The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island. I call my line of cards and art-focused souvenirs "I Was Here," but this is a place I can only say "I Was ALMOST Here." First, I had a trip booked to Kiawah just after Christmas one year. The night before the flight, I stepped on a sewing needle and landed in surgery.

The second trip was for business, but because my skills were so needed for a pre-Kiawah meeting in Philadelphia, I ended up missing the flight and just staying in Philly.

Looking up from one of the back rows of the Basilica of St. Mary's in Minneapolis, I watched the silhouette of David Cherwin as he directed the National Lutheran Choir in the loft. I caught sight of him from a unique angle over the rail of the choir loft, backlit by the rose window. This is one of a very few paintings I have done that features an individual, and also one of just a small grouping of church interiors.

The House of Seven Gables http://www.7gables.org/ inspired this painting.

The way one is "supposed" to paint with watercolor is to create a wash in the background as the sky. A wash is a thin veil of paint, mostly water and just a touch of paint pushed around on the paper. I did something entirely different- and maybe to an art teacher it might be called wrong. What I did was to build layer upon layer of paint to make the sky. I mostly used blues, and then ended with white paint to do the clouds. I feel kind of guilty when I know what the accepted technique is and I just do not do it that way... but this is just the way I paint sometimes. Don't get me wrong. I make the sky using a wash sometimes. I guess I just do not want to be limited by certain techniques and rules.

The Wortham Center http://www.houstontx.gov/worthamcenter/ in Houston, Texas. I have happy memories of seeing the ballet with Mom and Dad here. It is a lovely facility.

This lovely orchid at Longwood Gardens (www.longwoodgardens.org) in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania captivated me. I do not normally paint flowers, but this one seemed almost architectural, so I gave it a try.

Gamla Stan (Old Town), Stockholm, Sweden

Gamla Stan (Old Town), Stockholm, Sweden