Pine Valley Mountains, Utah

The Pine Valley Mountains, the world's largest laccolith, tower over the north side of St. George, Utah. The late afternoon sun falling on the mountains inspired me to do this sketch...

"Chanticleer"

It seemed appropriate to name this colorful, cocky fellow "Chanticleer!"  I used a loose technique learned from Lian Zehn, combining Chinese painting and traditional watercolor.

Here's looking at you!

I poured my colors and allowed them to mix freely in this painting.

Paris memories

Last year we escaped to Paris for January to miss some of our winter weather here in Montana. The weather in Paris was unusually mild, allowing me to do a little sketching. This winter has been cold both here in Montana and in Paris, but the memory of last year lingers. I ran across this sketch done from our apartment window of the backside of some St. Germain apartments near the intersection of St. Germain and Rue du Bac.

Missoula County Courthouse

The sunlit tower of the Missoula County Courthouse caught my eye today as I was walking down Broadway, enjoying the unusually warm Montana winter afternoon! The clock tower atop the neoclassical sandstone block building has clocks on all four sides. Within the tower is a two-ton bell that rings on the half hour and the hour, also helping to attract the attention of this happy flaneur!

The Missoula County Courthouse, designed by A.J. Gibson, was constructed between 1908 and 1910 and occupies an entire city block. It contains eight (8) murals by Edgar Samuel Paxson.. The murals, depicting early Montana history, were completed in 1914 and installed in the grand foyer.

Seattle Favorite

Though I live in Montana, we have a daughter in Seattle whom we visit fairly often. One of my favorite places in Seattle is Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood. It is difficult to believe that such a small "town" and rural setting exists so close to the urban center! Walking through the park to the shoreline and on to the lighthouse is a delight. I tried to capture and express that delight in the sketch above.

Venice Memory

The painting below was done while standing on a bridge outside our Corte Nova apartment in Venice, Italy. The window is the window of our apartment.