We had a really inspiring afternoon in Malibu recently with Melanie Gouczwaard and her young daughter Emelia. I did the camera studies at both Paradise Cove and at Point Dume. The coreopsis was in full bloom, and it was absolutely stunning.

Here's a short slide show of our experience:

And she's another artist as well!

When the Markham family came into the studio to pick out the frames for the beach portraits that we did of their family at Leo Carrillo Beach, their young daughter Erin presented me with her own work of art. We thought you might want to see it as well.

Currently it's hanging on the bulletin board by my desk, but I might even frame it.

Our studio is blessed to have so many clients we can call our friends. Thats one of the real joys of what we do. And it's also fun to see our young clients grow up. I have a story about a local client who hit the big time this year...but it will have to wait until next time...I've gotta find her images first. They're in the archives on something called film.

Any guesses? Stay tuned...

Last weekend, our good friends, Sally and Greg Rademacher stopped in for a visit. The Rademachers have a beautiful portrait studio in Prior Lake, Minnesota, and Greg's work is unbelievably gorgeous. Here's a link to his website www.rademacherportraits.com Check it out.

We spent a great Sunday in LA, and did the whole tour... Mass at the Los Angeles Cathedral, lunch at the Grand Central Market, the Vanity Fair show at the LACMA, and then dinner at a Korean BBQ place in Koreatown. Lots of quality time and wonderful experiences!

The Vanity Fair show was excellent, with so many iconic images. I loved so many, but quite honestly, in the whole museum, this little painting sketch by Louis Bally from 1794 just captured my heart.

It's only about 5x7 inches, but incredible. It reminded me of some of the new painting pieces April is doing here at the studio that have the same feeling.

Stop in sometime for a visit, and see our latest work. You'll love it, I promise!

When Shawn and Jamie Villalovos came in last week to view their finished portraits for the first time, we loved seeing their big smiles. Both Shawn and Jamie said the portraits were awesome, and that they loved their amazing detail. They ordered several wall portraits and this painting of 3 year old Daisy will be displayed in their entry. You can't imagine how we feel, knowing that the portraits we create will be among our client's most valued possessions.