Wonderful visit

My dear friend and fellow artist, Megan Halsey was here for a wonderful 3 day visit, all the way from Philadelphia. It was so much fun sharing my new house and my favorite places. We hiked gorgeous beaches, picking up stones, shells and pieces of driftwood.....and the breathtaking Olympic Mountains at Hurricane Ridge. We made it all the way up to Hurricane Hill, and being the city girl she is, I had to assure Megan that she wasn't going to fall off the trail and tumble down the mountain. At 5800 + feet, it's a little different than the skyscrapers in NYC! It all went by too fast, and we were off to sunny Seattle and one last fun thing....a visit to Anthropologie. The only thing missing was our friend Sharyn Sowell, who's off on a Mediterranean cruise, sketching amazing sights throughout Europe along the way.

sea and sky, stones, shells and driftwood

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic Mountains....still patches of snow everywhere

 palette of greens of every hue and shade

wildflower meadows

breathtaking views to the north

amazing aqua glacial pools, snow melting in the sun

bellflowers and fields of lupine

indian paintbrush

                                                  deer and a friendly marmot along the trail

the hills are alive.......

YAY for Megan....she made it to the top!

off to Seattle on a gorgeous summer day

girls weekend!

Well, I haven't posted in forever! Been so busy with moving and getting set up and settled in the new house. The weather around Seattle has been a continuation of spring....lots of cool, gray, damp days...but every now and then we do see the sun. Last weekend I had a wonderful weekend with the girls, we celebrated my birthday and Amber's also, just a few weeks late. It was an incredibly gorgeous weekend, perfect for visiting the lavender fields and going to the beach.

the birds and the bees

This has been a great year for birds around here. Goldfinches, which are the Washington state bird, are showing up in places where they haven't been seen in 10 years! Could it be global warming, or just a very late spring? Whatever it is, I've soooo enjoyed see so many feathered friends at my window. I'll be moving in just a few days and hoping these little guys follow me to the new house!

 It was fun to watch this guy tug and pull at a spider's web

I call this guy Mr. Fatty - I think he's had way too much sunflower seed :)

Mr. & Mrs. Grosbeak have returned

My chives are gorgeous right now and the bees are buzzing all over!

Central Park

On our last day in the big city, we walked up to Central Park, and luckily avoided the downpour that came later that day. We hired a couple of pedicabs and our tour guides Omar and Jon guided us through the park, past fountains and pointing out where so many movies were filmed over the years, ending at Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic....

back from New York!

Well, I've been back for almost a week now, but have been so busy catching up. Once again, my annual trip to New York for the Surtex show flew by in a flash. It always amazes me how fast those three days go. It was soooo great to catch up with friends I only get to see a few times a year. Inspiration was everywhere and I met with great clients, new and old. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by!

Thank you Sharyn for planning lunch so that we could all stop, take a break and visit on set-up day

Another great opening night party at Battery Gardens

Alicia Dauber of Licensing Liaison, the best agent an artist could have

Megan Halsey, dear friend and amazing artist

My wonderful friend and neighbor, Sharyn Sowell with her beautiful new collection 

of inspirational calligraphy

After the show, we were off to Central Park.....to be continued

Seeds of Friendship

My wonderful licensing partner, LANG, is featuring my Seeds of Friendship collection this week
at 25% off. You can see all of my great products at lang.com.

A day in the tulips

I haven't posted a new blog for almost 2 months! I've been soooo busy painting, packing and figuring out how to downsize, having a new house built! So, what do you do when you become overwhelmed? Take a day off and head out to the tulip fields with a good friend! Amazing artist, Sharyn Sowell and I had this little trip planned for over a year and yesterday we finally made it. The fields were ablaze with incredible colors, such inspiration. We went a little crazy with our Nikons, I think between us we took about 800 shots. That's just kinda what happens when two artists who are in total love with nature are let loose in a place like this.  Here are just a few of the gorgeous sights....

beautiful Skagit Valley fields

We had to stop an smell every hyacinth we passed

a lonely bulb from last year's field

a brand new variety "New Design"

gorgeous!