pam came up for a slumber party slash mini art retreat on saturday. wyatt made her feel right at home by lounging on her sketchbook and taking over her side of the kitchen table.
i managed to find 30 square feet or so of guest bedroom space to fit the air mattress i keep in the garage for the rare overnight visitor. it fits perfectly between the bookcases and the desk by the window.
she arrived on saturday in time for a whirlwind tour of all the darling bungalows in my hood. the neighborhood has undergone rapid gentrification since i moved here in 2002.
we also drove through my old stomping grounds – silverlake & echo park. charming cottages and hillside hideaways around every corner.
no matter how short our sketchbook playdates there’s always time for some wacky portraits.
we even fit in a morning romp at the huntington gardens. this was pam’s first visit and she was suitably impressed.
who wouldn’t be? the grounds are vast and there is no end of plant finery on display.
the elegance of the pincushion plant. when you’re looking at it with your 2 eyes you don’t notice the curling ribbons and all the soft fuzz.
pam picked and pressed all of these tiny specimens she found at the gardens.
she brought her korean shinhan liquid opaque watercolor (poster) paints up to moss cottage since i was eager to try them. i liked them enough to buy a set for myself, which are on their way from south korea as i type out this missive to you.
we got on a mushroom painting kick using google photos as reference. no end goals in mind except to PLAY.
one can never go wrong with when play is the goal. i tried to study a racoon then close my eyes and draw him. i opened my eyes after a minute because my mind’s projector was apparently broken.
wyatt couldn’t understand why we had to play on his table.
here are some of my recent instagrams.
yesterday i plucked a sprig of jasmine which filled the kitchen with its heady scent.
earlier this week i painted a vintage postcard of a colorado mountaintop.
one thing leads to another and some ideas turn out better than others.
i was just sticking to the front side of the page and then decided to go back and make pictures on all the facing pages. everything’s out of order. oh dear.
my posts are getting more random and rambly now that i’m only posting once a week or so. this was not intentional. i simply find that i cannot watch oscar nominated films before the oscars, make a painting a day, finish report cards, pet the cats, read books, investigate plant goings on at the huntington, and blog at the same time. somethings gotta give. you don’t care. i love that about you. you just keep coming by to visit. sometimes i’m out on the porch, sometimes not.
Portrait of Eva Gonzales, 1870 EDOUARD MANET VIA GETTY IMAGES
pam and i have decided to run off to france and pretend we are van gogh and gauguin. wait. that didn’t end well. maybe instead we will follow in cezanne’s footsteps and spirit off to provence. stay for a couple of months. paint daily from life. throw our phones and computers away. pick fresh lavendar from nearby fields. i’ll keep you posted.
A joyfully jumbled weekend of art action. How good to share with Pam and your art chimps! I missed you at the Huntington by one day! I arrived at 10am thinking that there was a remote possibility that you might be there and lo and behold the parking lot was already filling up because of their Lunar New Year celebrations. I really enjoyed the desert garden and wished I had taken some photos for painting reference. Oh well, we retired ladies can go whenever we want. Hang in their with good old LAUSD, spring break is on its way!
oh sylvia! look for my white hat and confident yet bewildered stride – stopping and starting and looking about.
i am already on spring break in my mind.
soon it will be so!
Isn’t it funny how animals think the furniture is theirs? Sebastian Bunny thinks the hassock in the TV room is his. He throws the remote onto the floor if he finds it on there.
France? we live there six months of the year. I would love to point you in wonderful directions—-maybe with ideas of where to visit in the South. Will be off again in April.
Ooh, how does one do that? Do you need a special visa? Someday I want to visit Provence and would love to hear all about it!
tell me about your living there 6 mo. of the year. sounds intriguing. and wonderful!
Ok it’s a deal – I’m coming to France with you guys!
if you ever go to France stop by to visit my beautiful hometown Saumur on the Loire river
i found this… http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/pays-de-la-loire/saumur/articles/36-hours-in-saumur/
looks promising!
Great post.
You sure pack a lot of fun into these posts!
Let me know when you’re in France….i’d love to join you!!!! I live in the grenoble area!
Silly woman! When you and Pam run off to France, you will of course be Pam and Carol, and the art world will never be the same! Critics will write about whether your art was totally transmogrified by the exotic Korean opaque watercolors and whether any of the more unusual portraits were made after eating those incredible asarinas gathered in the garden(!) They will also write long treatises on the actual painting order of your many notebooks, some arguing that the recto pages were actually painted after the verso pages because you want to contrast newer work versus older work, others writing convincingly that your profligate souvenir purchases left you so cash strapped that you were forced to go back and paint the back sides of all your France notebooks. Or was it the gorgeous French pastries? No, of course not: if your money was squandered on pastry, why are there no examples of pastries in your Paris notebooks? You can see where this is headed. Give the critics a break and continue to blog so there will be no doubt!
OK, so you’ll be Pam and Mary Ann.
huge department store santa laughs as i head out the door to WORK.
thank you!!!!
Luckily, one of your not-IRL friends LIVES IN FRANCE! And can show you around 😉
ooooo weeeee!!!!
So lovely MAM…. the first photo of the palette is that gouache??
Been seeing a lot of gouache lately on the socials I think I have to try it lol
Jo xx
@josiesmuse
Running off to France…! I’m TOTALLY offended, but
since you’re going anyway—- share lots of pics & chats on your blog with us!!! ;)))) ~ Terry Y.
Love your blog. Makes me feel creative.
france sounds lovely. if you need someone to wash your brushes and carry the bags, i’m in!
stunning and fascinating.. how fun to share so much with a wonderful weekend guest..