I found on the Internet. I knew Sean loved old Greek temples and I wanted to paint something for him and Beth, so this was it. Before I was finished with the painting I felt like I had built the temple myself — stone by stone by stone. The part of this painting that was the most fun was the sky (Sam called it brooding) and the massive stones on top of the columns. I delayed painting the columns forever, till Sam told me I might as well just do it. His favorite part of the painting was the tiny trees on top of the plateau.
…and maybe dealing with all of that green explains my aversion to painting trees now.
Ancient Ruins – 34″ x 34″ – Not Available
Bonaventure Island
At the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence—on top and to the east of the state of Maine, lies a tiny Canadian peninsula called Gaspesie. At its tip is the quaint fishing village of Perce, and across the water from Perce is the island of Bonaventure. One September day found me and my husband exploring the nooks, crannies, and winding trails along cliffs crevasses and beaches of the island. When at last we turned inland, we happened upon this wonderful old abandoned house. Once a shelter for island fisherman, it stood on a hill above us, lost in the tall grasses of Autumn. I loved the house. The day. The sky. The weeds. The quiet beauty of old wood. It was a moment in time that begged painting.
The day we visited Bonaventure Island it seemed we walked forever, taking one trail directly across the island to see the bird sanctuary, then walking further along the cliffs. Finally we cut back across the island where I happened to see the house I painted titled In Nature’s Care. This is that same house but from afar. I knew the young couple ahead of us were tourists, but they looked so like school kids on their way home I just had to paint them.
On the Way to Belize
One of my very early works, when Heather discovered I could paint she requested that I paint a picture of the tiny cottage she and Brendan stayed in on their way to Belize. He asked her to marry him while they were lying in the hammock…and he asked our permission to marry her from some airport on their way back to Colorado.
So this was a labor of love…for love.
The cottages were fun to paint. The palm trees, which I thought would be, were not. I also was not fond of the shrubs, grass and sidewalk — it is the green thing. I took pictures of my progress and e-mailed them to Heather each step of the way. I was excited that the shadows seemed to work so well.
San Juan Capistrano, California
Although called Window at San Juan, it was the pot and the cactus that really attracted me. Mainly the pot; I loved its roundness and the way the sun cast shadows on it from the cactus. And then there were the walls…I loved those aged gray walls. I dreamt of painting this picture for years before I finally sat down and attacked it in the summer of 2006. I was itching to pain that pot!
The first day Martin Driscoll appeared on my door step to give me private painting lessons we chatted for awhile about art, then he sat back and asked me to paint a picture—seemingly waiting for me to fail—this based on a comment he made. I have always loved this old bell and the cracked surface of the wall where it hung, so I began. After an hour he left, but I continued on till the painting was complete and I could present him with my finished work the next week.
The one thing Martin said that day which I will always remember, was to keep my edges soft to create the illusion of air. I had been painting for approximately two years before Martin came to tutor me that day. I asked for his help, not only because he was a wonderful artist, but because I was having a huge problem with a field of flowers and knew there must be an easier way than my approach. There wasn’t—that painting eventually landed in donations to Goodwill.
Runge, Texas
When I was twenty years old, and we were poor as church mice, I told Michael I wanted to buy some paint and paint my Grandmother’s old farmhouse. He told me I was crazy. Perhaps I was. Thirty seven years later I was finally able to paint it, but in a very different way.
I loved the farm. It was a mental refuge I would excape to for as long as I can remember; especially as a young adult when I thought I’d break from trying to be a working mother and wife. I didn’t spend as much time on Grandma’s back porch as I did her front porch, but I do remember sitting on a large porch swing with Grandma one summer while I drew a picture of the fields and trees. I remember too she said she smelled rain and sure enough the skies opened soon after that.
I also remember the thwack of screen doors as we let them fly, much to the chagrin of Aunt Minnie, Aunt Ella and Uncle Lambert. The furthest screen door to the left opened onto the living room—closed off to us when we were kids—only open on holidays. The next screen door opened onto the dining room. The everything place where we ate, listened to the radio, had permanents, played, took naps on the floor. Everything. The screen door to the right opened onto Aunt Minnie’s and Aunt Ella’s bedroom, and there was a small bed right under the window to the left of it where grandkids would sleep.
Grandma’s yard, both front and back, were full of huge crepe myrtles. Painting this was a chore as I struggled with all of the tangled limbs and new spring growth and the shadows that they created on the dead grass. Recreating the old structure was a labor of love; a memory in every stroke.
About Me
Artist - Traveller - Foodie - Avid Hostess - Picnicker - Amateur Chef
Simply put, I love Texas. I have lived almost my entire life in this state. Born and raised in San Antonio, I spent the majority of my adult life in Fort Worth, in addition to ten years—on and off—sailing in and around the Gulf Coast on our 40’ Endeavor, Island Rose. For the past ten years, my husband and I have called Wimberley home—and if I love Texas—I adore the Texas Hill Country.
We have traveled extensively in this state--from deep East to far West, from North to South--and have probably been on more back roads and in more towns than anyone I have encountered. I AM a Texan—through and through!
I’m a foodie. I love to cook. I am a good judge of what is excellent, what is not. We will drive two-and-a-half hours for Saturday lunch; for the journey and the destination. I love picnics and trying out local wineries. Food and wine pairings draw me like a magnet. And music—all kinds. Concerts are on the menu at our house every year, be they concerts in a house, in a park, in a barn, in an auditorium or at a winery--we're there.
I paint. I cook. I entertain. I love back country roads and small towns—we own two convertibles so I can be sure that nothing bars the experience of just being there.
I finally decided it was time to share my love of this state and these hills with anyone who will listen or read, letting them in on on the famous, the infamous and the not so famous places that dot the countryside and cities. I'll share stories, experiences, and recipes.
Hopefully, you will come along for the ride, blaze your own trails and let me know if you are having fun. If you step out your door and take a chance, I know that you will!
Recent Posts
Categories
- Amsterdam
- Appetizers
- Arkansas
- Austin
- Bandera
- Bastrop
- Blanco
- Boerne
- Brady
- Brunch
- Bryan
- California
- Canada
- Comfort
- Corpus Christi
- Dessert
- Dinner
- England
- Fredericksburg
- Galveston
- Gonzales
- Great Britain
- Houston
- Houston
- Independence
- International Travel
- Italy
- Johnson City
- Kyle
- LaGrange
- Lucca
- Maine
- Mason
- Massachusetts
- Medina
- Menard
- Mexico
- Montreal
- New Braunfels
- New Ulm
- New York
- Nova Scotia
- Oil Paintings
- Paint Rock
- Parties
- Picnics
- Port Aransas
- Prince Edward Island
- Recipes
- Rome
- Round Top
- San Angelo
- San Antonio
- San Marcos
- Sonora
- Spain
- Tarpley
- Texas
- Texas Forts
- Texas Gulf Coast
- Texas Hill Country
- Texas State Parks
- Tuscany
- Uncategorized
- US Travel
- Utopia
- West Texas
- Wimberley
- Wineries
Archives
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- July 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2007
- March 2005
- February 2005
- February 2004
- July 1995