Five days of sunshine, warm breezes, and gorgeous aquamarine water are enough to lift anyone’s spirit. Stepping off of a plane in Florida in January is like emerging from a long, dark, damp, cold tunnel that you thought you’d never see the end of. There were palm trees and flowers and people wearing shorts! What […]
Category: Travel
It’s Here! Grab a Copy of “Sketchbook Journeys: Italy”
Ever since I finished my Italy travel journal, I’ve been wanting to publish it as a Blurb book, just like I did with my Ireland sketchbook back in 2011. But it’s been over a year since I put the final brushstroke on that last sketch of Pisa, and this project just kept getting pushed to […]
A Dream Fulfilled…Teaching in Tuscany!
Ever since I sketched my way through Italy a year ago, I’ve dreamed of going back one day and taking a group of sketching friends with me. Well, my friends, it’s happening! I’ve been invited to return to Tuscany in 2015 to teach sketchbook journaling, and I’d love for you to come along! In early […]
It’s A Perfect Day in Maine
I’m in Maine on vacation with my mother, sister, niece, and good-friend-who’s-like-a-sister, and we’re having the BEST time! We’re staying in a pretty house in Owls Head, just south of Rockland in mid-coast Maine. The weather has been amazing – the air is crisp and clear and everything is so gorgeous I can hardly stand […]
Finishing Touches to My Italy Travel Journal
I always wait to do the title page for a travel journal until after I’ve completed all the sketches. I like to get a feel for what the content of the journal is before deciding on the style and subject matter for the title page. 10″ x 7″, ink & watercolor in Stillman & Birn […]
Sketchbook Journeys – Italy: Day16 (Home at last!)
Well, here I am, almost a year after I flew off for my Italian adventure, and I’m finally posting the final pages of my travel journal – I’m nothing if not persistent! 10″ x 7″, ink & watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta series sketchbook It’s been fun reliving the journey as I finished up […]
Sketchbook Journeys – Italy: Day 15 (Pisa)
After seeing pictures of the Leaning Tower all my life and reading about it in guidebooks, I was expecting it to be nothing more than a gaudy tourist trap. Suzie and I felt obligated to see it. After all, we were in Pisa, and our hotel was only two blocks away from it. So in […]
Sketchbook Journeys – Italy: Day 15 (From Cinque Terre to Pisa)
I squeezed in one last sketch of the harbor at Manarola on our last morning in Cinque Terre… 10″ x 7″, ink & watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta series sketchbook I used the angled fence of the pedestrian walkway to create a unique lower border on the sketch, and extended the fishing boats out […]
Some Things I Learned…
I had saved a blank page in my travel journal to add another sketch of Cinque Terre after I returned home, but later changed my mind and decided to do a page about all the things I learned about Italy during my trip. I had read lots of guidebooks before the trip and watched videos […]
Sketchbook Journeys – Italy: Day 14 (Sunset in Cinque Terre)
Sunset in Cinque Terre…one of the most amazing scenes of the entire trip. 10″ x 7″ ink & watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta series sketchbook. Sketched on location with Pigma Micron pen, black, and painted later at home. It seemed almost too beautiful and perfect to be real. The picture postcard village of Manarola […]
