I painted this from a source photo snapped at our wedding. It was one of my favorite photos taken from the day, captured in black and white. When I painted this, I made up all the colors since the source photo was gray scale.

This was a moment shortly after our wedding ceremony. We were heading down to the beach to take some photographs and Matthew was helping me down the steps.

The Betsy Ross House (http://www.betsyrosshouse.org/) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania begged for me to paint her. This is the type of building I really enjoy painting. It is small, quirky and charming. I enjoyed painting the bricks, each a different color. Sometimes I am pleased that this painting is not properly proportioned, and other times I am bothered by these imperfections.

This was one of the first series of hotel paintings I created. This is a quiet little side patio I found while staying at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. I did this almost entirely en plein air. I often finish my paintings after my trips on the plane on the way home. Seatmates are often amazed that I can paint on a plane, but I find it quite comfortable. The tray table and reading light are the perfect workspace, and I have a small watercolor field box set that fits easily in my laptop bag. The flight attendants are always happy to bring me a small glass of water and a few cocktail napkins for blotting.

I painted this while staying at Disney's Grand Floridian.

I went backpacking in Lappland for 10 days. These sketches done en plein air are the residue from my trip.

From a bluff looking down on the city of Trondheim I painted the Nidaros Catherdral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidaros_Cathedral.

The illustrative style of this one reminds me of a children's book I once had.

Inside the Nidaros Cathedral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidaros_Cathedral I sat on a chair in the side aisle and painted this window en situ.

I liked the way this came out, and it gave me confidence to keep trying to paint. You see, I took a painting class in college and it really lowered my confidence in my creative ability. I thought I had a creative side going into the class. The painting class was a real struggle for me and it seemed like nothing I did was good enough. Before the class, I liked painting spontaneously, and suddenly I lost that joy. It became work that I could not seem to do right no matter how hard I tried. It was my lowest grade in college, which was particularly crushing because it took a toll on my otherwise nice GPA.

I was nervous about painting again, but my little Windsor and Newton travel watercolor kit my dad bought for me was the only way to bring some artsy craftiness on my trip abroad.