When I stayed with my friend Karen in southern California for a few days earlier this month, I was amazed that we could go out into her yard and pick all sorts of tropical fruit right off the trees that grew on the slope below her house. Every morning I had fresh grapefruit for breakfast […]
Category: Nature Journaling
Casa Romantica Gridded Sketch
Earlier this month I taught a two-day plein air sketching class called “Sketch Your World” in San Clemente, CA, and on the second day we visited Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens. The Casa was closed for the day, but they allowed our group to come and paint, so we had the place all to […]
Sketches from Maine!
Maine was WONDERFUL! The lupines were in bloom, the weather was close to perfect, Primrose Cottage was as cute as ever, and the students who joined me for the painting retreats were an absolute joy to be with. Getting to spend two weeks there this year was the icing on the cake. I fell in […]
March Calendar Sketch…31 and DONE!
I’ve always wanted to try keeping a monthly calendar filled with daily sketches. It’s something I often suggest to my students, but I had never actually done it myself…until now! Ink & watercolor in a 12″ x 9″ American Journey journaling sketchbook I started this calendar page on March 1 and finished up today, the […]
“Fickle February” Sketch + Step-by-Step Swirly Vine Border
Last month it seemed like the weather just couldn’t make up its mind. We experienced snow, rain, ice, fog, sleet, high winds, and warm sunshine here in western Pennsylvania. After the weeks of extended cold in January, I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw crocus leaves pushing their way up through the melting […]
Sketches from Maine – Step-by-Step Iris Watercolor
Merryspring Nature Center is an idyllic little gem in the heart of mid-coast Maine. The day we visited, we had the place entirely to ourselves. There was so much to draw that I found myself wandering around for awhile just taking it all in, waiting for something to “speak” to me. Should I do a […]
Sketches from Maine, Part I
I’ve been finishing up some of the sketches I did while in Maine earlier this summer, and it’s been a lot of fun reliving that special time that I shared with my mother and five students. Three of them flew all the way from California to be there! All sketches were done in a 9″ […]
Spring Wildflowers Sketch
Something pretty to brighten your day…a hillside covered with wildflowers near Prosperity, PA. Woodland carpet of wild blue phlox, 5″ x 3-1/2″, watercolor in a Moleskine sketchbook I just couldn’t pass them by without stopping to sketch. I always tell my students that sketchbook journaling is all about sketching what makes you say “Wow!”, what […]
Crazy for Daffodils!
Daffydowndilly has come up to town, in a yellow petticoat and a green gown.~ Traditional nursery rhyme I taught a lesson on painting yellow daffodils the other day for my April “Sketching at Summerhill” party, and one of my sweet friends who came to paint brought me a gorgeous bouquet of daffodils from her garden. […]
A Change of Season
Spring is here! Flocks of robins are hopping all over our yard and the snow is finally gone! 8-1/2″ x 11″, ink & watercolor in a Stillman & Birn Beta series sketchbook. Drawings done with a black Pigma Micron 01 pen. Last Friday was officially the first day of spring, and even though the temperatures […]
