Today I'm a "Down-Town-Brown"

It's so easy to get stuck in my neighborhood. Cozy Ballard (and the north end of Seattle) meets most of my everyday needs and I end up staying in my comfort zone way too often. I frequent downtown Seattle, but tend to stick to my accustomed destinations.

Today I jumped ship and met the lovely and talented artist, Carla Sonheim and a new acquaintance, Elizabeth for coffee & chat, then walked to the Greg Kucera Gallery to see the Deborah Butterfield show. If you aren't familiar with her work, do check it out.

passed this street art on my way to the gallery - love the colors

first saw her work years ago in Eugene,

when the horses were just sticks, now her sculptures

are cast in bronze after she creates them

two fabulous horses were standing on the roof deck

these are big mares - at least 7 feet tall

Tonight our girl graduates from the UW's Jackson School with a BA in International Relations - the ceremony is being held downtown. Between meeting new friends in the morning, viewing inspiring art, going for cocktails at the Fairmont and celebrating our lovely daughter in the evening, I'd call this an especially perfect day!

our wonderful girl

My sketchbook comes home to visit!

my theme was "Happy Thoughts"

In January I mailed my sketchbook off to Brooklyn (as part of the 2011 Sketchbook Project) and now it (a long with 9,000+ others) is back home for a short visit. You can view them this coming weekend at Form/Space Atelier in Belltown, 2407 1st Avenue, from noon - 4:00pm. Next gallery stop – San Francisco (June 16-18). My art is traveling way more than I do!

completed book, ready to snuggle into the mailer and leave the nest

the pages of the journal I was given

were thin (I color hard), so I sewed them together

happy trails, little sketchbook!

2012's Sketchbook Project is going global with a World Tour. The sketchbooks are a tad smaller and the paper is thicker. The theme I chose: Stitches and Folds. Sign up, choose a theme, fill your book and have your artwork travel the world!

Red shoes walk to the studio

new red shoes – ready to walk and bike

The sun is finally shining in Seattle and I've just arrived at the studio. Had to leave my bike here yesterday due to a rather amazing downpour. (Thanks to my surface design pal, Mary who graciously drove me home to retrieve the car.)

first photo I took - our living room, no flash, just Seattle's great light

In celebration of finishing a HUGE job, I rewarded myself by buying new camera – an Olympus Pen E-PL1. It's quite fabulous - a digital SLR, but you use it like a point-and-shoot. The clarity of the images is awesome and due to it's compact size, I'll be taking it everywhere. I can tell it's gonna be a very visual summer!

neighbor's allium - love the detail

not sure what type of tree this is, but it's blooming like crazy

type always catches my eye

stopped traffic to get this photo

hitting all of Seattle's 'tourist spots'

lovely hydrangeas at Fred Meyer

studio view - check out the open Ballard Bridge on the left

not too shabby of a view, huh?

waiting for photos to load, coffee at hand

Becky, an artist friend, created the circle postcard

displayed above my laptop – she was inspired by a quote

from Richard Rohr – "We do not find our own center. It finds us."

So true!