♥

My cactus grew a heart!
Thank you from the bottom of my ♥ to all of you who bought my art this year!
As I announced earlier I will be closing both my shops
tomorrow until early January 2012.
Last year I had too many issues with the unbelievably slow postal service.
I really need to take a break from selling & concentrate on creating
during what is left of the year.
Blog and other social media will continue as usual :)

Cactus Wrens

Micron pen drawing inspired by a recent visit to the Charco del Ingenio Natural Reserve in San Miguel de Allende where I spotted that beautiful cactus wren
& got savagely devoured by a hungry mob of mosquitoes.
*Note to self: remember to put on repellent the next time!

Twitter Giveaway!

I've done Blog & Facebook giveaways before so now it's Twitter's turn.
Follow me on Twitter for a chance to win this beautiful painted tin frame
from San Miguel de Allende with one of my original watercolors inside :)
I'll choose a random winner from my followers this Sunday.

New for Galison!

New collaboration with Galison for Spring 2012!
Available December 1st. at Galison.
I'll show you more pics as soon as they're available :)

Thank you so much to everyone that stopped by my Geninne's Originals shop!
I am overwhelmed by the kindness & generosity towards my work.
There are still a few originals that will be available until the 31st of October.

Sequoias

The other place we totally fell in love with is the Muir Woods National Monument.
It was absolutely breathtaking & inspiring to walk amongst the redwood trees.
We even caught a glimpse of a very well camouflaged deer!
Can you spot it in the last photo?

Big Sur

I loved:
-all the different shades of blue
-being in & out of the fog
-the smell of the ocean & forest together
-the crisp morning air
-the silly sound the sea lions make
-the fresh baked goods at Big Sur Bakery
-the perfect cappuccino
-being with my family at such a wondrous place

Biggest Shop Update Ever!

My biggest ever shop update tomorrow at noon cst @ Geninne's Originals shop.
Artwork will only be available for a week.
I will be closing my Big Cartel & Etsy shops from Nov 1st till early next year.

Flying Morran

Did you read about the Open Call Camilla Engman made for anyone that wants to illustrate her adorable dog Morran?
I've been a fan of Morran & her very talented human Camilla for many years
so I was delighted to hear about her idea for a book.



I was inspired by our recent visit to the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA. to paint Morran like Snoopy's famous Flying Ace character :)

Ocean Treasures

Big Sur is probably my favorite place on earth and it was so good to be back.
Our goal for this trip was to spend as much time as we could looking at the sea
and soaking in all of its beauty. I will share some more photos of Big Sur tomorrow.
Today I wanted to share some of the ocean treasures I brought back with me.
I bought these from a little shop at Seaport Village in San Diego.
I have a growing little collection of specimens that remind me of the sea at home.
My favorite is the tiny purple coral I got on this trip.
The color is just amazing and I couldn't resist doing a watercolor study of it.
I also got a sea star, two little mushroom corals and a small sea fan.

This is How it Goes...

My birdies landed a new book cover!
"This Is How It Ends: A Novel" by Kathleen MacMahon to be released next Summer.
The cover was designed by the talented Kathleen Lynch.

It was great to be back home & bake bread again.
My favorite recipe is the no-knead method by Jim Lahey.

This is something I never thought I'd see...
Manolo & Turbo sharing the doggie bed in my studio. The furry kiddo won his ♥
I'll be back with more vacations photos tomorrow.

San Francisco

The very famous Golden Gate bridge.

The Ferry Building.

Purple beauty on the grounds of Alcatraz Island

The Bay Bridge as seen from the Ferry Building at dawn.

The Bay Bridge as seen from the ferry to Alcatraz Island.

This is the only drawing I managed to make during the trip while waiting
for our delicious Vietnamese food at The Slanted Door.
These spring rolls where out of this world good!
I always bring my watercolors with me on trips
and never get a chance to use them so I left them at home this time.
This gorgeous tiny book necklace is from Antico Valore at Etsy.
It measures 1 x 1.5 inches and it's about an inch thick full of beautiful art paper.
I fell head over heels in ♥ with San Francisco.

We're Back!

Trying to get settled again into our routine and going through lots & lots of photos.
It was an amazing trip up & down the beautiful coast of California.
We drove a little over 1500 miles (2,400 kms).
Ate amazing food & watched many beautiful Pacific Ocean sunsets.
Photo 1: Acacia blooms at the Golden Gate in San Francisco.
Photo 2: Redwood tree rings at Muir Woods Redwood Forest.

Tweet!

I will be absent from my blog until the 19th but I'll be tweeting & sharing photos
from our trip on my Twitter, Facebook page and at the lovely Habit blog.

My good friend Oliver is using Mr. T as a model for some illustration work :)

Hasta la vista friends, see you in a little while!