Healdsburg Fire Department

A big thanks to all the firefighters for keeping the Healdsburg post office fire contained to one building. The restaurant Ravenous and the Northcoast Bank next door were untouched. Friends of mine told me smoke could be seen and smelled throughout town, but I had no knowledge of this since I was in Santa Rosa with my sketch group that evening. I also heard that two Windsor firefighters were injured while containing the blaze and I hope they have a speedy recovery.

While drawing two emergency vehicles outside the Healdsburg fire station, the scene reminded me of a fire engine sketch created by illustrator James Jean. It’s from a wonderful book called An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory. James Jean is one of my favorite sketch artists and this particular drawing contains a great deal of detail. But really, it’s the solidness of the truck that he captured that impresses me the most.

Before I had a chance to finish my drawing, a fireman backed the fire engine inside the station and the other emergency vehicle was driven away, a real disappointment. But, I did my best to remember remaining details in order to finish the sketch as best I could from memory.

Fire Burns Healdsburg’s Post Office

As soon as I got out of my car I could smell the residual smoke from the fire that burned the Healdsburg post office last night. The street was taped off along with police, fire and federal officials still swarming the area. Although no one yet knows how the fire got started, speculation is that it started in the roof of the building. A couple of years ago postal officials wanted to move the post office to the annex location on Foss Creek Circle to save money, but an uproar with residents forced them to reconsider the move. Smoke once again starts to rise from the back of the building and the firefighters get to work.

I park myself right at the edge of the Do Not Cross tape in front of Amoruso Print shop, pull out my sketchbook and start drawing. Many residents stop by to pay their regards to the old burned out building and tell me stories about the history of the place. The building was used for many things before being a post office including a small Safeway grocery store back in the 60’s.

Jenine’s Tiny House

My friend Jenine just finished building a beautiful tiny house. Not a model of a house but a real, livable house. It has contemporary styling and nice big windows to help bring the outdoors in. I’ve had a fascination with tiny houses for several years. It all begain when I stepped into a Tumbleweed tiny house at the Apple Blossom Festival in Sebastopol, CA a couple of springs ago. Jay Shafer is the architect who started Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and was on hand to show how livable these houses really are. I bought his book to drool over the pictures of little houses positioned on majestic lots over looking valleys or nestled in trees along the banks of a creek. Tiny houses resonate with me because I’m learning to cut back on what I own so I can spend more time with family and friends, traveling, and of course, drawing.

While painting this picture of Jenine’s tiny house, I wondered where this house will someday call home. Will it sit on a majestic hill overlooking a valley, or will it be nestled in a forest along a creek somewhere outside of town? Where ever it ends up, the idea of undersizing instead of supersizing sure sound enticing.

Congratulations Jenine on finishing your beautiful tiny house!

Saint Francis and the Frog Prince

Ok, so I’ve been neglecting my backyard this summer. I admit it. But the good news is that I’ve spent much of my free time drawing, so not all is lost. This drawing of my backyard is misleading because it doesn’t show the tall weeds that I keep promising myself to pull and the lawn I wish would stop growing. Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals and known for his charitable deeds, looks after my garden these days and hopes that I will soon return to my earthly duties.

“Blaaaaaah,” I say out loud with my arms crossed, still refusing to accept my responsibilities. But the frog prince, sitting on the opposite side of the flower pot, concurs with the Saint and glares at me hoping to change my mind.

North Street Looking East, Healdsburg

This sketch of Healdsburg’s North Street was drawn from a vantage point near city hall looking east. I chose to stay in my car while drawing because I liked the angle and sometimes its nice to have good back support and a radio for company. Using a Moleskine and a Pigma Micron pen, I fleshed out the drawing and then added a little watercolor. Although I like Moleskine sketchbooks, I find that watercolor often beads up on the page, so I usually only add spot colors instead of washes.

In my drawing, the old, abandoned Purity Products building is on the left. The building was originally called Cerri Brothers Produce Warehouse and was used for packing fruit before sending it on its way along the railroad. Over the next few years, the railroad tracks will be upgraded to make way for the new passenger train called SMART that will run from Cloverdale all the way down to Larkspur, not far from the Golden Gate Bridge. From there passengers can take the bus or ferry to San Francisco.

Located at the far end of the street is the Les Mars Hotel which also houses the critically acclaimed restaurant, Cyrus.

An Artist Yet to Be

When I was twenty-one I moved to London, England to discover who I was but not yet aware of the artist I would become. While there, I would sit for hours on rainy days and write in my journal. I went to London not only because it was a cool thing to do but also because it was a time in my life when I had few responsibilities like mortgages, kids, and car payments. Why not travel and be free like the wind? College I figured, would just have to wait. When I arrived in London, I got a job working as a hotel receptionist, and what I enjoyed most was meeting people from all over the world. I didn’t have a clear purpose initially, but while there, I found one. I attended theater performances, frequented museums, and while discussing art with friends over coffee, the idea of becoming an artist bubbled to the surface. I bought watercolors and started to paint, but felt entirely too self conscious. When I got down to it, I was even afraid of the word “artist” when applied to me. But I continued to paint nonetheless.

Today, as I discovered in London, being a creator of art is not always easy. It demands work from me everyday not only to keep the creative juices flowing but to pay the mortgage I now have too. But I wouldn’t trade the work I do for anything else. A creative job is demanding–but so is life. I live art and the artwork I create gives me life. I recently went to Greece as a traveling artist and writer and upon my return, published the book “The Artist on the Road: Impressions of Greece.” Looking into the future, I feel three activities will demand most of my creative attention: Outdoor sketchbook drawing, etching, and writing. My recent discovery of book making has allowed me to combine all my loves into one. Sketchbooking and Stories of my travels will keep me working and happily occupied, for a long time to come.

Hotel Healdsburg


Healdsburg is a small town in northern California where I call home. It’s an artsy community in the heart of Sonoma County wine country and I love living here. When one of my good friends Monte visits from Arizona, he likes to call Healdsburg a sophisticated Mayberry (after the fictional town in North Carolina that was the setting for the American television sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show). I understand what he means, but it just feels like home to me. Similar to many 150 year old towns, we have a central square or plaza that defines and unifies the downtown area, and also provides an excellent venue for community events. Concerts, art festivals, and antique shows fill the summer months, keeping the tourist season alive. But it’s the wine industry that usually draws people to Healdsburg with restaurants coming in a close second. This sketchbook drawing of Hotel Healdsburg is one of our premiere hotels, located on the west side of the downtown plaza.

Jenner by the Sea

I went out early yesterday to meet with my drawing group, the Sonoma Sketchers, this time in Jenner. Jenner is a small town along California’s famous coastal Highway One. The town itself is so small that if I blinked, I would have missed it. But I certainly didn’t miss this view along the rocky coast line. Many other people pulled off the road to check out the view and as an extra bonus were treated to a pair of seals frolicking in the bay below. After drawing for an hour or so, I noticed that none of the other members of the group showed up. Ah well, I had a great time drawing and hanging out with the seals.