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Hoopa Doopa Valley Children's book , watercolor illustrations

  All three of the Hoopa Doopa Valley books are now available at Amazon.com! My aunt and I worked together to create this wonderful trilogy ...

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The garden grows

Here's a little sketch I made while enjoying the flowers growing in the garden.
Progress is good.  Both the carrots and beets have sprouted.  There are baby tomatoes, strawberries and a squash plant.  So far, the squirrel has stayed away.
I love spring!


Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day

A great day for painting on the patio, playing with a colorful palette.  




Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Who's that Bird?




I tried to take a nap today, but when I closed my eyes I kept seeing different ideas for patterned birds.  Where's my pen?  A drawing not based on any avian in particular, but I see traces of some of my favorites: finches, parrots, and quail. (There's a hint of a diamond dove in there, too). I naturally gravitate toward a purple/orange/green color scheme.  My house shows it, my garden shows it, and my artwork shows it.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Gardening

It's been awhile since I posted, but February in the desert is great weather, so I was playing in the garden.

We rearranged some things and tried something new.  We also discovered that ground squirrels love to eat pansies and dianthus.  Grrrr.  I sprinkled a little cayenne pepper around the plants and filled the bird feeders in another part of the yard with black oil sunflower seeds. So far so good.  It seems to be working, which is great because we also planted some beet and carrot seeds and I hope he'll stay away from those.  Here are my quick notes in my journal to remember what kind they were.





"die Karotten" also happened to be in my German lesson that day.