This week in The Pearl – September 26, 2025


We are so blessed to have friends and family, food, and a wonderful part of the world to live in. In anticipation of our friends Tim & Lisa coming over for Sunday lunch we spent Saturday doing some cleaning and food prep. Tricia did a repeat performance of her gratin de courgettes, I made a…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip – August 26, 2025


If your sketches are looking flat the dark areas are probably too light; the dark areas give depth and interest, don’t be afraid of them. I am revisiting the issue of getting the dark areas right. In other posts I have revealed that for most of my art life I was afraid of getting the…

This week in The Pearl – August 22, 2025


This week? Food, Urban Sketching, a birthday, chatting with friends from France – all good. Last Friday after posting our blogs we headed to the Yamhill Valley for lunch and a wine tasting. First stop, Dundee Bistro for lunch. We first went to the Dundee Bistro about 15 years ago, before we knew that Alexis…

This week in The Pearl – August 15, 2025


Last weekend, Tricia’s sister and family came down from Seattle to go to a soccer game, which meant we got to spend some time together. Saturday we hung out and played Calico, check it out if you need a good addition to your boardgame shelf. I thought it was a perfect time since our niece…