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What Summertime Means to Me
Creative Photo Prompt: Create a photo collage of what summer means to you…. Water, beach, strong shadows, the sound you hear in the distance of fun at an amusement park, long sun burnt days and warm nights. I took these photos in Santa Monica, CA when I was there last year. They truly say summer to me. What about you?
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Creative Wanderlust Story: Poolside Gossip – Flash Fiction Inspired by Slim Aarons’s Iconic 1970s Photograph
I wore yellow because Jane hates the color. That’s just the kind of mood I’m in today. Shitty. Carl has once again left me here in Palm Springs to “cool my jets” as he hops off to Positano or Portofino or somewhere panoramic pawning his next screenplay. Another story of a horny middle aged man’s disenchantment with married life leading him to find solace in the arms of a hooker. And, yes, Dawn is en route with him. She’s no doubt packed her satin disco dress and hot pants, clueless to fashion rules in coast side Italy. She’ll be doing her own type of pawning, or pawing playing the leading lady role…
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Creative Wanderlust Prompt: Watercolor a Palm Springs Sunset
Follow along with this process video and learn how to watercolor a Palm Springs inspired sunset with palm trees in silhouette. Here is the final work! For more details about this Creative Wanderlust Prompt and more, see: Add Creativity to Your Everyday and Creative Wanderlust Prompts: Palm Springs
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Creative Wanderlust Prompt: Draw and Watercolor Mid Century Modern Motifs and Images Inspired by Palm Springs
Follow along with this video and learn how to draw and watercolor playful mid-century modern motifs and icons images inspired by Palm Spring, California! Below is the final drawing in my sketch book. For more details about this Creative Wanderlust Prompt and more, see: Add Creativity to Your Everyday and Creative Wanderlust Prompts: Palm Springs
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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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Travel Story – Cabins of Lake Tahoe
One of my favorite things to do when I’m in Tahoe is to take long walks. Walks along the lakeside are amazing, but I also love to wander in and out of the neighborhoods on the North Shore and up into the mountains. My favorite part of wandering in the neighborhoods is playing the childhood game of “I Spy” and finding the sweet old cabins that once filled these neighborhoods. Many of them were built as summer cabins, with very little in the way of insulation (fine for summer in Tahoe), yet completely ill equipped for living in during the snowy winters. Trust me, I lived in one through two…
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Digital Travel Journal: A Trip to the Coast
I feel so lucky to live so close to the coast yet don’t seem to get there nearly enough. In only 10 minutes, I can be on a rural road heading over the hills that separate the SF Bay Area with the Pacific Ocean. The 2 lane highway starts along serene Crystal Springs Reservoir, the water source for San Francisco and much of the Bay Area. It’s only a short way up the winding road through a magical cypress grove until you hit the summit at Skyline Boulevard. A large cemetery is at the top, where one can see heavenly views to the ocean on a clear day! Heading down…
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Travel Journal: An Afternoon in Woodside, CA
One afternoon I was in desperate need for an outing and headed to the quaint town of Woodside, CA. Just 10 minutes from my house, Woodside feels like a whole other place. Hilly, wooded and rural, yet minutes from Silicon Valley, it’s no wonder it’s a haven for high tech magnets. Yet, even with the mansions, there’s a down-home feel to the town. The windy roads are dotted with horse back riders, bikers and hikers enjoying their area. The first site that greets you as you drive into Woodside is the historic Pioneer Hotel (c. 1885), a classic saloon from the straight out of a Western movie. We headed to…
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Illustration News: Custom Map of Napa Valley for the ACCP Conference
I was so excited to be commissioned to create a custom map for the Association of Club Catering Professionals a few months back. They held their annual conference in Napa Valley and they wanted a fun way to represent all the locations they would be visiting during the conference. Once I created the map, they had the illustration printed on canvas bags to hand out to all conference attendees. The bag would then be used throughout the conference as the attendees went from event to event, and gathered notes and goodies at each spot. I loved getting the positive feedback from the association that map and bag were well received!…
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On Location: Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles– the city of Angeles – the place where dreams do come true – la la land… Los Angeles is just, so LA! Being born and raised in Northern California gives me a little different perspective on LA. Although I do have a bias of which half of the state is “better,” I can truly say that I really do love Los Angeles too. It has such a different attitude than Northern California. It definitely imbibes so much of what “the industry” portrays (the stars, the culture, the trendy scenes) but also has it’s own unique LA flavor in many of the lesser touristy neighborhoods such as Echo Park,…
