Life can become a bit of a blur sometimes, can’t it? One day merges into the next and before you know it, another month has gone by. I have trouble remembering what I did yesterday, not to mention last week! But I’ve found that keeping a daily sketched calendar is a great way to capture […]
Category: Step-by-Step
Hotel del Coronado Sketch – Finished!
In my previous post, I showed you several color options for the title lettering on my unfinished sketch of Hotel del Coronado and asked which you thought worked best. I received lots of comments both here on my blog and on a Facebook group that I participate in and could tell you all put a […]
Hotel del Coronado Sketch – Opinions, Please!
Whew! The holidays are over and the January lull has arrived. Don’t you love it? I really enjoy this quiet time of year, when there’s not usually much going on, and I have time to catch up on some of those projects that have been put on the back burner for awhile. I haven’t been […]
Step-by-Step Sketch – Mission San Juan Capistrano
My how time flies! It’s been almost a month since I returned from gallivanting around Sicily and England, and I’ve been longing to share some pictures with you and work on finishing up my travel journal, but I’ve had to put all that on hold while I put the finishing touches on the two classes […]
Maine Pebble Sketch with Step-by-Step Tutorial
One of the things I enjoy most about Maine is the rocky beaches filled with stones of varying sizes, colors, and textures. This year, for the first time, I thought I’d try to capture those colorful pebbles in a sketch. Here’s what I came up with…. Ink & watercolor in a 9″ x 6″ hardcover […]
April Calendar Sketch
I had so much fun last month keeping a daily sketched calendar that I decided to continue with the month of April. (Read about my March 2018 calendar here.) Click to enlarge Never one to get stuck in a rut, I changed my layout to reflect the essence of April. It’s a month of high […]
France Sketchbook – Villa Glanum + The Thinking Process Behind Page Design
After a morning spent sketching at Saint Paul-de-Mausole monastery, my students and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch at our hotel, then we gathered for class outdoors under the shade trees in the courtyard. (This post is a continuation of my travel journal postings from a trip to Paris and Provence. As I finish up the […]
Super Simple Slip-On Sketchbook Cover
Have you ever heard of oilcloth? It’s a finely woven cotton fabric that has a waterproof vinyl coating applied to one side. I happened to spy some cute oilcloth on the clearance table at Hobby Lobby the other day and thought, “Wouldn’t that make a great sketchbook cover?” So, I snapped up a half yard […]
How to Paint a Snow-Covered Evergreen Tree – Technique #2
(This is the second in a series on how to paint a snow-covered evergreen tree. Read about Technique #1 in this post.) Snow-covered evergreen trees are a complex subject to paint. There are so many branches and layers and angles – how do you know where to start? This technique breaks the painting process down […]
How to Paint a Snow-Covered Evergreen Tree – Technique #1
It’s been snowing and blowing for weeks here in western Pennsylvania, with temperatures below zero some nights and highs in the teens. What better time, then, to paint snow-covered evergreens? I have two different techniques for painting snow on evergreen trees. Here’s a condensed version of the instructions for Technique #1 – click to enlarge […]