I visited my mother last week at Alpine Lake, West Virginia, and while I was there spent a wonderfully relaxing couple of hours following the walking trail that meanders through the woods along the shoreline. There are so many pretty, sketch-worthy scenes, but I finally chose this one: Stillman & Birn Zeta series sketchbook, 7″ […]
Category: Watercolor
Painting a House Portrait Using Simple Sketching Techniques
How did this little sketch… 5 1/2″ x 3 1/2″, ink & watercolor in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook lead to this finished painting? 14″ x 10″, ink, watercolor, and gouache on 140 lb. Saunders Waterford paper Well… when my dentist and his wife saw the sketch I did of the coffee corner in their office […]
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 […]
Summerhill Sketching + Two Delicious Summer Recipes
Yesterday afternoon I hosted my July “Sketching at Summerhill” session. It was a gorgeous summer day around here, with blue skies, puffy clouds, and lots of flowers showing off their colors. We had such a great time sketching, talking, eating, and relaxing, and I thought you might want to take a peek and see what […]
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 […]
Step-by-Step Watercolor: How to Paint a Blue Hydrangea
Everybody loves hydrangeas. They’re big and showy, and the range of colors runs from the palest baby blue to deep burgundy and purple. I love them all, but my favorite has always been the traditional blue mophead hydrangea, and I thought you might enjoy seeing step-by-step photos of how I go about painting one. 6-1/2″ […]
Win An Original Watercolor Painting!
The “Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful” organization in conjunction with Greene County Tourism will be raffling off my watercolor painting “High Street Panorama” at their upcoming Summer Open House June 6, 2014, 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm in downtown Waynesburg, Pennsylvania “High Street Panorama,” 24″ x 6″ watercolor with pen & ink on Fabriano Artistico 140 […]
Sketches from “Between the Covers” Art Show
I promised I would show you some of the sketches from the artists who participated in the “Between the Covers” art show that I was involved with at Artbeat gallery. I had a hard time choosing which sketches to share, since there was such a huge variety of styles and subject matter. In the end […]
Bleeding Heart Sketch with Watercolor Calligraphy
Every spring I’m tempted to sketch the bleeding heart plant that grows by our front porch, but I’m usually so busy weeding, pruning, mulching, and planting that I never get around to it. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the spring with all the yard work and gardening I have to do, but this year […]
Sketching at Phipps
Flowers, friends, food, and sketching – put them all together and you have the makings of a perfect day! Ink and watercolor, 7″ x 10″ Canson sketchbook with 140 lb. paper This past Wednesday, I joined a group of artists from the McMurray Art League on an outing to Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh to see […]