Montana road trip - part 2

We drove from Missoula across the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains and along the edge of the Great Plains up to the Eastern entrance of Glacier National Park. The Park was beyond breathtaking. The mountains, the trees, and the wide vistas of lakes, they were all so beautiful, I think they'll fill my mind for a long time.I painted several of the lakes, loving the reflected colours of the skies. This is a huckleberry cobbler, keeping my watercolour company...This is Lake McDonald, where we tried to swim in the freezing water, brrr.And Holland Lake at sunset... ... and in the morning.We stayed in a beautiful ranch cabin surrounded by meadows,that also inspired me to paint...The sunsets and sunrises were bigger than I've ever seen, this is truly the Big Sky Country!We saw a mama bear and her cub in the forest, and I collected images of Montana bears:Yay Montana! Can't wait to visit again...

aquarium + museum

At the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco I admired the gorgeous anemones and seaweed in the aquarium.There were fish, seahorses, sea slugs and coral, and all sorts of weird squiggly things.The shiny gold sparkles of the piranha were mesmerising.There were also fascinating historical displays on the upper floors. I just can't resist the labels and cataloguing of these types of collections.I loved all the hand-writing and little boxes...

Monte Carlo

I watched the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament in Monaco this week, on the most beautiful court I've ever seen.I spent a day watching Tsonga, Djokovic, Ferrer and Cilic in the sunshine and with the sparkling Mediterranean in the background.Merveilleux!

Kew Gardens

A lovely visit to Kew in London this week, with sunshiny picnicking on the lawns...The geese were very tame (or maybe just hungry), but with lovely shiny feathers!I absolutely adore the Palm House, with its Victorian architecture and glorious hothouse splendour. The wrought-iron staircase is rustily beautiful.

Joshua Tree

Last weekend we went to the Joshua Tree National Park, and I fell in love with the hot desert air, the tiny delicate flowers, and the freaky weird, but gorgeous trees...It was like being in a prehistoric land, I expected dinosaurs behind every boulder.The desert flowers bloom around about now, and finding them was a joy.

Santa Cruz

Here are some sealions sleeping happily, drawn during a visit to Santa Cruz this week.

Golden State Warriors

This weekend we went to watch the Golden State Warriors play the Detroit Pistons in Oakland. I've never been to a basketball game before, but it was amazing fun, and it's possibly the fastest sport I've tried to sketch! Go Warriors!

Laurie R. King

This week I went to Kepler's bookstore in Menlo Park to hear one of my favourite authors Laurie R. King talk about her new Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes novel. She chatted quite informally with another crime writer, Catriona McPherson, and I sketched them as I listened. Afterwards I asked them to sign my sketchbook. What a wonderful evening!

Victoria and Albert museum

I visited the Victoria and Albert museum this week, and pottered about the ceramics galleries thinking of ideas and doing little sketches.If I could only go to one museum in London per visit, it would definately be this one. My head is filled with teapots, birds and butterflies...

Hearst Castle & Monterey

We visited Hearst Castle last weekend, which was totally enshrouded in fog and completely crazy. It was fantastic to walk through the rooms and marvel at the mismatched objets...I liked the details in the carvings and sculptures...and I really loved the vintage phones in all the rooms!On the way there we drove down the Monterey coast along Big Sur. It was absolutely beautiful. We cruised '17 Mile Drive' and looked at the famous lone cypress and saw sealions and dolphins, hurrah!

Japan trip: Wakayama

I've just spent a lovely few days in the Kii peninsula, in Wakayama, Japan. We stayed in traditional guest houses, in onsen towns along the Kumano Kodo ancient pilgrimage route. Our first stay was in Yunomine.The tiny public onsen 'tsuboyu' there is the only UNESCO world heritage recognised hot spring! After enjoying that, and cooking our own onsen eggs, we walked part of the Kumano Kodo, over a mountain, enjoying the moss and ferns.I love the combination of lush green, tall trees, and ancient stones.We then stayed at the delightful Kameya Ryokan in Kawayu Onsen, on the Ota river.We sat on the rocks and swam in the river, where the cold running water mixed with the bubbling hot spring water rising up through the stones.I love onsen holidays!

