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 […]
Category: Nature Journaling
“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 […]
January Sketching – Days 5-9
I’m always at least a day behind on this January challenge, but I’ve decided not to stress over it. After all, it’s supposed to be fun, right? Well, here are five more sketches that I’ve completed… Day 5 – Draw a bridge This is an old stone railroad bridge that spans Ten-Mile Creek in Jefferson, […]
A Very Chilly Morning
It’s been absolutely frigid here for the past week, and it looks like it’s going down below zero again tonight. Our house is perched on top of a hill, so we are buffeted by winter winds all season long, and it’s really been shaking the house today! But we’ve had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets. […]
Fall Harvest Journal Page + Step-by-Step Border
This page from my new nature journal shows a selection of what I collected the other day when I took a walk in the woods near our house. I wanted to see how many “crops” (seeds, nuts, and berries) I could find as fall dwindles down and winter moves in. Ink & watercolor, two-page spread […]
