During my recent Santa Barbara workshop, I took the class on a sketching field trip to Rincon Point Beach, which was just down the hill from the barn where our class was held. Rincon Point is a world-famous surfing spot, but we settled in on the quieter side of the point where a long, crescent-shaped […]
Category: Sketchbooks
Santa Barbara Mission Sketches
It’s the week before Christmas, and I’ve been busy shopping, wrapping, and making my signature Dark Chocolate Pecan English Toffee, but I thought I’d take a break from Christmas preparations to share a few more sketches from Santa Barbara that I hadn’t gotten around to posting earlier. This one is my favorite painting from the […]
California Road Trip – Part 2
In my last post (California Road Trip – Part I), I gave some insights into how I create a “flow sketch”, a page design loosely based on a flowchart. What’s a flowchart? It’s defined as “a diagram of the sequence of movements or actions of people or things involved in a complex system or activity.” […]
California Road Trip – Part 1 + Creating a Flow Sketch
My workshop in Santa Barbara last month was a huge success, and the road trip that followed, although not quite what I had expected, was a lot of fun, too, and showed me a part of California that I had always wanted to see. I took hundreds of pictures along the way, so I have […]
Autumn Sketches from Here and There
I’ve been trying out a new sketchbook lately, the Khadi 6-1/2″ x 5″ hardback with 140 lb. rough paper. I’m enjoying the highly textured surface and the way it handles multiple washes with ease. Pencil lines erase easily, and all of the pens I’ve used in it glide across the handmade paper easily. The modest […]
Sketches from Croatia – Part 4 – The Island of Korcula
Most of our time during my Croatia workshop was spent on the island of Korcula, which lies just off the mainland, about a two hour drive from Dubrovnik. Our home base was the small town of Lumbarda, and it was nice to be able to settle in for eight days without having to change locations. […]
Sketches from Croatia – Part 3 – Konavle & Cavtat
One of the most memorable meals of my Croatia trip was at an out-of-the-way place about an hour from Dubrovnik. Our villa host had recommended the restaurant, but she didn’t prepare us for the very different experience that awaited us at Konoba Vinica Monkovic. A 20-minute Uber ride took us south from Cilipi, through fertile […]
Sketches from Croatia – Part 1 – Pre-trip Sketches
Where in the world is Croatia? 7-1/2″ x 7-1/2″, ink & watercolor sketch on 140 lb. Kilimanjaro watercolor paper That was the question that popped into my mind when I received an invitation from Slikamilina Painting Tours to teach a workshop on the island of Korcula in Croatia. A little bit of Googling showed me […]
Summerhill Sketching Retreat Recap – Part 2
The first inaugural Summerhill Sketching Retreat continued with a day-long field trip to Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous architectural masterpiece, Fallingwater, which was recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Click here to catch up and read Part 1 of this two-part post.) Fallingwater is located in the Laurel Highlands, about an hour east of us, and it […]
Sketches from Montreal and Quebec City
My husband Fred and I were in Canada last week for a real honest-to-goodness vacation. No teaching for me or work for him, just a chance to relax and enjoy some time together in a place that neither of us had visited before. I debated about taking a sketch kit along. I’m feeling burdened lately […]