Can a Mid-Life Conundrum Inspire a Creative Second Wind?

Well why the heck not? It did for me and it can for you too. Just let it. This is an essay I wrote recently for Veranda Magazine, in their special California issue, January/February 2021. Reprinted here with permission, and revised to make sense, since it is me we’re (I’m) talking about and on my website. … Continue reading Can a Mid-Life Conundrum Inspire a Creative Second Wind?


Postcard From Provence – No. 3 – Painting in Port, Beginning With Audacity

“Beginning with audacity is a very great part of the painting,” said Winston Churchill, who  knew a thing or two about audacity–and about painting, too, it turns out.  In the 1920s Churchill took painting lessons in the picturesque coastal village of Cassis, France, where our group also painted during the workshop I attended in May… Continue reading Postcard From Provence – No. 3 – Painting in Port, Beginning With Audacity


Lessons From House Party of Painters

The nicest notes came last week from a group of gals from North Carolina who came to Rancho La Zaca to visit and to paint. I had long wanted to organize a workshop here for my awesome Aunt Gray and her painting buddies. And by dern we finally got around to it. Had a wonderful time,… Continue reading Lessons From House Party of Painters