Author: Frances

This is a little vignette from “Bee-fore,” which is to say the house before #beecottage, which some of you know about. This collection of blue and white plates keeps turning up, which is a nice thing about collections—they can keep turning up in different rooms and different ways. These were in the master bedroom, a weird-ish place for plates but it worked. Like last week’s paintings (ha, some also hung with plate hangers!) these too are arranged #higgeldypiggeldy above a painted chest. The same plates appear in more orderly fashion a few posts back in a plate rack in the kitchen of Bee Cottage. All to say that whether you move or not, it’s fun to re-think your collections and to come up with different ways to display them. I’d love to see yours if anyone wants to share… .
#thebeecottagestory #blueandwhite #collections

Sailing into a new week. I love how the light catches these sails and creates a kind of halo around the mother and child. Assuming they are mother and child. Could be crazy aunt (like me) and niece. Anyway there’s a painting in here somewhere…
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#sailboats #conservatorywater #centralpark #awalkintheoark #afternoonwalk #newyork #iwanttopaintthis #iwanttopaintit

Last night’s supper and summer sky. .
#californiacookingandsouthernstyle
#rancholazaca
#santaynezvalley
#losolivos
#dahlias #zinnias #succulents
#centerpiece
#simplecenterpiece

Sailing out of summer. So good to be on the water… Finally dawned on me I could… even if His Grace would rather go to the dentist than be on the ocean. Not that I needed permission, I just forget sometimes that things I love doing are right at my fingertips but for the deciding to do them. Often it’s not a question of permission from others, but permission from ourselves. Anyone out there relate to that?

The slough at Goleta Beach in Santa Barbara. Tried to paint it today. Failed. Will try again.

Ugly packaging disguised. Is anyone else obsessed with this, too?! Even in this “utility bathroom” at our ranch, I still want it to be pretty. So, with a little craft paper and raffia, boom. It ain’t Jo Malone, but it’s okay. In the words Rodgers & Hammerstein, #brownpaperpacksgestiedupwithstring … Okay now i feel guilty for not putting Jo Malone in there…

A pretty bedside table is a nice thing to go to sleep by and wake up to, that and my handsome caballero riding in the Santa Barbara Fiesta parade a few years back. These were the last of my beautiful #distantdrum roses from @gracerosefarm with an okd #staffordshire dog peeking out from behind. .
#bedsidetable #roses #sweetdreams

Golden light on the vineyard. Gosh this week went by fast. I am so touched by your kind words for my next book. Our book I should say @chefstephvalentine Thank you thank you again. .
#rancholazaca #homesweethome #californiacookingandsouthernstyle #losolivos #santaynezvalley #oaksavannah #oaksavannahvineyard

Then I came home and cut flowers for the week and toted them in my gorgeous handwoven basket by @kateholmessnapslanding … such a beautiful day today. I hate to say it in front of my East Coast friends, but I don’t think it got above 80… #donthateme .
#Dahlias #zinnias

Out this morning with the Tuesday Painters. Did this quick tiny sketch at the historic old Chamberlain Ranch in Los Olivos. Such a similar scene to one a few weeks ago in NY state. If there’s a barn, a road, and a telephone pole, I’m there hun. .
#enpleinair #pleinairpainting #losolivos #santaynezvalley #farmscape