Imagine With Art

09/25/2026

Urban Sketchers South Sound Sketchwalk Scavenger Hunt

That's a mouthful! We met downtown at the fountain by Capitol Lake. Missy handed us the list - 12 things to find and sketch in the area, about 10 minutes for each if we wanted to win the prize (which we all did!) Things like a store sign, a person wearing a hat, a bird, something making noise, etc. I'll admit I was filled with doubt, but also prepared, since years ago, before the arthritis and foggy eyesight, I was a avid quick sketcher....

That’s a mouthful! We met downtown at the fountain by Capitol Lake. Missy handed us the list – 12 things to find and sketch in the area, about 10 minutes for each if we wanted to win th…

09/23/2026

Autumnal Equinox

Happy Autumn Equinox, the first day of the season when many of us get excited about the crisp new air, nature's ravishing color displays, about apples and pumpkins and Halloween. Can you remember what you were doing at the equinox years ago, like in 2008 for instance? Me neither. But my blog knows, so I thought I’d share it with you....

Happy Autumn Equinox, the first day of the season when many of us get excited about the crisp new air, nature’s ravishing color displays, about apples and pumpkins and Halloween. Can you reme…

09/21/2026

On the beach at Tolmie State Park

These early autumn days, oh so precious here in the PNW! Sunshine warmth without the bake, a bit of crisp in the air to invigorate. School is in session but the small children and parents are exploring the beach with urgent high pitched exclamations of first discovery. Look! Barnacles on the clam shell! . . .and our group of sketchers embedded themselves so completely in the landscape that it wasn't until later that they emerged....

These early autumn days, oh so precious here in the PNW! Sunshine warmth without the bake, a bit of crisp in the air to invigorate. School is in session but the small children and parents are explo…

09/17/2026

New Fall Series of The Playful Muse

As the days get cooler I look forward to more time in the cozy warmth of the studio and the contemplative art that has soothed my soul for many years. The Muse Groups embody that restless search for meaning through artistic expression, by the joining together of friends with shared life experience and interest in finding new ways of self expression....

09/15/2026

Tugboat Annie’s Marina

It's a good thing I couldn't get down on the dock at Tugboat Annies to get the up close view of the boats. I was already feeling a bit woozy, and the dock is a movable feast of grizzled looking boat dwellers carrying supplies back and forth, causing sensory undulations. The last thing they needed was a sketcher blocking their way....

09/12/2026

HARBOR DAYS 2026

It's getting hard to find a new spot to sketch Olympia's Harbor Days. I've done tug boats and sand carvers and pirates and sea shanty singers and panoramas of Percivals Landing with all the tents and crowds and Harbor House and more! Paige has too. So we wandered down the boardwalk and found a bench outside Splash art gallery where we had this view in the distance....

It’s getting hard to find a new spot to sketch Olympia’s Harbor Days. I’ve done tug boats and sand carvers and pirates and sea shanty singers and panoramas of Percivals Landing wi…

09/05/2026

Rutledge Family Farm

Thursday morning we pictured ourselves stranded out in a field of 9 foot sunflower giants in the midst of a downpour and were on the verge of cancelling our Thursday meet up to the Sunflower Festival at Rutledge Family Farm due to an ominous prediction of rain. But some of us showed up anyway. . ..and bought the ticket for the wagon ride out through the muddy puddles to where 42 varieties of sunflowers, from 1-9 feet tall and every color from yellow to orange to deep russet to black and white to pink, were freshly washed and waiting to be sketched!...

09/03/2026

Baby Bunny in the Beauty Bush

There's something about having bunnies scampering in the yard that makes me feel like I'm in a children's storybook. Like I need to give their characters names like Hoppy and Mr and Mrs Hopkins. They seem to be there every time I open the door lately! I've developed a tone of voice when speaking to them, high pitched and honeyed. I always start the conversation this way because it seems the most courteous thing....

08/26/2026

I get to be a videographer!

On Saturday my good buddy Jane Wingfield let me come to her urban sketch workshop as her videographer! We were downtown on Percival Landing, the main waterfront in Olympia. The workshop, great for beginners as well as experienced urban sketchers (and there were several in the class) was First Steps: getting started as an urban sketcher. It covered all the basics, like what to expect when you show up at a meet up, finding your spot, designing your sketch using thumbnails, simple perspective and adding people!...

On Saturday my good buddy Jane Wingfield let me come to her urban sketch workshop as her videographer! We were downtown on Percival Landing, the main waterfront in Olympia. The workshop, great for …

08/25/2026

A Skipper and Blue Dasher

This beauty showed up in my garden in her extraterrestrial glory. So I sat down with a photo to study all the parts - the stained glass wings, the helter skelter chopstick limbs, the bug-eyes (she is after all a bug), and head protuberances. I imagined all parts deep in floral nectar heaven, each with a different task. So it took a while to draw....

This beauty showed up in my garden in her extraterrestrial glory. So I sat down with a photo to study all the parts – the stained glass wings, the helter skelter chopstick limbs, the bug-eyes…