Tag Archives: west

Giant Artichoke sketch by Chandler O'Leary

We’re going to need a lot of butter

Confession: I planned an entire leg of my trip around this place. Now, pretty much all of the central California coast is worth any detour, if you ask me, but when it comes to the kitsch category, Castroville’s got a permanent blue ribbon in my book. And while Giant Artichoke is not quite technically a duck, considering that all the fruit stands inside are basically mini-ducks themselves, I figure it’s close enough to count.

Giant Artichoke sketch by Chandler O'Leary

San Francisco sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Rainbow road

Judging by the news lately, and all the dire terms like “polar vortex” being bandied about, I think it’s safe to say that most of the U.S. is still in the absolute dead of winter (including my neck of the woods). But I just can’t bear to post another sketch of icicles or snow. So instead I’m thinking back to one colorful California afternoon, with a rainbow of houses on my right, the Pacific on my left, and all kinds of evidence that spring lay just ahead.

Marysville Chinatown sketch by Chandler O'Leary

New day, new year

I made this sketch at the start of the last lunar year—on a crisp morning, surrounded by orange trees, in the still-breathing heart of a Gold-Rush-era Chinatown. So here we are, with another Chinese new year upon us—wishing you a happy and prosperous Year of the Horse!

Colorado wildflowers sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Living library

I love sketching wildflowers and other plants—but unfortunately, I’m really not great at identifying them. Of course, sketching is an excellent way to cement the information into your brain, but it doesn’t help much when you’re not sure what you’re looking at. I’m not a fan of standing there, juggling sketchbook and guidebook, trying to find one particular yellow flower amongst a huge grid of yellow flower photos (that all look, well, frankly identical to each other, and not at all like what’s in front of me), just to label my drawing correctly.

Colorado trees sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Enter the National Park Service. Wondering what kind of unusual flower that is? Forgot the name of that cactus? Just look around—nine times out of ten there’ll be a little engraved label nearby. Not near a marked trail? Just look in the little pamphlet the ranger handed you when you arrived! I swear, park rangers are the librarians of the natural world (and since I’m always telling people that librarians and park rangers are the most helpful folks on earth, this seems to fit).

I rely on this so much that when I’m not in a national park (or arboretum, or conservatory), I get frustrated. I mean, how great would it be if every front-yard garden, every school hedgerow, every city park came equipped with tiny interpretive signs?

Because after all, you never know when a sketcher is going to happen by.

Mt. Rainier wildflowers sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Montana sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Seeing the Elephant*

I have a particular love (and lots and lots of sketches) of treeless landscapes and endless plains. But I have to admit—after driving cross-country over more than 2,000 miles of the flat interior of the continent, seeing mountains again, at last, feels like a kind of reward.

* “Seeing the Elephant” was a popular (and complicated) American expression in the late 19th century, often used by pioneers to refer to the reward awaiting them at the end of their long wagon journey west.

Peggys Cove sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Sea to shining sea

With all the travel and sketching this year held, it’s hard to believe it’s still 2013. This year gave me 62 days out of town (a new record!) and many dozens of drawings—and best of all, brought me to both coasts. And while it feels a little like a blur when I look back on the year as a whole, I love how sketching helps keep so many individual memories intact. That’ll come in handy, as it’ll be time to start filling 2014’s sketchbooks any time now.

I can’t wait to see what those pages will hold!

San Francisco Bay sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Museum of the West sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Dig in your heels

The Nelson is a small museum—small enough that I thought the short visit we had time for would be plenty, sketching included.

Museum of the West sketch by Chandler O'Leary

And then I discovered the wall of antique cowboy spurs, just as we were about to leave.

Needless to say, if I had been wearing spurs at the time, the Tailor never would have been able to drag me out of there.

San Francisco print by Chandler O'Leary

S is for…

…well, yes.

But also…uh…Shameless Self-promotion. And very quietly, the Sigh of relief I’m breathing. Because at long, long last, after lots of technical difficulties and a whole bunch of back-end work, my Souvenir Shop is live!

(And I even managed not to miss the holiday season—though only just.)

In the shop you’ll find a whole bunch of original artwork and prints inspired by travel and the blog. There are brand new, original travel illustrations (like the one above!), the beginnings of a 50 States series, reproductions of my sketchbook drawings, and even made-to-order prints of any sketch on the blog. As you can probably guess, this is just the beginning. There’s a lot more to come next year, but hopefully this will whet your appetite.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll pop on over and take a look. And I’ll be back on Monday with the next regular post—see you then!

California orange grove sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Sunkissed sketching

In my studio I have a massive collection of vintage fruit crate labels from the 1930s and 40s (they’re still fairly easily obtained here on the West Coast). So it’s probably no surprise that when I found myself standing in an orange grove this winter, all I could do was imagine my sketchbook plastered on a box of citrus and transported to a bygone era.