Catalina Island

Two of my painter friends, (Joan Coffey and Louise Smith), and I went to Catalina Island on Tuesday and returned late Wed. night. We were exhausted from the trip as we tried to paint every minute as there was so much to paint. We arrived early afternoon and needed something to eat before we started painting. We ate lunch, sipped on margarita's and watched the boats come in an out of the marina. It was such a beautiful setting. We checked into our hotel and decided a 20 minute nap was in order. After awakening from our short nap we were ready to go. We thought we should find a place where there wasn't a lot of traffic so we walked over to Descanso Cove past the famous Avalon Casino. By this time it was around 5 p.m. While painting we started noticing all these cats. One of the ladies told us they come down every evening as people set out food for them. While looking up into the mountain side what would appear but Bambi! She was so cute and seemed so curious about the cats also. She was not afraid of anything and just walked around behind us for quite a while. We finished our first paintings around 7:30 and packed up. We found a cute little restaurant that overlooked the marina and had a bite to eat before turning in for the evening. I told Joan and Louise that I wanted to get up at 5 a.m., I wanted to see the sunrise and possibly get a painting. So up at 5 and out by the marina at 5:30. What no sun! I guess because of June gloom you don't see the sunrise this time of year. Oh well, I still got a nice painting of the marina with the casino in the back ground. The reflections off the boats in the foreground were incredible even though there wasn't a lot of light to capture. Around 10 a.m. the sun was starting to peak through the clouds and I noticed how beautiful the light was hitting the mountains behind us, this prompted the little 5 x 7 with the birds on the roof. We checked out of our hotel and left our baggage in their locker so we could go have lunch. By this time I was feeling really tired. Wished I had taken a nap. After lunch and walking back out by the marina I was taken by the umbrellas and decided another painting had to be done. We packed up around 5 p.m. and went catch our boat back to Long Beach. What a whirlwind 36 hours. These 3 paintings were also done using palate knife. Notecards and paintings are available. I think this has brought you up to date on my week. Please feel free to make comments. Terry