On the road again

In September my son and I took a trip to Turkey, touring Greek and Roman ruins and the spectacular treasures of Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace. Turkey is a beautiful country with some amazingly well preserved archeological sites. This is a sketch of a scene at Ephesus, one of the most famous cities of ancient history. I love to travel, but it's good to be home, and I'm anxious to get back to painting.

Back to work

After a trip and updating my website, I can finally get back to painting, thank goodness. I'm starting a painting of brown pelicans.

This painting, "Pelicans and Friend", was painted when I lived in Lakeport, CA. We had a house on the lake, and there was an endless array of waterfowl on the water and in the tule reeds. From my studio I could watch the nesting, hunting and migration of a vast variety of birds. My favorites were the white pelicans. They were as graceful as swans gliding on the water, and magnificent in flight. 

Now that we live near the coast, we see a lot of brown pelicans. While they aren't as beautiful as the white pelicans, they have their own charm and I think they'll make an interesting painting. 

Thinking of Summer

Summer Sunflowers was painted, appropriately enough, last summer. I had this colorful piece of Provencal fabric and I laid the flowers on it in full sunlight. Very french, n'est-ce pas?

This painting is currently on display at an exhibit at the County Government building in Santa Cruz.