I miss the sounds of bugs at night, and having a reason to sit out on the porch after dinner. Mainly, I miss not having to have sprinklers.

Behind my Dad’s property sits several acres of a Christmas Tree farm.  It’s steep hill makes for great sledding during the winter, and every Christmas a tree from this farm sits in my parent’s family room.   Its been fun watching the little seedling grow into tall trees, and then be replace by new seedlings as the cycle starts over.

I recently lost my beloved fountain pen  (waaaah!), so I had to find a replacement for her.  I bought a new one at Aaron brothers, but ended up with a much broader nib that I like. But I thought I’d try and see if I can make it work. I did a sketch of the Mill Ave bridge that crossed over Tempe Lake. The results were…interesting. Not in love with it, but it is a different look than my normal sketches. Also, the ink is NOT waterproof, so that means no watercolors over it.

On the way home to California, since I was by myself, and in no major rush to get home, I stopped at a rest area about 50 miles from the border to do some more sketching. It was reeeally windy, and I must have looked pretty funny perched on the top of a fence post, with my sketchbook and watercolors in my lap.  I wouldn’t have been surprised to have been blown off the post, it was so gusty. But I manged to get a quick painting of the Kola mountain range before climbing down.

There were so many times on the drive home, that I wished I could pull over on the side of the highway, and sit and paint for a while.  But alas…the little voice of common sense in my head (that unsurprisingly sounds a lot like my mother) told me it would not be a good idea. So instead I tried to capture some really good mental images to store for later paintings.

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I love traveling with my husband, we rarely fight or get too stress.  We’ve pretty much mastered the techniques for getting through security as painlessly as possible, EVEN when we get selected for secondary screening, which happens often since we are often flying standby.  While waiting to board our flight, I did a quick sketch of the boarding area.  I think the gentlemen in the blue shirt  got a little suspicious of what I was doing.  He kept staring at me for most of the time I was drawing.  Most likely, he was trying to figure out what I was doing.  Hopefully he wasn’t a mob boss, and was planning on having me wacked for capturing his likeness.

On the flight, I got to enjoy a refreshing “Mexi-coke.”  The Coke bottled in Mexico is made using real sugar, instead of corn syrup like we do in the states.  As a result, I believe it takes slightly better than our Coke in the US.  Most likely, it is all in my head.  But it was fun to see the World Cup hype in Spanish.  The flight from LA to del Cabo is about three hours. Just long enough to get started on a good book, or watch a movie.

Our flight arrived before Clint’s folks.  So we relaxed in the small airport bar.  The NBA finals were playing on the TV (Boston vs Orlando).  San Jose del Cabo airport it a tiny place, with two baggage carousals, but the moment you walk out the door into the terminal, you are bombarded by men trying to sell you rental cars, and have you sign up to visit their time shares.  We’ve had to walk this gauntlet every time we’ve landed in Cabo.  I’ve always imagined that there were always there, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting tourist just off the plane.  But what I never considered was the small number of flights that arrive in this tiny airport on a daily basis.  There might be one every few hours.  Max.  So what do these eager salesmen do while they are waiting for the next flight of fresh meat to come in? They sit at the bar, drink beer, and watch the NBA finals.

We stayed at the Grand Mayan Resort.  The Grand Mayan in San Jose is not as large as the one in Puerto Vallarta, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in style and comfort.  To enter the hotel, you first have to pass through a dark, vaulted, marble room.  As you look up, and up, at two very large statues of a Mayan man and woman, you hear drums and flutes playing in the background.  I half expected to get attacked by a raiding party every time I passed through the gates.  All in all, it made for a very cool first impression.

My favorite part of the resort was, of course, the pool.  Nothing says vacation like being served a Pina Colada, while floating in the water next to a giant stone dragon.  And that is pretty much what I did for the whole week.  It was hot enough outside that it was just a little too uncomfortable laying around, unless you were fresh out of the pool.

I spent most of the week lathered in SPF 80+ sunscreen, and I still managed to bet fairly burned.  And thanks to the Irish blood in me, my body doesn’t know how to tan, but just likes to burn, and peel.  And freckle.

After spending two days in San Jose, we took a road trip north to a little sea side village called Bahia de los Suenos, or “Bay of Dreams.”  The funny thing is, it used to be called Bahia de los Muertos, “Bay of the Dead,” but they changed the name so that tourists wouldn’t be scared away. Personally, I find “Bay of the Dead” much more interesting.

We were invited to stay at a lovely place called Rancho de Coasta, by a friend of Clint’s father.  This place was truly breath taking, sitting right on the beach, over looking the most beautiful blue water I have ever seen.

We went swimming and fishing and snorkeling. We lounged by the pool, ate fresh fish tacos, and guacamole, and grilled steaks.  I went fishing with Clint on the second day there, caught a few fish that were good for eating, and of course, a pelican…or two.  I can’t seem to get away from them.  I must look like a push over.

