Saint Monica and Joshua Tree

My best friend Monica Smith would often bemoan her early Catholic upbringing. Nonetheless, the southern California mecca, Santa Monica was named after Monica's patron saint and I will forever be mindful of her while visiting the site.

Just north of Venice the welcome sign says it's famous for it's sport fishing, yacht harbor, cafes and carnival rides. The entrance and palm-lined walkway border the beach.

We listened to Christmas songs in the 70 degree weather at the Santa Monica market.

A pending storm rolled in on Thanksgiving Day.

. . . so we headed over to Joshua Tree National Park

 

Where I had to sketch quickly before the storm moved in.

The next day we headed to both Getty museums. I caught this sketch of "Faustina" in one of the galleries.