But theses guys know where to find the sun

we escaped to Death Valley for our Christmas holiday this year.
The feeling you experience being at such a grand and magnificent landscape can not be described in words, nor photos.  Here are just a few until I upload them to flickr or something.

Before entering the park, we stopped by several ghost towns.  First one is Pearsonville.  I saw it on the roadside during our previous road trip to Lone Pine.  kinda scary if you were alone, but another family was stopping by to check out the diner  that they used to stop by on the way to mammoth.

stepped inside where the tables and counters were covered in tumble weeds.

Keeler still has some people living there with smoke coming from the chimney of a house.  It is a small town just on the edge of Owen Lake (dried).  What do people do here for a living?

We entered Death Valley from the west on 190. We drove over several 4000+ft peaks and flat valleys to get to Stovepipe Wells and the sand dune area.

At Bad water, -282 ft sea level.

Don’t have to go to New Zealand to see the landscapes from Lord of the Rings.

Other stops include Natural Bridge, Devil’s golf course, Golden Canyon, and Artist Pallet.  Some roads were closed due to the snow.  We will have to make another trip to go to the places we had to skip this time around.

We drove over another 4000ft peak and over to Nevada to visit another ghost town called Rhyolite.  This place was very surreal.  Not only the remains of the town, but with the Grapevine mountains and the Funeral mountains, felt like the “back” side of the world.

We drove home through the panamint valley and through Trona which is a town I would like to revisit.

Check out Duncan’s post for more photos

6×8 oil

Phantom and Gizmo are getting along well.  They’re learning to be brothers

see more cat pix at my flickr account

went to this event -

it turns out that the handmade is “in”.  At the California Market Center’s top floor, 150 or more vendors set up shop – all independent crafters.  Very impressed with the quality, although I was more awed by the view from this downtown penthouse!

did a little sketch, and also did not forget to take refernce photos.

another matte painting for a personal project.. I would like to update my portfolio soon..

A semi private open house for a fund raiser.  I made these guys for a silent auction.  At the end of the day, they all found a home

A very inspirational workshop about art direction and other things.

doodles from the day

note to self: line/mass/form!

Tango with Cows – Book art of Russian avant-garde

Dialogue among Giants: Carleton Watkins and the Rise of Photography in California

A Light Touch: Exploring Humor in Drawing