ICON 8

I attended ICON 8 the illustration conference in Portland last week, and had a wonderful time. I met some amazing and inspirational illustrators, and learned alot about things every illustrator should know. I especially enjoyed meeting Carson Ellis, Jon Klassen (who did 'This is not my hat'), Leo Espinosa, and Vivienne Flesher (a true illustration icon!)all of whose work I totally adore. There were just so many great speakers...I visited the animation studios of Laika, and got to play with some of the characters and props used in the Boxtrolls movie. I especially liked Coraline... ... and of course Portland itself was super to explore.I especially enjoyed the doughnuts!

zoo & penguins

This weekend we went to the San Francisco zoo. We were given an adoption of a penguin as a gift, so we popped along to take a look. I love penguins! They were Magellanic penguins, several of them rescued when they swam too far north inland and were starving, and now they look very happy and healthy...We watched them floating, waddling, and swimming and my very favourite pose: just standing and thinking!We saw many  of the other animals, and I loved the golden eagle (a broken wing meant she couldn't fly any more) and the rescued grizzly bears, but my special favourite was the capybara!

Art in Chicago

This weekend I'm in Chicago. The weather's perfect, and I'm loving it. I've always thought that Chicago is a wonderful secret that nobody tells outsiders, and I feel lucky to have discovered it. And I finally got to see 'the bean', aka 'cloud gate' by Anish Kapoor......on my way to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of my favourite museums in the world. It's just so full of famous paintings that take your breath away.Seurat's 'A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte' has a special place in my heart. I can't quite explain why it moves me so much, but it's like visiting an old friend. The monkey is the cherry on the cake, it's just so delightful.This beautiful Georgia O'Keefe painting of clouds was a lovely surprise.There was also a wonderful little show of Utamaro mokuhanga prints, which crowned an inspiring day.

ice hockey

I went to see the San Jose Sharks play ice hockey recently. It was pretty amazing. Especially when the players all skated into the rink through a huge shark's head!I tried to sketch them as they played, but they moved so fast! Especially as they slammed into the walls. Here are my first sketches of ice hockey players in action...

Morocco

I've just spent a wonderful five days in Morocco with my best friend, relaxing and seeing the countryside. We arrived in Marrakech, and stayed in a beautiful riad to the NW of the Medina. It was calm and soothing, and even had a hammam.We wandered around the souks, buying babouches and a rug, admiring the wonderful details of life in the bustling city.We then went on a three day trip into the mountains, with Desert Majesty. They were super helpful, and our guide Said was very sweet. Here's a map showing where we went.We drove up into the Atlas mountains and down into the valleys. Our first notable stop was at Ait Ben Haddou, a stunning UNESCO world heritage site. It was exciting to find that it has been used as a location for quite a few movies and TV shows, including Gladiator and Game of Thrones.We drove and drove, past huge vistas of mountains...and into an endlessly blue, blue sky...We explored an ancient Kasbah, and found an old display in one of the courtyards, like a lost moment in time...We stayed the second night in a Berber tented camp, and rode camels into the sunset, and in the evening, sat around a campfire listening to songs and drumming.And then on again, into the dusty, red and pink landscape.We drove through Rissani, where the Moroccan king's family comes from,and back again to Marrakech, to get the Saharan sand out of our shoes...All through the trip we were welcomed everywhere with hot, sweet Moroccan mint tea in beautiful little glasses, and invariably, a pretty silver teapot. Yum.

whale watching

I saw a whale! Actually I saw two. It was amazing. We went on a whale watching trip on a very cold foggy day in San Francisco, heading out under the Golden Gate Bridge. Even before we got far we'd seen seals and porpoises and all sorts of seabirds. But it was the lovely gray whale that made me happiest. They waved their fins, and dove down so their tails flipped out of the water... Also the murres, I loved them! Sort of like a penguin, but floating on the water. So adorable...

rodeo!

Last weekend I went to my first rodeo, the 2013 Grand National Rodeo, held at the Cow Palace (what a great name!) in San Francisco. There were all sorts of events, but most were just too fast to draw: bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, they only last a few seconds! There were lots of parades with people on horses holding flags...and displays where the horses galloped super fast too...I enjoyed it all, it was such a spectacle! Before the main event we went to see the animals, and I adored the goats and soft furry cows (that were having their fur blowdried to supreme fluffiness) and was super happy when they did a parade of the best-in-show.

Winchester Mystery House

I went to visit Winchester Mystery House in San Jose recently, home of the widow of the heir to the famous Winchester rifle fortune. She was a bit eccentric (to say the least) and built a truly bizarre house. There was a very nice little mini exhibit of all the things that the Winchester company made in their heydey, and I drew these sketches there. I really love old handtools!

Santa Cruz

I went to Santa Cruz the other day, and spent a day happily wandering with my little polaroid camera...I walked along the pier, and saw sealions, pelicans, and these baby seagulls.And I loved the old-fashioned boardwalk, with its 50's fairground rides.