Santa Barbara Chardonnay

Happy Friday!
This weekend I will be running in the Santa Barbara Chardonnay 10-miler with some family and friends. This is something like my 4th year in a row running the race down by the beach. It's a gorgeous route, fairly flat and out-and-back. The course takes runners right past the Four Season's Biltmore and the lovely local gem of Butterfly Beach (both featured on the the cover of Travel + Leisure magazine this month).

Despite this being a race I have done a few times, I still get nervous. My training hasn't been spectacular this round, so I am just going to out there and have a good time, enjoy the morning and the accomplishment (and reward myself with some wine tasting at Municipal Winemakers at the end of the day).

This Daily Art Practice doodle captures my internal race day apprehension. 
Orange colored pencil and white charcoal on goldenrod paper.

Do any of you have some fun plans for the weekend?
If you are in Santa Barbara and a small business owner I recommend stopping by the Santa Barbara Business Expo on Saturday morning at the Fess Parker Double Tree. My colleague Lorrie Thomas Ross is the keynote speaker and not to be missed. I'll wave from the beach as I run by!

Hawaiian Ukulele Princess

The sweet, sweet sounds of ukulele fill my ears nearly every day. My "partner in life", Kyle Phillips, is quite the ukulele aficionado. He plays an instrument everyday, guitar or ukulele, and I am always impressed with the sound that emerges from those little wooden instruments.

In a very romantic gesture Kyle gifted me with a ukulele last year for our anniversary. It is a beauty and, although I do not play it as I should, I do love it. My favorite time to perform my (non-existent) uke talent is late at night, after a really fun party, with a few of my favorite people (Tessa!) gathered around me (and a lot of empty wine glasses).

My Hawaiian Ukulele Princess is in honor of the fine tradition of ukulele and my love, for his devotion to filling our home with pretty music.

 

Kyle Phillips in his usual stance: playing the ukulele. 

 

This me with my pretty little uke and a close up of the signature Black Bear ukulele inlay. 

Summer Berries and Yellow Fashion Fun

I took care of my in-laws garden a couple of weeks ago while they escaped on a much needed beach house vacay. I have never been a green thumb, but I do relish in making my small collection of house plants thrive(ish), so I delighted in the chance to participate in the creation of food that I would surely eat at some point this summer.

The Phillips' ranch garden was blossoming with soon-to-be, edible abundance - a sure sign of spring in Santa Barbara. The asparagus spears were popping from the dirt and the strawberries were already becoming prolific. As I watered the flowering blooms I could NOT resist plucking a few of the ripe berries right off the plants and straight into my mouth. They weren't at peak season sweetness, but I couldn't resist the fun of feeling like a 5 year old in the garden.

You can watch my gardening in action with my fun Vine video. 

As a fun part of my daily art practice I drew this sweet summer girl savoring a ripe strawberry. I have been having a ton of fun playing with the colored paper in my doodles. Often I pick a color solely based on a snap decision of a feeling I want to capture. In the case of my summer berry girl, I chose a lovely sunny yellow.

Building up the lush green grass behind her and letting the yellow shine through is what keeps her garments so vibrant.

Prismacolor colored pencils on yellow paper, with some finishing touches of ink pens.

Daily Art Practice: Fruit Salad

Although my daily art practice has been wavering (especially the part where I share it with everyone) I am still drawing nearly every day. Part of this practice is because I have a nice little art station set up that I never take down. I know that some people enjoy more of a ritual with their art practice; the setting up and taking down helps begin and end the process. I am the opposite. I like the call of the colored pencils,  the wanderlust of watercolor exposed to my eye. I love the inspiration of teal paper on the tabletop. That is what pulls me in,  inspires, and motivates me to keep the art and doodles alive.

Often, once the paper and pencils call me over, I let my imagination run amok. As the weather shifts, and spring hits us full force, I am inspired by all things summer, and bright and warm; and fruity! I love the kitsch and nostalgia of drawing fruit. It reminds of another decade and is the type of thing I love to create and it always reminds me of freshness and summer. 

And as subject matter, I always have it hanging around ;)

 Cherries were done in a mix of opaque ink and colored pencil. I love the color combo of pink and red.

 My funky fresh banana in retro 80's fun. In this doodle I was inspired to let the yellow of the paper shine through as the fruit color.

A little tropicana fun with this fruity pattern. Colored pencil and a touch of pen on lime paper. It reminds of the late Lilly Pultizer's prized preppy patterns.

Goat Sketches

I have a thing for goats. I just find them adorable and endearing. And I also happen to highly enjoy goat cheese (yuuummmm, just ask my girlfriends Erica and Alison about the massive quantities we enjoyed on our French adventures).

But cheese aside, I have a habit of visiting some local goats on the coast out on my runs. Perched on the bluffs overlooking the sea, UCSB has some sort of goat program running and there they are, surrounded by low lying electric fences, ready for me to harass. Usually they are lazily laying about, most of the time eating, much more of the time actually eating while laying.

This week during one of my daily art practice sessions the cute little goat guys and gals popped into my head. And I couldn't help but doing some quick doodley sketches inspired by goat cuteness.

Daily Art Practice: Mad Men Red

Happy Friday! The last two days I have been keeping up with my daily art practice of sketching small, usually in the morning before diving into work, but haven't had the chance to share on my blog.

One of today's illustrations is this retro style redhead on pink paper. I have really been having fun with opaque inks and colored pencils on the colored papers. I think it helps to bring in an added layer of creative to my pieces, since the color paper tends to dictate the doodle.

 Here is a quick snapshot of my redhead in progress. I love how fun it is to play with an idea and not no where it goes - I had thought to stop at the opaque ink, but the addition of the color pencils brought it to a more finished level.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll be playing in the gorgeous weather we have been having around here!

Daily Art Practice: Lemon Studies

This morning's art practice was a quiet and soft. The light wasn't as golden as I was expecting at my little table. After watering my plants I grabbed two bright and sunny Meyer lemons from the kitchen produce basket. Meyer lemons are thought to be a mix between a lemon and a orange - slightly sweeter in flavor and a deep yellow and I was inspired to create a fruit still life.

Playing on colored paper I couldn't help but try to different techniques. Opaque white ink, black ink and colored pencil brought them to life. I started with the lemons on yellow first and followed with the lemons on green paper. Here is a side by side comparison: