Hearst Castle

 On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers did a virtual trip to Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. Many, many years ago I toured the castle on a trip Jerry and I made along Rout1 along the coast of California. It was a great place to visit. Although I couldn't find my photos to use for an inspiration the group that organizes the virtual trips provided an entire webpage of information and photos.

Julia Morgan was the designer and architect of the estate. Part of the estate includes several guest cottages. I picked my favorite one to sketch. Looking at the outside this was my choice...although I would happily stay in any part of the estate. lol I love that he had so much artwork outside on the estate.

We had about 125 people participating from all over the world. One of the facilitators, Dina, takes group photos of each of us holding our artwork on Zoom. I am in the second row on the far left.

Tuolumne Meadows

 Yosemite National Park brought back such good memories that I had to do another virtual sketch. This one is of one of the most scenic spots I remember seeing...Tuolumne Meadows. I can just imagine the meadow filled with flowers or filled with snow. Either way it would be beautiful. My thanks to the guides from the NYC Urban Sketchers who have been working hard to make sure we have a new virtual destination each weekend.

La Jolla

For a theme this week the NYC Urban Sketchers is "Let's Go Traveling." Since we can't do it in real life we are traveling to places we loved, plan to travel to, or wish we could travel to. I have many memories of vacations in southern CA visiting my sister and her family. We spent a lot of time in La Jolla. I once told my sister that if she found me an apartment there I would move out there. This was found using Google Street Maps.

Spanish Village Art Center

One of the locations that #VirtualSketch went to yesterday was Balboa Park in San Diego, California. My sister and her family took me there several times when I visited them in the past and I remember the Spanish Village Art Center well. It was fun to sketch there. Too bad I couldn't visit the studios now.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 15 - Cactus Flowers

I love it when cacti have flowers on them, but for some reason I never get to see them in full bloom. The reference photo for this painting was from photos I took along the promenade in Manhattan Beach when I was there for a wedding this summer. This is 5 x 5 inches.

#30paintingsin30days

If you have time and would like to check the other paintings done for Leslie Saeta's challenge you can look here: http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

Just when I thought I had done my last Christmas themed painting, along came another opportunity. My friend, Gina, had a few sketchers over last week since we hadn't met at all through the holidays. We planned on ordering sushi and then sketching since her house was still totally decorated. I just couldn't resist sketching this stocking, even though it meant I was sketching in a different room from everyone else.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 4 - Plumeria

Today I am posting my day 4 painting for Leslie Saeta's "30 Paintings in 30 Days." This was painted from a photo I took this summer while I was in California for a wedding. Along the promenade by the beach there were beautiful flowers growing.

More paintings by other artists for this challenge can be found here:
http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

Lifeguard Stand

We did walk down and sit on the beach several times...even going out in the waves one day. I couldn't resist sketching the lifeguard stand. It is so different from what we have here in NY...looks so "Baywatch." lol

Here are my brother, sister-in-law, and my two sisters at the beach. No the town doesn't slope like that...it is my picture taking.

Here we are on the beach. Left to right: Me, Tina, Mickey, and Joe. This is the first time in a very long time that the 4 of us have been together...since our sister Fran's memorial service in 2003. It was really special to be together again.

Neighboring House

I did get to sketch every day that we were in Manhattan Beach. The rental we had didn't have a front door that opened onto the street, so I sketched the house next door. We entered down the alley next to the fence. You can see a bit of the slope of the street. The hill was quite a walk coming back up from the beach.

Here I am...ready for my morning walk.

This is looking up the street. Our apartment was at the very top of the street on the right. The photo doesn't really show how steep it was. My calves definitely got lots of exercise. lol

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 19 - Laguna Dusk & World Blog Hop Continues

Today is day 19 of Leslie Saeta's challenge of "30 Paintings in 30 Days" and I'm keeping up. You can see some of the other artists's work here.
http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com

My painting "Laguna Dusk" was done from a photo I took in Laguna, California when we vacationed there. I love the location and the sunsets there.

"Laguna Dusk" by Joan Tavolott

Many of you are aware that back in December I participated in the World Blog Hop. If you didn't see my post then you can find it here: 

http://watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-hop-around-world.html

Since I was nominated to participate by my friend Jo Castillo there have been several other artists who we have linked to and the linking is continuing today. You may want to check out these wonderful artists including Jo.

Jo Castillo http://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com

Tina Koyama http://tina-koyama.blogspot.com

Jeanne Grant http://jeannegrant.blogspot.com

Mary Lemmenes http://creativeeverydaylife.blogspot.com

Michele Cooper http://michelecooper.blogspot.com

Juliette Plisson http://julietteplisson.blogspot.com

and the latest to be nominated by Juliette:

Miriam http://mimisaquarelles.blogspot.fr

Time Away From Home - Part II

For the "Time Away From Home" theme I have been going through my photos from many of my trips. The top two were done from photos taken on the beach in Malibu, California in 1969. The figure on the blanket is supposed to be me (when I still would wear a bikini).

In 1973 I backpacked through Europe with my sister. One of the places we visited was Athens, Greece. This is a section of the "Porch of the Maidens" in the Acropolis.

I took a trip with friends to Florida in 1977 and we visited Disneyworld. 

This was done from a photo of the parade there. I hope they have better costumes for the Seven Dwarfs now...this one looks like his beard was plastic.

There will be more to come.

Time Away From Home - Part I

Over on the "Paper, Paint, Pencils, & Pens" blog our new theme is "Time Away From Home."

We are sketching places and things that remind us of vacations, trips, or any time we spent away from home. I am doing sketches from photos taken on my many trips.

I started with a sketch of a musician my husband and I saw playing on the street in downtown Galway, Ireland last April. There was so much music in the pubs and on the streets there. I really enjoyed it. Yes, this young man did have red hair and a red beard.

In 1970 I took my first vacation with a friend. I wasn't even 21 years old yet when Suzanne and I flew out to California. We stayed a few days with her cousin and his family. Then we drove up the coast from San Diego to San Francisco making a few stops along the route. This was done from a very faded photo I took in Malibu.

I was young and in fairly good shape then. Here is a sketch of me in my bikini on the beach in Malibu. The blanket was a purchase we made when we took a trip down to Tiajuana, Mexico from San Diego. This was also done from one of my photos.

Backtracking to an earlier time, here is a sketch of a family vacation from when I was a kid. We rented this very rustic cabin on Little Sebago Lake in Maine. The cabin had a fireplace for heat on the cool Maine summer nights and only cold water and no tub or shower. Each cottage (I think there were 5.) had a rowboat and we spent a lot of time rowing around the lake. We thought it was paradise and went back for a week for a few summers. We always cried when it was time to go home. 

There will be more to come.

Gardens and Parks Sketches

On the group blog I am doing called "Paper, Paint, Pencils, & Pens" our theme for the end of March was "Gardens and Parks." I already posted a few of the sketches I did and here are a few more.

This was done from a photo I took in the sculpture garden at Johnstown Castle in Ireland.

My sister, Fran, had a wonderful garden in Ramona, CA and I did this sketch from a photo I took of one of her bird of paradise plants.

Last spring I visited the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. This was done from one of the photos I took of a magnolia tree in bloom.

Stay posted for a few more "Gardens & Parks" sketches.