Great day out sketching at Redwood Hill Farms. The Bice family started the farm 50 years ago and although the goat cheese operations were sold a few years back, the farm remains in family hands. It’s a gorgeous place to sketch! I chose this small cottage thinking it was a fairly easy subject to paint but quickly found out to the contrary. My biggest problem is still not going dark enough and having to do multiple layers. I’ll have to work on that.

The town of Graton, just north of Sebastopol California is home to several notable restaurants including Willow Wood Cafe and Mexico Lindo. This morning our group of nine met outside the Cafe, artists lining Graton Road well into the afternoon. After huddling around a bench to review each other’s work, we enjoyed a tasty late lunch at Mexico Lindo, followed by a quick stop to check out local artists’ work at Graton Art Gallery. What a great day!