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Community Art Project: Hands Together in the Community
I have recently joined the board of a wonderful local artist community called Art Bias. It is just the perfect fit for me – a chance to build the arts and support artists in my local area. At several local events the past few months, I have had the opportunity to lead a community art project with the goals of bringing everyone together regardless of age or art ability to make a shared art project. The beauty of this is it is less about the end product and more about the process… the goal is to have everyone participate. It is truly magical to watch people dive in and create…
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Creative Wanderlust Prompt: Palm Springs
It’s time for a little Southern California, mid-century modern, wanderlust adventure this week with our Creative Wanderlust Prompt: Palm Springs! Palm Springs is a desert resort area in California’s Colorado Desert, a 7 million acre area of land that is part of the Sonoran Desert. The landscape is arid and brown like many deserts, yet unique as it is surrounded on three sides by towering mountain ranges: Little San Bernardino Mountains to the north, the Santa Rosa Mountains on the south, and the San Jacinto Mountains to the west. San Jacinto Peak rises 3,302 m or 10,834 ft and is often covered in snow in the winter. Palm Springs is also…
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Creative Wanderlust Adventure: Favorite Holiday Foods
What are your favorite foods to bake, cook, or more importantly EAT at the holidays? We do have some family food traditions we love to make around the holidays. Cracked Dungeness crab is always a favorite. Served with San Francisco sourdough bread and a big salad… it’s definitely a crowd pleaser. Another San Francisco dish we often make around this time of year is the American/Italian fisherman’s stew, Cioppino. This stew is also very tasty with a sourdough baguette. It’s the perfect tool to to mop up the soup! On the sweeter side, I always love my mom’s steamed persimmon pudding. It’s served warm and drizzled with either cream or a side of vanilla ice cream. Delicious!…
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Creative Wanderlust Community Open House #1 – December 2, 2021
I can’t wait to kick off this new event I will be hosting every other month on the first Thursday, from 5-7:30pm – a Creative Wanderlust Community Open House! Join me on Thursday, December 2nd, 2021 for a creative evening with friends making, sharing stories, relaxing and enjoying the moment! At each open house, I will share an overarching theme to get inspired. I aim to have it guide us in discussions as well as inspired us to be creative, what every format we choose. I also welcome anyone who wants to come who perhaps doesn’t want to create art, but just wants to socialize! These open houses are all…
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Creative Travel: Capturing the Look of a Neighborhood – A Walk Down Grand Ave, South San Francisco (incl Free Printable Coloring Page)
Trying to capture a neighborhood or location with a few simple drawings can sometimes feel like a daunting task! Take any given neighborhood, from residential to downtown and it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the many things to see; different building styles, different colors, different types of nature, etc. In a recent online class I hosted with South San Francisco Library, I boiled down this problem and created a simple recipe to help you capture your own neighborhood! Recipe to Capture a Neighborhood = Common Elements + Nature + Unique Elements + Oddities Using this recipe, I headed to downtown South San Francisco’s Grand Avenue to see what I could…
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At Home Creative Adventures: Create a Landscape Painting Inspired by Van Gogh
Needing some culture or creative inspiration, but not wanting to leave the house? Museums around the world offer virtual tours of their collection to offer you colorful inspiration for days! Today, I virtually traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands and visited the Van Gogh Museum. I have always admired Van Gogh’s work. His bright colors and exuberant brush strokes just bring me joy! In this creative exercise, head to the the Van Gogh Museum online and browse the amazing work. Find a painting that resonates with you and get inspired! Inspiration vs. Copying Painting from inspiration does not mean copying. I encourage you to make the painting your own. Perhaps you use…
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At Home Creative Adventures: Floral Bouquet
To brighten up your environment, create a floral bouquet just for you! This creative prompt will get you outside looking for blooms, and inside creating a masterpiece. An impressionistic style is the best approach to making a colorful bouquet worthy to prop by your desk! Here are the blooms I found in my yard, inspiration for my bouquet. If you don’t have flowers in your yard, feel free to use mine as inspiration or head to the internet for more! Below is the time-lapse of me creating my bouquet. Notice the looseness of the lines, and watercolor. Also, the varied size interpretation of each bloom. The pansy bloom is actually…
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At Home Creative Adventure: 4 Objects, 1 Color
We can become easily immune to the colorful objects and items that fill our homes. Brighten your day with this creative color exercise and celebrate those items you may not see anymore! For this project, I picked my favorite turquoise blue shade and found: a small globe, a mini-house souvenir from Denmark, a candle and a santon figurine from Provence. They are an odd pairing of objects, yet still make for an interesting illustration. Below is the still life on my desk. Be sure to read the “More Creative Prompts” on the printable exercise to learn of ways to vary this exercise. And, as always, I’d love to see what…
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Travel Journal: Wandering through Le Marché aux Puces de Saint Ouen Paris, France
There is something so romantic about going to the flea market in Paris– oh the treasures you might find! Here is a travel story about visiting the famed markets in Paris, France.
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Art School: How to Draw a Globe
One of my favorite things to draw is a globe. It’s probably no surprise, since it represents something I’m so passionate about, travel! It’s also the perfect icon to put your favorite travel saying inside and practice your hand lettering. Below is a free printable guide to teach you how to draw a globe. Click on the image and print from your browser to draw your own.
