Summer does get busy, doesn’t it? We were away at the beach in Oak Island, NC, last week, and I barely had time to get the laundry done before I had to start getting ready for a two-day “Sketch It Now” workshop here at Summerhill this weekend. Then on Tuesday I’ll be flying off to […]
Category: Sketches
France Sketchbook – Eiffel Tower Step-by-Step Watercolor Tutorial
Here’s the tutorial I promised you about how I painted the sketch of the Eiffel Tower that I did on location in Paris… I had sketched the tower lightly with pencil first to give myself a guide to follow. I was careful to use a center line, which helped me to keep it straight and […]
France Sketchbook – Day 2 – Paris (continued)
(Read part I of Day 2 here.) After we left the Tuileries, we hopped on the bus and began to make our way to the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to see it up close and maybe do a little sketching, but the traffic in Paris that day was even worse than usual. There were all […]
France Sketchbook – Day 2 – Paris
6″ x 8″, ink & watercolor on 140 lb. Kilimanjaro watercolor paper On Day 2 of our Paris visit, we were feeling pretty energetic, since we had gotten a good night’s sleep and were recovering from the time change. My friend, Karen, who was coming to the workshop in Provence, was in Paris, so she […]
France Sketchbook – Day 1
Hello out there! It’s been so long since I’ve checked in here that you might have been wondering if I got lost in Paris and never made it home. 🙂 No such luck. (Just kidding, Fred!) I’m back home safe and sound, just catching up on things and taking some time to relax with the […]
Bon Voyage!
Today’s the day! It’s finally here. This afternoon I’m flying to Paris! I’ve been dreaming of this for years. I remember buying a Paris guidebook almost twenty years ago in the hopes that I would somehow find a way to visit that magical, mythical place one day. It all seems unreal, the fact that I’m […]
Going Back to My Roots with a Simple Little Travel Journal
Fred and I celebrated forty happy years of marriage this past winter, and we decided it would be fun to take a little trip down memory lane and go back to where we met, married, and lived as newlyweds. Our celebratory getaway was delayed a few weeks due to our schedules, but the stars finally […]
3 Easy Ways to Transfer Lettering to a Sketchbook Page
Have you ever wondered if there’s a better way to add lettering to a sketchbook page than simply drawing it directly on the paper? Sometimes we aren’t sure exactly what style we want to use or what size we need to fit in a particular spot. So we sketch a title or a phrase, then […]
Painting Lavender at Summerhill
It was a cold, dreary day with occasional rain showers and blustery wind here in western Pennsylvania on Thursday, but that didn’t stop my Summerhill Sketchers from gathering for a class on painting lavender fields. I’ve been working on the lessons for my workshop in Provence in June, and I thought I’d try this one […]
Casa Romantica Step-by-Step
One of the assignments I gave the students during my “Sketching on Location” workshop in San Clemente last month was to look for a view that was framed by something, like an arch, columns, or trees. Dutiful teacher that I am, I decided to set an example by sketching the view through the arches on […]
