Thrift Haul: Faber Castell Pitt Graphic Pencils

On a recent trip to the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, I found this little kit of pencils and snatched them up for $1.25!  What an amazing find!

The kit included a 2B, 4B, 10B and 12B Pitt Graphite pencil, and a soft white pastel pencil, all by Faber Castell.  The graphite pencils cover a wide range of values, from black through light grays.

I tested out the kit by making this sketch of my potted indoor fig tree in my nature journal.  The tree has just begun to unfurl new leaves in the winter sunshine.

I love the dark shadows I can create with these pencils, and the way they stand up to hard pressure.  The graphite didn't break as soft pencils often do.  

I was also surprised at how I could erase marks cleanly with a gum eraser.  Most of my other 9B and softer pencils leave behind residual marks when erased.

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, I hope you'll stop by the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.  It's my favorite thrift shop by far.  The staff are kind & happy to help, the supplies are of good quality and ever changing, and the vibe is creative & friendly.

 Happy Creating!

Nature Journal Update

Over the last few weeks, I've been getting out on hikes and finding spots to sit and sketch wintry scenes like the one above of a young sycamore tree against an evergreen down by a snowy lake.

Have you ever noticed how your fastest drawings are often the ones you like the best?

On hikes in the park with David, my body warms up while moving. When we stop for a break, I find something small or simple to sketch.  Soon enough, it's time to get back to hiking, but the little breaks give me just enough time to make a quick drawing.  I love these quick ones as they show the energy of discovery.

When it's truly cold, I sit inside by the birdfeeder and make quick sketches of the visitors. I hurriedly drew the chickadee at the top right from observing a live bird.  Frustrated when the chickadee flew away, I looked up a photo online and made a watercolor sketch at the bottom left from that reference.

Most recently, I found a tiny mud coccoon inside a hollowed out acorn -- probably the work of a mud dauber wasp in the warmer months.  I made several drawings of the cozy little bug home.

I took a photo of the coccoon acorn with some of the other empty nut hulls in the shelter where we took our mid-hike snack break.

What are you finding to draw in your nature journal? Do you prefer drawing big-picture landscapes or smaller details?  Plants? Animals? What's your favorite thing in nature to draw these days?

I hope you take some time to sketch your favorite things!

Happy Creating!

New Year, New Inspiration!

I recently visited the Text and conText Lab at the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Library, where I met artist Sydney DuBose (above).

Sydney is an improv comedy artist in the Pittsburgh area who works at the Text and conText Lab.  She was making New Year's prints on the lab's historic Columbian printing press. 

Sydney kindly showed me step-by-step how she inked the linoleum block, laid a piece of paper on top, then used the printing press to transfer the print to the paper.

She even let me operate the antique machine!

Sydney designed her art with a pencil sketch on paper, then transferred the design to a linoleum block, and carved the design using linoleum cutters like the one shown below.

Here's a look at the carved linoleum block with gold ink applied to it, ready for printing.  The numbers had to be carved in reverse for the design to read correctly on the final print.

Here's the final print in gold ink on black paper.  

Visiting the Text and conText Lab gave me that flush of inspiration you get when you see where other artists work.  Seeing a studio space, the tools, examples of artworks, and art in action, sparked new ideas for me.

If you're in a creative lull, or you just would like to have sparkly new ideas pop into your head, I recommend visiting the Text and conText Lab in Hillman Library.  If you're not in the Pittsburgh area, is there a creative place you've been meaning to visit -- an art gallery, art school, theater or museum? 

I hope you take the time to take yourself on an "art date" to a place like the studio where I met the kind and talented Sydney DuBose.

If you'd like to learn more about Sydney, you can follow her socials

 @sydneydcomedy

The press Sydney was using was designed in the United States and built in England in the 1800's.  You can read more about it here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/AaMVk9uhRw28FzOsdH6a5g

Many thanks to Sydney DuBose and the staff at Univ. of Pittsburgh's Text and conText Lab.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and New Inspiration!

May 2026 be filled with creativity for us all.

Creating an Ever-Folding Book with La Scarlatte

I've enjoyed watching artist Pauline Teunissen, who calls herself La Scarlatte, on her Substack and YouTube, where she demonstrates a design for a multi-page illustration she calls an ever-folding book.  

Above is the front page of my ever-folding book.  I had some pumpkins leftover from a drawing class I taught, and added rose hips and chestnuts to the still life.  In the mornings at the breakfast table, I'd sketch as the light came in through the windows.

