Botanical Garden number three on our first RV trip to Nova Scotia were the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens. We didn’t go out of our way for these gardens; the well-known and well loved property happened to be conveniently along our path up the west-coast. We spent the morning exploring Scottish-fields… Read More »Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens
The second botanical garden on our road trip to Nova Scotia were The Wild Gardens of Acadia. Jake and I first visited Acadia National Park 11 years ago after we had just moved in together. It was an energetic trip filled with hiking mountains, climbing rocks, and picking wild blueberries.… Read More »Wild Gardens of Acadia
We arrived in Scotland after a short early-morning flight from Dublin, picked up our rental car before the sun had breached the horizon, and embarked on a 1.5-hour drive from Glasgow to Lock Lamond via scenic A-82 through Trossachs National Park. The views were stunning, and the traffic at that… Read More »Inspirational Tour of British Isles Part III: Scotland Part I
I’m back from a two week vacation in Europe with my husband Jake. The longest vacation we’ve ever taken. It was a unique opportunity to disengage from daily routines, stressors, and the news and explore beautiful ancestral landscapes. We always get great weather when we go on vacation–even when it rains,… Read More »Inspirational Tour of British Isles, Part One: Ireland
While on vacation in Jackson, NH, we spent an afternoon at Echo Lake State Park wading, sleeping, and painting. Here is my plein air watercolor sketch of the cliffs overlooking the lake. The sun-glare makes the cliffs look darker than I saw them, and the sun and clouds moved a… Read More »Cliffs Over Echo Lake En Plein Air
Hello, again. I am fresh back from vacation where I successfully shut off my brain for several days in a row. We’re all expected to do too much all of the time, and sometimes vacation is no different. Here in the American wasteland no one gets enough time off, so… Read More »Waterfall Vacation in Jackson, NH
It feels really good to finish this painting that I started early last year but put down over the warmer months. Last week I posted more progress photos for this piece here. Watercolor on hot-press paper, the scene is of a local game reserve in January where I often to… Read More »Game Refuge in Watercolor
Thank you for rejoining me in 2021 after my short New Year’s hiatus from blogging. After posting every single week of 2020, I thought I deserved a little time off to recharge and set some new goals. I’m heading into 2021 with loads of painting goals, but gentle ones. To… Read More »Endurance, a Winter Landscape
Indoor projects have slowed as the weather improves and we spend more of our free time outdoors. The garden is coming along spectacularly though. All the intense labor is worth it when the colors burst forth from the dirt and stems. When we bought our house a year and a… Read More »Expending Effort Outdoors
Broke my camera out of the block of ice in which winter has encased it to capture a small sprig of spring. In this very rare moment to myself—no dog, no other people; just me, my car, and the woods, I tried to get a little lost in the empty… Read More »A Rare Day Alone
Late spring is a wonderful time to grab your camera, and head out exploring. Take a hike, go hunt down a few yard sales, and stumble upon a some unexpected treasures in your own backyard. This is what I’ve been doing all weekend, and the sights and sounds that I… Read More »The Spark of Spring