:: Always looking for inspiration ::

I'm seldom without inspiration for things to paint and recently we took a road trip down the Washington coast and it seemed that each place we went I found some beautiful scenes that were very inspiring to me.

It seems, after all, I am always looking and finding inspiration without realizing it.

The top photo is a location known as Oystervile on the Long Beach Peninsula. Its rich in history.  The day we were there the Oysterville Sea Farm was open (I think its open 7 days a week right now). The sun was shinning and I found the old cannery buildings very inspiring.

While still on the Long Beach Peninsula we were able to take long walks on the smooth looong sandy beach you see in the photo below.  It went for miles without many rocks or driftwood in sight. Seeing the sign and the grass before getting to the beach was inspiring to me.

The photo above was the typical morning on the Peninsula.  Long deserted beaches and lots of sand.

A fun way to travel from Washington to Oregon is to ride the local ferry boat from Puget Island Washington to West Port Oregon.  It is a short ride and on a calm day it is very scenic and enjoyable.

I came home filled with inspiration.  It seems I am as inspired by so many local scenes that I should never run out of painting material.

Do you find painting inspiration everywhere you look like I do?

:: Light on the Meadow ::

The painting above, Light on the Meadow, practically painted its self.  I often wonder when a painting goes that easy if there wasn't a reason I was drawn to paint it.  Maybe some hidden message I should look for.  

I loved all the light in the field and the light coming thru the trees, landing on the pavement.  Maybe that alone was the reason I felt drawn to get this down on the canvas.  

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As summer rolls along I am feeling pretty good about whittling away at my long list of books I wanted to read.  3 down and still more to go. Those that I have read have been enjoyable reads.  

The one I'm reading now, The Gaugun Connection, is proving to be different and keeps me looking forward to the next page. This is book one in a series of 9.  I'm not sure that I will continue to read all 9 but so far so good.

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On another note.  We celebrated Miss Odessa's 12 birthday earlier this week. No hats or balloons, but a little roasted chicken for a lunch treat and a tiny bit of vanilla ice cream in the evening.   

Happy Birthday Odessa ... and many more.