Laurelines

The day before the wedding, a fountain!

Grace Bonney, of Design*Sponge fame and daughter of my good friend photographer Chris Bonney, was married in Savannah this past weekend! It was a glorious day and as beautiful an occasion as you'd imagine that Grace's wedding WOULD be. I was so fortunate to be there and to make some sketches, which I will give to Grace and Aaron for a wedding present! I have lots of them and will share them as soon as I add watercolor washes. 

Meantime, here's a hint of things to come---a sketch of Orleans Square, where the ceremony took place. I drew this the morning before the big day. 

Off to sketch a wedding!

Tomorrow I leave for Savannah. A friend's daughter is getting married---and this daughter is someone many of you know about. Who could it be???

I will probably only sketch the historic neighborhood, the garden where the wedding will take place, the decor at the site, and the activity leading up to the ceremony. I don't want to be a distraction at the moment when the solemn vows are exchanged.

Though this sketch is from my recent trip to Santa Barbara, the wisteria-dripping column looks very Savannah garden wedding, don't you think? I'll post the sketches here before giving them to the bride and groom. Hope they're passable!

Next week, it's back to painting water! Oh, unless my stepdaughter has her baby early. Then it'll be all hands on deck with big brother and new little sister!

In which our heroine develops a fondness for cacti.

Never having lived in the desert or similar dry places, I didn't understand so much all the fuss about cacti. I mean, I've seen cacti. In pots. Or even growing in a couple of throw- away gardens in these parts. Those cacti looked thumblike, elbowlike, prickly, cartoonish. I've even tried to dig up a cactus, so I know how murderous are their protuberances. THAT  won't happen again. It wasn't until I saw a cactus garden at Lotusland, near Santa Barbara, that I understood the vast range and exotic beauty of this species. They are marvelous. At a distance, I mean.

Here's  a sketch of part of the Lotusland cactus garden and one of a fountain surrounded by lovely old tiles.

Santa Barbara sketches

Whew. I think somebody turned the speed dial in my life to High recently. Can whoever did it please come back and fix me? Thanks in advance.

I had a fantastic trip to Santa Barbara, which is my new favorite place on the planet. Well, that and Iceland. And all of France. But still.

Here are a few sketches from my trip. If some things, like the Moon Garden (with its lava mulch, coral spires, milky turquoise water, and giant clam shells), look improbable, all I can say is, you haven't been to Santa Barbara.

There's more where these came from, of course! (Click on images for more detail.)

California bound, but first....

Before I head to Santa Barbara tomorrow, commissioned to provide some illustrations for a website there (I'll tell more when it's all done), I thought I'd better give you a little progress report on the painting front! I have my chirpy, fourth-grade teacher smile on, can you see it?

Just so you won't think I'm hallucinating the entire experience, here's a shot of my studio where you can see the culprits,  I mean, paintings, hanging out. One of the new ones (still... ahem... unfinished) is on the easel. The other, also in process, is to the left of the orange rock and water painting on the shelf.

I wrote more about these at Watermarks, one of the group blogs I belong to, so go and check it out, if you're interested. And, before I go to California, I leave you with some sketches from my Saturday's search for lions. I bagged a couple. I'll be doing lots of sketching in Santa Barbara---that's the whole reason for my visit! I'll post them, with their accompanying stories. I can't wait to get back to my paintings, though---they need me.