We headed back down the Baja, to the Grand Mayan.  The day before we left, we took a trip down to Cabo San Lucas, the town at the very tip of the Baja, for lunch at our favorite restaurant, “The Office.”  This place is NOT an office, nor is it at all associated with the NBC TV show. It is a ocean front restaurant, that served the yummiest garlic crab, and margaritas.  And by ocean front, I mean literally. Your feet are in the sand. Clint and I make it a point to get there every time we visit Cabo, and I order the crab every time.  Word of warning, if you should visit during Happy Hour…you will not be walking in a straight line when you leave.  Their drinks are HUGE, and will last you all day.

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It was unusually hot for the east coast, but I didn’t mind at all.  The humidity was actually a nice change from California’s predicable dry nice weather.  I really enjoyed the thunderstorm that rolled in Saturday evening.  We very rarely get genuine thunderstorms in southern California, and I forgot just how much I missed them.

From the airport, I had lunch with my family at a great place in Eldersburg called Habbi’s Kabobs.  Its a little hole in the wall, but has great Persian food.  Waiting for our food to arrive, which took quite a while, I entertained the family with my drawing.  It has become a joke among those who hang out around me for too long, that you never sit directly across from me, or in my line of sight, or you just might end up as the star of a sketch.

One of the things I love about the east coast, is just how green it is, even during a dry spell.  The foliage around Dad’s house was in full swing, and I couldn’t resist getting out the watercolors and doing a quick painting of the house.  I love this house, love the English country feeling of it.  Love sitting on the porch, with a cup of tea, listening to the birds, or watching the fireflies come out as the sun sets.  Debbie’s gardening just adds to the feel of the place.  A perfect combination of planning, and wildness, that fits perfectly in the quiet wooded house.   I wish I could say that I have even half as much success with planting.  But my small garden is very sad in comparison.

Far too soon, it was time to head home.  The trip back to California took far longer than the trip out.  I have realized that flying standby in and out of BWI on United is hit or miss, since there are so few flights going to and from LAX.  I spend the day on Monday, starting bright and early waiting to get out on the limited non-stop flights.   Sadly, I had to spend an extra night in Carol County (oh, sniff sniff), before I was able to fly out on Tuesday. I was fortunate to get on a flight to Denver, and then on to LA.   As much as I love Maryland, I was very happy to get back to Clint, and my own comfy bed.

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I’m currently going through the book, “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron. Cameron as spent years teaching people how to regain their creativity–blocked artist and writers, and people who have never considered themselves “creative.”  I’ve been feeling a little block myself lately, and this book really called to me.  It takes you through a process, week by week, to help you rediscover your creative spirit, and how to nurish it and sustain it.  One of the weekly things you must do are “artist dates”, where you take your artist out, to do something she wants to do. And it doesn’t have to be anything proper,  like going to an art museum, just something that your inner artist would find fun and entertaining.

Hence our trip to the Santa Ana Zoo. I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what my little inner artist wants. Or rather, we’re having a hard time finding  the things she wants within driving distance.  She wants to play in a secluded stream in the woods where no one else can find her. Hmm. Or in a deserted beach where she can find driftwood and shells. Hmm.  Or a trip down the Amazon. Sigh. Well, finding a lonely beach in Orange County is a challenge, as is the woods.   But she likes animals too, and the zoo has rainforest like settings, so yay! Inner finger painter satisfied. Of course, while there, she decided that we should sign up to volunteer for the zoo to do face painting and such when they have specail events.  I kinda like her idea, so we might go along with it.

I think this conference was perfect for me. I have done a lot of research and reading about the process and business of publishing children’s books, but there are somethings that you may not learn about until you are actually doing it. I loved Adam Rex’s session on picture book layout “32 Pages of Awesome.” He passed out a sheet with a bunch of terms defined, half of which I knew already, and half I had never heard before. What the heck was a colophon? (Its the publishers logo on the spine of a book.)

My portfolio review was wonderful. I had the honor of sitting down with Laurent Linn who is the an art direct with Simon and Schuster. He gave me great encouragement and pointed out the areas I can improve on. He liked my latest painting of Snow White the best, which I had finished Thursday night before the convention. I also got very good responses during the portfolio show. I ran out of postcards very quick, and had to break out my backup stash.

Here are some of the nuggets of truth I gleaned over the weekend:

• Just do it. Give yourself to write/draw crap, at least you are doing it.
• Everyone starts as a beginner
• Everyone has self-doubt
• The time to write your first book might be NOW
• Don’t wait to be discovered, take an active role in your own career
• If you CAN write as well as illustrate, do both. Its easier to find you on the bookself

And my favorite piece of wisdom from Adam Rex: ” You don’t always have to shoot for the stars. They wouldn’t call it bottom feeding if there wasn’t food down there.” Well, technically my favorite quote of the whole weekend was from Cecilla Young, imparted late one evening during the illustrators’ social …but she said she would kill anyone who blogged about it. And I believe it would be wise to take her at her word.

And here is my poor attempt to capture some of the speakers in my sketchbook:

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