This painting is a little different from some of my others as I have not painted a scene seen through a window before. There are two inspirations for this work.
I snapped a source photo for this piece in downtown San Francisco a few years ago. It was before we moved to California, so I was taken by all the designer shops around Union Square. I like the source photo, but it has some imperfections which I tried to paint away in this piece.
The second inspiration is Ward
Schumaker www.warddraw.com. Ward
illustrated the Spring/Summer 2008
Hermès catalog and there was an article about it in the San
Francisco Chronicle. I devoured the article, and dreamed that
Hermès or some other fabulous designer label would call me one day to illustrate their collection.
When I thought about Ward Schumaker's work, and used my Hermès storefront source photos, this painting came to life.
This is one of my favorite paintings I have done recently. I am really pleased with the way the red rose vine came out, and with the vivid colors over all. 
This little shed is beside the Squire Tarbox Inn http://www.squiretarboxinn.com/, a lovely B&B in Westport Island, Maine.
This is the front of the Pellegrini Family Winery http://www.pellegrinisonoma.com/ in Sonoma. The heavy shadow cast on the building by its own roof line reminded me of the painting I did of the facade of the Broadmoor Hotel (read down in the blog to the 2005 entries).
This is the Squire Tarbox Inn www.squiretarboxinn.com/ in Westport Island, Maine. I love this property since my family has a home just down the road.
A few years ago at my sister's Harvard graduation, this little child was running around outside the tent where commencement took place. I know I should have been intently listening to all the speeches and the pomp of the ceremony, but I could not get over the little girl's precious raw silk ensemble. I snapped a few pictures.
