One of the lessons I taught my students while in Tuscany was about using thumbnail sketches to zero in on a scene and test out various compositional options. I suggested using a separate sketchbook page for the thumbnails and later turning that page, with its accumulation of tiny scenes, into a dynamic page in its […]
Category: Sketchbook Journaling
2016 Tuscany Workshop
Imagine yourself wandering through the cobblestone streets of this medieval hilltop village in Tuscany. You stop at a sidewalk cafe for a cappuccino and pull out your sketchbook to begin drawing an ancient stone building across the way. Sip…….look……..paint……..see. This is the way we experience Tuscany, taking the time to meander and explore, or to […]
Step-by-Step Watercolor: Fattoria Bacio
In one of my recent posts, I promised I would show you the step-by-step process I used to paint a sketch of Fattoria Bacio, our workshop location in Tuscany. The villa is perched on top of a hill, surrounded by vineyards and olive groves. One pretty fall morning, I walked out along the ridge, about […]
Day Trip to San Gimignano and Saying Goodbye to Tuscany
It had been a fantastic week at Fattoria Bacio and our final days gave us more of the same. The sunrise Thursday morning was spectacular… and the skies cleared by breakfast time, forecasting a perfect day for our trip to San Gimignano. But as we ate our breakfast, a stealthy fog began to fill the […]
Hanging Around the Villa
After a full day in the bustling city of Siena, it was nice to have some time to relax at the villa on Wednesday. Wednesday morning, and every morning, when I woke up and looked out my window, I just had to smile…I was in Italy! One of my sketches of the view from the […]
Sketching in Siena
We took the train into Siena on Tuesday and spent the day walking around the city. Siena is famous for the Palio de Siena, a horse race that is run twice a year around the Piazza del Campo, the large sloping square in the center of town. There were no horses to be seen on […]
Certaldo – A Hilltop Gem
The medieval town of Certaldo is just a few miles down the road from Fattoria Bacio. It’s so perfectly preserved that visiting it is like stepping back in time. Certaldo is a lesser-known Tuscan hill town, so we almost felt like we had it to ourselves yesterday when we visited. We spent hours wandering about, […]
The Perfect Plein Air Sketching Setup
I’m always on the lookout for new ideas to simplify my plein air/travel sketching kit and when Marc Taro Holmes first introduced the idea of using corrugated plastic boards as a base for his palette, sketchbook, and tools, I thought it was a great idea and have been using it ever since. (Corrugated plastic, sold […]
Beach Flip
It’s been a busy summer, hasn’t it? I’m really not ready to say goodbye to warm days, big blue hyrdangea blossoms, and fresh veggies from the garden, but there’s definitely a hint of autumn in the air and I have to say I love having four seasons to experience every year. There’s something wonderful to […]
Last Sketch from Maine: The Sisterhood
When you spend a week with someone, you really get to know them. Luckily, all the women I went to Maine with were absolutely WONDERFUL! Each one of them added something special to the group, and it was really hard to say goodbye to all of them at the end of the week. Our time […]
