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?
Category: Page Design
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 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 […]
January Calendar – Part III
My January 2019 daily calendar is finally finished! I chose cool blues and purples for the borders and the spaces between the blocks. It seemed the perfect choice for a month filled with every kind of cold, dreary weather you can imagine. 12″ x 9″, ink & watercolor in an American Journey watercolor journal It […]
January Calendar – Part I
Occasionally I get the urge to keep a sketched daily calendar for a full month. Last spring I did three months in a row in March, April, and May, and that was enough to last me for awhile. I figured I would do another month whenever the mood struck, and eventually I would have a whole year’s […]
Hotel del Coronado Sketch – Finished!
In my previous post, I showed you several color options for the title lettering on my unfinished sketch of Hotel del Coronado and asked which you thought worked best. I received lots of comments both here on my blog and on a Facebook group that I participate in and could tell you all put a […]
Sketching at Cabrillo National Monument
When I was in San Diego last month, my friend Karen and I enjoyed an afternoon of sketching at Cabrillo National Monument on the Point Loma Peninsula. I’ve sketched a lot of East Coast lighthouses and was excited to finally have a chance to paint a West Coast one! I decided to do a two-page […]
Step-by-Step Sketch – Mission San Juan Capistrano
My how time flies! It’s been almost a month since I returned from gallivanting around Sicily and England, and I’ve been longing to share some pictures with you and work on finishing up my travel journal, but I’ve had to put all that on hold while I put the finishing touches on the two classes […]
The Evolution of a Time-Lapse Sketch
I’ve been experimenting a little this summer with using toned paper, in preparation for a new class I’ll be teaching in San Clemente, CA, in November, and Keeton’s Art Supply in Bradenton, FL, in February 2019. I’ve tried Caran d’Ache colored paper, Strathmore toned paper, and Stillman and Birn Nova sketchbooks. My most recent attempt […]
