Every spring I’m tempted to sketch the bleeding heart plant that grows by our front porch, but I’m usually so busy weeding, pruning, mulching, and planting that I never get around to it. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the spring with all the yard work and gardening I have to do, but this year […]
Category: Sketchbook Journaling
Sketching at Phipps
Flowers, friends, food, and sketching – put them all together and you have the makings of a perfect day! Ink and watercolor, 7″ x 10″ Canson sketchbook with 140 lb. paper This past Wednesday, I joined a group of artists from the McMurray Art League on an outing to Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh to see […]
Like A Proud Parent…
I’ve been teaching a lot of classes lately, and it’s been such an incredibly gratifying experience. I feel just like a proud parent when I walk around the classroom and see the fantastic, creative, original work that my students are doing. I learn so much from them! They listen to my ideas and instructions, then […]
“Between the Covers” Sketchbook Show
Between the Covers: Artists and Their Sketchbooks Artbeat Gallery Opening reception Friday, May 9, 2014 7-9 pm Artbeat gallery will be showcasing the sketchbooks of regional artists for three weeks in May at their Waynesburg, PA, location. The exhibit will give viewers a glimpse into the artists’ creative process – a peek behind-the-scenes to see […]
Squeezing in Sketching Time
Sketching time has been scarce for me lately, and I’ve really been missing it. Teaching, commission work, spring garden chores, and a whole host of other obligations have been filling my days, and it seems like everything needs to be done right now! When things start to get out of whack like that for me, […]
Finishing Touches to My Italy Travel Journal
I always wait to do the title page for a travel journal until after I’ve completed all the sketches. I like to get a feel for what the content of the journal is before deciding on the style and subject matter for the title page. 10″ x 7″, ink & watercolor in Stillman & Birn […]
Sketchbook Journeys – Italy: Day16 (Home at last!)
Well, here I am, almost a year after I flew off for my Italian adventure, and I’m finally posting the final pages of my travel journal – I’m nothing if not persistent! 10″ x 7″, ink & watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta series sketchbook It’s been fun reliving the journey as I finished up […]
Sketchbook Journeys – Italy: Day 15 (Pisa)
After seeing pictures of the Leaning Tower all my life and reading about it in guidebooks, I was expecting it to be nothing more than a gaudy tourist trap. Suzie and I felt obligated to see it. After all, we were in Pisa, and our hotel was only two blocks away from it. So in […]
Sketchbook Journeys – Italy: Day 15 (From Cinque Terre to Pisa)
I squeezed in one last sketch of the harbor at Manarola on our last morning in Cinque Terre… 10″ x 7″, ink & watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta series sketchbook I used the angled fence of the pedestrian walkway to create a unique lower border on the sketch, and extended the fishing boats out […]
Some Things I Learned…
I had saved a blank page in my travel journal to add another sketch of Cinque Terre after I returned home, but later changed my mind and decided to do a page about all the things I learned about Italy during my trip. I had read lots of guidebooks before the trip and watched videos […]
