The Happy Sea Turtle in watercolor

This sea turtle has a slight grin on his face as he swims along in the depths of the big blue ocean. Another fun animal painting done in watercolor on canvas borad. I used a hair dryer on wet paint to give the spreading affect in the water and on the shell. Painted in M. Graham watercolors on canvas board.

The Solemn Blue Whale

 This was the first sea animal I painted last year. Growing up, I was fascinated by whales, especially Blue Whales because of their size. M. Graham watercolor on canvas board.

The Giant Squid

This guy looks a lot friendlier than the feared Kraken, and is now hanging in my ocean themed bedroom. I had so much fun with this painting, and it has defnitely given me motivation to continue painting animals with love and fun. I kept the color themes with purple, blues and greens as with the Blue Whale painting. Painted on Tara watercolor canvas board specially treated for watercolor painting. These boards are really nice to paint on.

Americana series-9 mini snapshots of the USA

Working at an art supply distributor has its perks. I was able to score these 4 x 4 mini canvases as a discontinued deal for next to nothing, and I turned them into something! America is a diverse landscape that I have great appreciation for. I doubt just these nine paintings capture all of them, but here are my viewpoints of the landscapes of America. Notice I did not do a big city as these represent escapes to the beautiful American countryside. All of these painted with acrylics.

Starting from top left:

• The covered bridge can be found many places, especially in rural America.
• This is obviously O'ahu, but it is definitely an escape!
• The southwestern desert has amazing saguaro cactus.
• Lighthouses also can be found in many areas of America, including the Great Lakes.
• Route 66 is the all American road.
• The high desert regions of Native Americans is very sacred.
• The mountains and lakes of the western USA hold a special place in my heart.
• The Great Plains is our bread basket, usually not a destination but just as important to America.
• The beach, which also can be the ocean, lakes or rivers that Americans escape to for recreation.
  

A trip to the Oregon and California border at the beach

This month I graduated from college with my bachelor's degree. I decided not to walk during my graduation because I had attended online 100% of my entire education. Instead, I wanted to take a camping trip to celebrate. My choice was to the California Redwoods initially, but settled on Harris Beach State Park at the southern Oregon border with California right at the beach. On the way down, we stopped at the Oregon Vortex. This place was definitely strange and I highly recommend it. Below is a photo of my daughter and I inside the House of Mystery.

I reserved a yurt (9 months in advance!) for us to sleep in. I figured having this over a tent would be a lot more fun, and I'm glad we did.

Harris Beach State Park is right on the beach, so we were able to hike down easily to enjoy the ocean. The issue I do have with Oregon State Parks is it's not really camping. You are essentially sleeping in a big parking lot that has a lot of trees and a lot of people. These campsites fill up very fast, which is why I had to reserve this yurt exactly 9 months in advance-the soonest a reservation was made available.

We also stopped at the Trees of Mystery, a roadside attraction that allows visitors to walk along a trail of giant trees, and ride the Sky Trail. My daughter and I rode this and it was worth the wait.

Of course we had to drive through Jedidiah National Forest to see the Redwoods with a stop at Smith River.

When it came time to go home, we took the scenic 101 up the coast. One of our stops was at the Oregon Dunes and Coquille Lighthouse. 

Although not far from home, it was one of the best vacations I have taken with my family. This area of the west coast is one of the most beautiful.