A Sketch of an Angry Irishman at Epoch This Morning

He sat down with his laptop and Topo Chico. Three things interested me: he had an incredible head of strawberry blonde hair, he was very angry, and he looked very Irish. I have a soft-spot for the Irish, since my grandmother’s maiden name was Bebe (Irish). We’re smart, feisty, and we can latch on to […]

The Change in the Weather at Epoch Coffee

The weather has changed early this year, and we are all enjoying being outside. I’ve heard from my horse-loving neighbors that their horses have put on thick winter coats already, and they are claiming that it will be a very cold winter. But for now, the weather is glorious, and the summer’s veil of heat […]

Eating Peanut Butter from the Jar at Epoch Coffee

He was sitting beside me, eating peanut butter with a spoon, straight out of the jar. I assume that he had just completed an intense run, since he was very fit and thin. People who are this fit can eat an entire jar of peanut butter in one sitting – they require the fat and […]

He Was at FlightPath Coffee This Morning

I rarely go out painting at early breakfast hours, because there just aren’t a lot of early birds in the summer for me to paint. This morning, I just felt like going out early. It seemed like a good day for FlightPath. When I arrived, there was only one other customer in the back half […]

Big-Eyed Girl at Epoch

I’m at my happiest when I can capture someone in less than ten minutes, as is the case here. She sported a summer cut, a style influenced by the French (I lived in Paris for 6 months almost 20 years ago). She had it blackened, it was straight, and shiny – a fantastic look that […]

He was in the Corner at Epoch

My friend Lauren Hamilton Levy and I set out for Epoch yesterday, and we got lucky – we found a pretty good table. The guy next to us, in the corner, was hunkered down for a long spell. He was very thin and East Coast in appearance. (We never wear NorthFace apparel in the summer). […]

I Painted the Two Lovely Brothers at Spider House

My brother and I had a horrible relationship growing up. We fought constantly. We had dirt clod fights (they hurt), grass spur fights, and we broke each other’s things (I stuck my finger through the wings of his radio-controlled airplane). The fights escalated after my dad died to such a level that the neighbors called […]

Yucking It Up Quietly at Epoch

Which one was the Mastermind of this collaboration? One of them may be the boss, but the creative genius seemed to be the guy to the left. He was working on some website, and occassionally, the sophisticated guy to the right would pop up and go look over his shoulder. They would snicker and shake […]

Couple at SpiderHouse Patio by the “Mannekin Pis”

I painted this couple, enjoying a warm snap that we had – it was beautiful that day. They were seated at a table right by the “Mannekin Pis” (replica of the famous Belgian “Pissing Boy”). It was such a good composition, I could have painted several different versions, if I had more time.

I Painted the Pretty Hipster at SpiderHouse

We had a beautiful, sunny and warm day here in Austin last week. I went to SpiderHouse with Erin Park-Markert, one of my art students, to meet my daughter. We sat out on the patio, right beside this large group of “hipsters”, as my daughter calls them. They had pulled two tables together to accomodate […]