I've spent a lot of time exploring the grounds at Greystone Mansion. There is something about it I find soothing.

This spread was painted from two photos in the Anthropologie catalog. The style is rustic old world with crisp white linens. The left side is a bedroom, right side is a bathroom.

The top right portion was the image I had in mind while waking up. I saw a purple background with orange circles. Some circles are larger and hallow, some are smaller. Yes, I know the correct word is hollow but misspellings often happen unconsciously on purpose. I added mica flakes to the inside of the ...

Been eating a lot of beets lately. Their juice is purply red, like in this painting, and is hard to get off of my wooden cutting board. Painted most of this while watching reruns of House so I didn't write much. Guess it's better to paint than not. BTW: When I eat beets, it turns ...

Needing to detox from the noise. Blowing horns, ringing phones, people partying, and the super loud bus station turbines make it difficult to have peace. And my inner chatter is constant, too. I need quiet, both inside and out. Painting soothes me as I brush disorder onto my painting.

My nieces and I painted for hours yesterday. One of our exercises (shown above) was an abstract drawing from a still life of a coffee pot, a miniature tea pot, and a sugar canister. We also did some quick sketches from fashion magazines to loosen up. They both wanted to learn ...

As I'm moving the brush in circles and swirls, I feel that stirring in the pit of my stomach, that butterfly feeling that something good is happening. And then I know, that whatever I am doing with my brush with whatever colors are blending together on the paper, something is lifting ...

This was painted for Illustration Friday.

Since the journal making class, I've been painting in my new sketchbook. Here are a few more spreads.

This new decade started out on Jan. 2 with a journal making class in Fullerton, CA. My sister treated me to the class for my birthday. It was a sunny day at a perfect venue. The instructor set up her backyard as a classroom. We were made covers with color copies pasted to wood, sanded ...