As I painted this sketch yesterday, I thought about all the chances I’ve been offered in my life, the ones I took and the ones I didn’t. Watercolor sketch in a 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ Stillman & Birn Delta series sketchbook And as my thoughts meandered back to younger days and decisions I’d made that impacted […]
Category: Sketches
January Calendar – Part II
My January calendar still needs a few finishing touches, like a border on the outside edge and some color between the boxes, but while I’m working on those, here’s a step-by-step explanation of how I drew the elliptical layout for the 12″ x 9″ calendar page. 31-day elliptical calendar layout 1 – Use a pencil […]
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 […]
Hotel del Coronado Sketch – Opinions, Please!
Whew! The holidays are over and the January lull has arrived. Don’t you love it? I really enjoy this quiet time of year, when there’s not usually much going on, and I have time to catch up on some of those projects that have been put on the back burner for awhile. I haven’t been […]
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 […]
Tropical harvest
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 […]
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wishing you all a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving!
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 […]
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 […]







