A walk on the beach at sunset.
Buy this Santa Barbara landscape painting.
Santa Barbara Beach Sunset Painting
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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Rolling Farmland in Santa Barbara
The rolling hills above Santa Barbara, dotted with California oaks and livestock. We saw horses, cattle- including longhorns- ostrich or emu (can’t tell which)… and then eventually we saw the inside of a winery tasting room.
We went to Fess Parker Winery. Fess Parker was the actor who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV back in the day.
At the winery, you could buy miniature coon skin hats to put on wine bottles. Very tempting, but we chose to spend our money on wine instead.
July in the Alley
A sun splashed alley in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood. I love old buildings and the idiosyncratic way neighborhoods get built over time.
It’s a busy time in San Diego, with Comic Con winding down and the Pride celebration about to begin.
Happy July!
Let Them Eat Cake!
Cliffs by the Sea in Santa Barbara
Dramatic cliffs overlooking the beach in Santa Barbara, CA. A golden afternoon.
Eucalyptus Morning
I love the soaring, graceful lines and cathedral-like vaults made by mature eucalyptus trees.
Like the iconic Washingtonia palm, eucalyptus isn’t a native species to the California coast. Because of that, there’s been a backlash in recent years about planting both these beautiful trees along streets and in parks and neighborhoods.
I can see the logic, though I wouldn’t say I agree with it… because I love these trees!
This stand of eucalyptus is on the edge of Balboa Park, and leads into a Hillcrest neighborhood of gracious old homes.
Santa Barbara Mountains
Outside Santa Barbara
Summer Morning in San Diego
Landscape painting of summer morning light in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. I love to walk the trails here.
By the Library in University Heights
A steep street by the University Heights library. The Victorian building on the corner is a Yoga studio and next door to that… the laundromat. I’ve done several pieces here while waiting for my clothes.
Fog in the Hills, Santa Barbara
Star Builders Supply Building, Little Italy
Do you love the industrial quality of this circa 1911 building as much as I do?
It’s currently vacant. There are so many great potential uses- restaurants, art studios and galleries, wine bar, boutique hotel. It’s right by the trolley stop too. Pretty great location.
When I was researching this building, wondering what it was, I discovered an evil plot to tear it down and put in a parking lot! What a travesty.
We could easily build the parking structure over top of Star Builders Supply with gigantic stilts, or perhaps incorporate the historic structure into a new construction. I hope it will be saved.
Click here to learn more about Star Builders Supply and the effort to preserve this historic structure.
Santa Barbara Beach
A great afternoon for a walk in Santa Barbara, California. The water was amazingly calm, with sailboats moored offshore.
Independence Day Painting
So I’m a huge fan of Jeffersonian architecture.
This is Poplar Forest, our 3rd president’s retreat near Bedford, Virginia. The house is seen from the south lawn.
We went to Poplar Forest a few years ago, and we weren’t able to tour the inside, I think because of restoration work.
Jefferson was a complex individual, author of liberty, owner of slaves.
“In Bedford I have two plantations, adjoining, of 16 hands (slaves) each, uplands of the first quality, where I cultivate both tobacco and wheat.”
T. Jefferson, January 20, 1815
In June 1781 (during the Revolutionary War), Thomas Jefferson and his family arrived at Poplar Forest after retreating from Charlottesville during a British raid. Jefferson and his family stayed at Poplar Forest until late July.
You can read more about Poplar Forest here.
You can buy this painting here.
Happy Independence Day!
Trees In Fog
The hills step off into whiteness
-Sylvia Plath, Sheep in Fog
Sylvia Plath was a dreary lady, but her poems are full of stunning imagery, and this is the line that came to mind while heading up into the cloud bound mountains above Santa Barbara.