Earlier this month, I taught a brand new workshop in Florida called “Creating Composite Sketches,” where I shared lots of great information on how to design sketches featuring multiple images on a page. I showed examples of some of my favorite composite sketches and shared helpful tips on page design, borders, lettering, and painting techniques. […]
Category: painting
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 7: Sea Stars
The Sea Center, part of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, is located right on Stearns Wharf, and it was a great place to visit for some onsite sketching during my recent trip to Santa Barbara. The displays are outstanding and feature a rich variety of wildlife from the Santa Barbara channel. Jelly fish, […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 5
I’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays, painting Christmas cards, baking cookies, and trying to do a little decorating despite the upheaval here, with our basement construction project still in full swing. We have boxes filled with plumbing supplies, flooring, lighting, and much more piled in the front hall and spilling over into the […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 4
Okay, I know Halloween is over but I just couldn’t resist sharing this fun sketch with you. Two-page spread in a 10″ x 7″ Handbook Field Watercolor Journal. Ink & watercolor. The day my friend, Karen, and I went to the Omni Resort for a sketch outing (read about it here), there was a “Monster […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 3
Before I left for California, my friend asked what I wanted to see and do while I was visiting. I told her I just wanted to hang out, talk, relax, and paint. And that’s what we did! We sketched and chatted and laughed and inspired each other. We watched sunrises and sunsets and drank wine […]
Santa Barbara Travel Journal – Part 2
I love getting together with other artists to paint on location. It gets the creative juices flowing and pushes me to look at a scene from a different viewpoint or try a new technique. I’m always inspired by the originality and creativity that flow from the most self-effacing people. I had a chance to meet […]
Road Trip Ramblings (Step-by-Step)
My mother turned 90 a few weeks ago, and we celebrated with a girls’ getaway to Smith Mountain Lake, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. My sister, daughter, and niece all joined me and my mom for four days of birthday merriment. My daughter, Sara, and mother, Saundra But we didn’t wait until we […]
Rocky Maine Beaches
The Schoodic Peninsula is the only part of Acadia National Park that’s on the mainland. It’s famous for rocky cliffs and crashing waves, but on the day we visited in June, the tide was on its way out and things were fairly calm. It was still beautiful. I mean, how can you complain about a […]
Perry’s Lobster Shack
A lobster shack is a humble, oftentimes rough-and-tumble establishment located close to the water which serves fresh-cooked lobster and often a variety of other seafood. Lobster shacks offer no-frills dining with a sea view and food that was pulled from the sea just hours before it lands on your plate. They’re an essential part of […]
To Know ME is to Love ME
To know ME is to love ME. (ME as in the state of MAINE, that is!) The Schoodic Peninsula, Winterport, Maine Ah, Maine! That dreamy place where I cast aside all my cares, to-do lists, and obligations and just relax and absorb the wonder of it all. Merryspring Gardens, Camden, Maine We just returned from […]
