This week in The Pearl – October 31, 2025


A good week in and around The Pearl. We did take a couple of drives: Tuesday to Hood River, Thursday to Raptor Ridge. This is a perfect time for drives, the fall colors are perfect. Going through some photos from our recent trip to John Day Fossil Beds triggered an oil painting. Our unit is…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday – October 28, 2025


What is one of the first things you focus on when you look at a piece of art or a photo you have done? Frequently we find the “mistake,” – what I did wrong. We even tend to do it when we look at someone’s post we see in a blog or on IG. This…

This week in The Pearl – October 24, 2025


It has been quite a week, certainly not dull. It started with a full and eclectic Saturday. Saturday morning I joined the Urban Sketchers of Portland at Directors Park in downtown Portland. Contrary to what you might hear on the news, Portland is not burning down. It was a beautiful sunny morning, the bright autumn…

This week in The Pearl – Central Oregon II


Last week we continued exploring the John Day Fossil Beds. These fossil beds have had a place in my memory since I was a child. I read and re-read The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek by Evelyn Sibly Lampman when I was still in grade school. It was a story about a couple of children…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday – October 14, 2025


We have been traveling in Central Oregon this week so not a lot of time for deep thoughts. I lost a pencil sharpener while we were in Prineville, and Prineville has nothing even close to an art store. We went to lunch in Redmond, which is a much bigger and is sophisticated enough to have…