Category Travel

Urban sketching in Gatlinburg
My first trips to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, were when I was young. My parents would take our family to the mountains for camping and hiking. Eventually we would end up visiting Gatlinburg and stroll down the main drag of Gatlinburg, inhaling the fudge fumes and eventually succumbing to a purchase or a free sample. Sometimes we […]

Artist-in-Residence: Painting and social distancing
This week I was scheduled to be one of the invited artists for the Santa Fe Springs Plein Air Paintout. Like so many other events, the Paintout was canceled. And so I have decided that I am not just social distancing, as has been ordered by the Governor of Florida, but I am now an […]

East Naples Winter Classic Pickleball Tournament – Women’s singles
The day before I played in the mixed doubles at the East Naples Winter Classic Pickleball Tournament, I watched the women’s singles competition at this same Pickleball Capital of the World. As I watched the matches, I admired both the agility and strategy of the players. For most of the games, the women played at […]

Pickleball Capital of the World
Playing pickleball at the East Naples Community Park was amazing. The park calls itself the Pickleball Capital of the World because it has more pickleball courts (54 courts – with 10 more to be added) than anywhere in the world. I had watched on YouTube the 2019 US Open Pickleball Championships, held at the East […]

Great Lakes – painting water and sky
Water and sky present interesting challenges when painting with watercolors. A recent trip put me on the shores of two Great Lakes – Lake Huron and Lake Erie — and gave me the opportunity to paint water and sky. I painted the Gratiot Lighthouse, at the juncture of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River. […]

Grand Canyon raven watercolor
A watercolor portrait of a raven was created during my recent hiking and painting trip to the Grand Canyon. As I took photos of a raven sitting on a fence rail, I talked to the bird, telling it I admired its glistening feathers. I think its response indicated that it wasn’t interested in conversing unless […]

Grand Canyon art in watercolor and acrylics
A wonderful art challenge for me has been painting the Grand Canyon. Recently I hiked and painted at the Grand Canyon and had many opportunities to paint en plein air (on location) at the Canyon’s edge and on trails in the Canyon. Sitting on the edge of the Canyon with my paints, I could see […]

4T Trail – exploring and painting Portland
The 4T Trail was one of my ventures during a visit to Portland, providing a different way to see Portland. From attending conventions in Portland, I’d already come to admire the city’s progressive transportation system. Using the train (MAX light rail), I traveled from the airport to my hotel and was able to travel by […]