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Strasburg Studio Archives: Rediscovery in the Stacks
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S T U D Y I N G
AUG/SEPT SPOTLIGHT : Guoache Sketchbook Pages
"Oakleaf Hydrangea", 4 x 6" - "Treetops", 5 x 3"
"High Sierra", 5 x 3" - "Lacecap Hydrangea", 5 x 3.75"
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Thank you for joining me on this monthly trip through the archives of my studio.
“Oakleaf Hydrangea”, 4 x 6”, Gouache on multimedia sketchbook paper.
This summer has been one long, unhurried exhale—the richest kind of lazy. Days unspooling without urgency, sketchbooks filling themselves as if by accident, untouched by ambition, untouched by that insistent hum of do more, be more. Even writing these words feels like a small betrayal, a gesture toward lists and momentum, when August has been so blissfully free of both.
The heat finally settled on the south coast with barely a month left before the fall equinox. I tried, halfheartedly, to rally for work, but the month had other plans. I spent my days steeped in gouache, coaxing out miniature landscapes while audiobooks played endlessly in the background. It felt almost European to claim August as a holiday, to let the warmth grant permission to sit still, to linger, to look closer.
From this quiet harvest are four of my small paintings—a portable exhibit drawn not from striving but from stillness.
This was no idleness, no apathy, but something restorative: a deliberate pause after a year of ceaseless care-taking and doing, of pouring out until even the smallest task felt heavy. August refilled the well. It reminded me that stepping away is not neglect, but nourishment—that rest is its own quiet form of creation.
“Treetops”, 5 x 3” Gouache on multimedia sketchbook paper.
“High Sierra”, 5 x 3” Gouache on multimedia sketchbook paper.
These sketchbook images are just 4 of over 50 pages of intimate gouache studies ranging from flowers in my back yard, western sierra hikes and local shorelines.
The first image is an Oak Leaf Hydrangea, 4 x 6" which lives outside my studio in the backyard. Left bottom image is Treetops, 5 x 3", right bottom, High Sierra, 5 x 3", both taken from trips to visit friends in the mountains. Lastly, bottom image, Lacecap Hydrangea, 5 x 3.75".
These little gems are more lovely in person. The depth of paint, the rich chalkiness of the gouache and the finer detail in the brushwork is muted by the camera. Studio visits are always a pleasure and I would be happy to share the whole collection to those who wish it. You will find me, still, at my desk, filling another book with images.
“Lacecap Hydrangea”, 5 x 3.75”, Gouache on multimedia sketchbook paper.
Currently on the wall at Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara through September 22, 2025 -
Smiling Skies (left) and Evening Star (right) both 14x14".