With three sheets of paper, each folded in quarters, there are a lot of different views in this one book.  Below is a page where I added a blue shadow behind the pumpkin stem, then decided I didn't like the look of it, and turned it into a blue bottle.

Mistakes can lead to "happy accidents" as Bob Ross would say, and I love the effect of the blue glass against the orange pumpkin.

Flipping another couple of pages, I added this turkey feather in a blue jar.

I found it tricky to make each page make sense in the context of the other pages, so I ended up repeating the large pumpkin in most of the pages.

But this gave me the opportunity to create variations, like using the blue from the bottle and jar to create shadows on the orange pumpkin in the bottom right panel.  I like the way using that blue in three places connects the pieces of the composition.

Another page flip, and I added an animal to the story to liven things up a bit.  I found a photo of a little Carolina Wren on Pixabay, and added her to the scene.

Pixabay is a source of copyright free photos you can use to make art from.

And a final flip shows my favorite drawing of the little pumpkin.  The light coming in the windows the morning I drew this was bright enough to make lovely shadows.  I had so much fun drawing this little pumpkin!

I enjoyed the challenge of creating a new composition with each flip of the page, and liked drawing on different colored papers.  I didn't plan the drawings out, really.  It was more like a puzzle to be solved the moment I turned to a fresh view.

You can find instructions for making an ever-folding book by joining La Scarlatte's Substack here:

https://lascarlatte.substack.com/

You can see her ever-folding book on her YouTube channel here: 

https://youtu.be/WS7lG5Qxnpk?si=MgE0kx2SEll32zM0

I hope you'll give this a try!

Happy Creating!

Pencil Drawing: A Voice from the Past

A dear friend was cleaning out his studio and gave me this book.  I've been admiring the illustrations -- all done in graphite pencil.

Sometimes, it's simply fun to "picture walk" through a book (as my eldest called it in their childhood), absorbing inspiration from the images.

As artists, we learn from copying other artists.  

These simple exercises in mark making and value studies keep our hand limber, help us expand our skills and explore new types of marks we can use in our drawings.

I hope you copy some of these pages and then add your own twist.

Wishing you sparkling inspiration and happy creating!

With Gratitude to Our Osher Figure Drawing Models

In the late fall, I teach a figure drawing class for Osher at CMU.  Class recently concluded, and I have been reflecting on the inspiration my models bring to us. 

Every model brought a unique collection of gesture & long poses, each pose telling a story. 

One model shared with me that she was inspired by the full moon that had risen the night before, and as she held a standing, stretching pose, she pictured holding the moon in her arms. 

Her imagination crafted an elegant pose, and the artists could feel her creative energy uplifting us as we drew.

Our Osher models are performance artists, like dancers, yet their dance is stilled motion. 

I admire how our models are co-creators in our drawings.  Their imagination and hard work inspires our sketches and long drawings. 

Many thanks to all our models.  Their work is the foundation of our work.

My figure drawing class met weekly for 5 weeks.  I began class with a slide show for inspiration, and we moved on to gesture drawings to warm up.  Our model held a long pose of about an hour, and we drew with charcoal or pastels.  We finished each class with an art show, admiring the artists' works.

If you're interested in learning more about Osher at CMU, and how you can register for classes, you can learn more here: https://www.cmu.edu/osher/about/index.html

Happy Creating!

Turning a Bad Photo into Good Art

The image above is not a good photo.  The lighting is dull, and there's too much clutter distracting your eye from the beauty of the creek snaking through the hilly woodland. 

Yet, photos like this one still have an artistic purpose.  They make good reference photos for art, especially when it's too cold to sit outside and draw in person!

I started with a sketch of the main elements in the scene, and began adding in areas of color.

The photo was taken just before 6" of snow fell, so I wanted to get the white-gray appearance of the sky. 

I turned the pencil on its side to create a soft, uniform area of color for the snow clouds.

With the sky and the icy creek laid in, I began adding detail to the woods - the weeds & grasses on the forest floor, the distant trees, and the details in the tree trunk on the left.

I stepped back to study the composition, and felt it needed more vitality on the right hand side.

I added in the wobbly tree on the right, and am happy with the sketch. 

As the artist, you get to decide what you include in a drawing.  You can edit out the parts you don't like and add in bits you prefer. Choosing to draw the parts of a scene that inspire and excite you is more fun, and creates a better drawing.

Happy Creating!