Our three-day camping trip earlier this month to Caledonia State Park near Chambersburg, PA, was a spur-of-the-moment getaway. Just finding an open site at any campground is a challenge these days, so we were lucky to find a spot in the heart of central Pennsylvania just a few hours from home. If you’d like to […]
Category: Nature Journaling
Three-View Rhododendron Sketch
It’s been a great year for rhododendrons here where I live in western Pennsylvania. FYI – The oranges & grape jelly on the bird feeder post are for the Baltimore orioles These bushes are right outside my kitchen window, so I get to enjoy these glorious blooms over the course of two weeks or so […]
Sketching Wildflowers at Enlow Fork
Come along with Leslie and her sketching friends as they walk, sketch, and enjoy a huge variety of spring wildflowers at Enlow Fork nature preserve in western Pennsylvania. (Includes a step-by-step painting tutorial!)
One more thing…
As I was finishing up the final paragraph of my last blog post, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to include Buckley and Buddy in my sketch. That just wasn’t right! How could I have been so thoughtless? They had waited patiently for me for over an hour as I drew and painted; they certainly deserved a spot on the page. So I managed to squeeze them in – can you find them?
After the Walk: Finishing a Nature Sketch in the Studio
In yesterday’s post, (find it here), I shared how this page began with a walk in the woods and a “5-5-5 Sketch Challenge”, where I walked, drew, and painted one image at a time to create a composite sketch. The plein air sketching session gave me a good start on this page, but it needed […]
A Walk with the Boys
One Sunday in early spring, I decided to do a 5-5-5 Sketch Challenge: I would walk for 5 minutes, draw for 5 minutes, and paint for 5 minutes until I had filled a page (or two) in my sketchbook.
Come along with me and the boys, and see how a blank sketchbook page develops, step-by-step, into a complete sketch!
California Road Trip – Part 3: 17-Mile Drive
One of the prettiest stretches of coastline that I saw during my recent trip to California was 17-Mile Drive in Monterey. This scenic road meanders around the Monterey peninsula, offering spectacular views of rocky beaches, crashing waves, and abundant wildlife. Ink & watercolor in a 5″ x 6-1/2″ Khadi hardbound sketchbook with rough textured 140 […]
California Road Trip – Part 2
In my last post (California Road Trip – Part I), I gave some insights into how I create a “flow sketch”, a page design loosely based on a flowchart. What’s a flowchart? It’s defined as “a diagram of the sequence of movements or actions of people or things involved in a complex system or activity.” […]
California Road Trip – Part 1 + Creating a Flow Sketch
My workshop in Santa Barbara last month was a huge success, and the road trip that followed, although not quite what I had expected, was a lot of fun, too, and showed me a part of California that I had always wanted to see. I took hundreds of pictures along the way, so I have […]
Accordion-Fold Flower and Quote Journal
I have a LOT of unfinished sketchbooks, some of which I’ve been adding to since 2012! These UFOs (UnFinished Objects) don’t bother me – I like filling them gradually over time – but I have to admit that there’s something very satisfying about finally completing one. Accordion-fold sketchbook made with 140 lb. Kilimanjaro watercolor paper […]
