Bob and Susan’s Vacation

We are often characterized as the city lover (Bob, my husband) and the nature/country lover (me).  So when we go on vacation together we try to cover both interests.  This year was our 25th wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a week split between the Monterey Bay area and San Francisco.

I had treated myself to a new set of gouache paints which I put in the travel palette with my usual watercolors and brought my Handbook brand watercolor sketchbook, which I love for it’s cloth-bound cover and built in elastic to keep it closed.  It’s full now and I love that it has that “real” book look (even if it’s pretty grimy now)!  However  I found it awkward to have two pages to deal with and the wind would “rattle” one side while I tried to paint on the other.   I think I’ll switch back to the spiral bound style sketchbook now.

It’s funny how memory works.  I tend to fix an experience in my memory when I sketch it and forget it quickly if I just take a picture.  While we were driving up Hwy 1 we got caught in a traffic back up at dinner time while approaching Moss Landing.  When I saw the twin towers of the power plant which is the outstanding landmark there, I remembered a sketch I’d done 6 years ago on vacation with my family.  On the page were the two towers and the name of a fish restaurant we enjoyed.  (I’m the only one in the family who remembers this!)  So I turned down the road to the fishing marina, and there it was!! as remembered in my sketch.

Here’s a sampling of a few of my pages from the week.

We stayed at a rented cabin in the redwoods up the bumpy road from The Mystery Spot (which we never visited)

Bob is not a sketcher, but he is willing to put up with my sketching in restaurants while we wait for food.

I spent a glorious morning on the pier with this handsome gull who kept moving closer to me as others walked by, and such a good model he was.

Can you get more chill than these dudes?!!  There were over 100 sea lions lounging under the pier, and I got more and more relaxed just watching them.

 

Next leg of the trip.  .  . stay tuned for San Francisco