Low-Key Practice to Improve Your Paintings

One of the most important things I've learned about making art is that we all need time to play with our art supplies without any expectations or pressure.  Athletes and musicians spend endless hours practicing.  We artists would do well to take the same approach.

I sat outside recently and painted the light and shadow on this summery scene.  It was a simple sketch -- no pencil drawing underneath, no plan.  I just sketched what I saw, playing with light and shadow, mixing a variety of greens.

The puffy clouds cast strong shadows that moved through the landscape.

Here's a more zoomed-in version of what my eye saw. 

I focused on the shapes, the values and the textures of the scene before me, curious to try mark-making -- from the soft merging of wet-in-wet marks to the wobbly shapes of tree leaves, and the loose, scratchy marks of the weeds & grasses.

I mixed these different greens:

Foreground yellow-green & medium greens =Winsor Lemon + Ultramarine Blue

Background deep, dark greens = Phthalo Blue + Burnt Sienna

midtone greens = Sap Green + a touch of Alizarin Crimson

This little sketch is not a stunning work of art, but I post it here to share the everyday sort of projects that can make your art -- and your enjoyment of your art-making -- better.  

When I stepped back from painting to regard the sketch, I enjoyed the high contrast shadow of the tree snaking across the grass and up the hill.  I delighted in the rough texture of the weeds in the foreground on the right.  I enjoyed the looseness of the tree on the right, with dark limbs showing through.  

And it was relaxing to sit with my paints outdoors and explore.

I hope you find time to create and explore -- to simply practice!

Happy Creating!

Inspiration from the Past

Do you ever go back and flip through old sketchbooks and notebooks?  It's a great way to see the terrain you've covered as an artist.  You can witness how you've grown, and find bits of inspiration that reignite your current art practice.

I was decluttering in my studio recently, and found the notebook pictured above.

The colors on this page caught my eye right away, and the quotes felt uplifting. Inspiration struck and I got out my watercolor crayons.

I made a wash of colors -- from magenta through scarlet, orange and yellow -- in two different notebooks.  

I used a General's Sketch & Wash water-soluble graphite pencil to write out dates, & events, adding doodles to decorate.  I love the way that a weekly planner invites loose creativity with no expectations.

 This type of no-expectations play with art supplies is essential to developing your creative ideas.  You may hear your inner critic complain that it's a "waste of time."  Please remind that voice that an art teacher (me) told you that it's super important (it is!) ... and it's fun.  We could all use more Vitamin Fun!

I hope you take some time to playfully doodle soon!

Some ideas for those who don't use a homemade weekly planner:

1. Work on loose paper so there's no pressure to add another "pretty picture" to a journal or sketchbook.
2. Pick up an art supply that you bought and never or rarely use. Or, use nontraditional art supplies, like a highlighter, a ballpoint pen & a 3-hole punch.
3. Grab a stack of 3"x 5" index cards and create a bunch of small doodle-pages. Does less space to fill make you feel less pressure?
4. Create on found materials -- junk mail, a receipt, used wrapping paper, a fallen leaf, whatever catches your eye!  Using "trash" releases us from any expectations or pressure to make "good art."
5. Tell yourself you're just making "pretend art." I take this idea from The Unexpected Gypsy, who makes pretend paintings -- real paintings with no pressure behind them.
6. Try to intentionally make "bad art" by using your non-dominant hand, or by drawing/creating under a time-pressure. For instance, you could try drawing the worst bird you can imagine, or try drawing a cat in under 1 minute.

Happy Creating! 

Book Recommendation: Little Things in a Big Country by Hannah Hinchman

Author & artist Hannah Hinchman has given me years of inspiration with each of her books, including Little Things in a Big Country.  Her words feel alive and express the essential nature of a place, a moment or a creature.  

She has managed to describe ineffable human experiences like truly seeing colors in nature after a half-hour's hike, or drawing the intricate light and shadow patterns on a silver teapot.  She expressed human experiences -- from anxiety to wonder, editing her words down to the essential heart of the matter.  Anytime I pick up her books, I feel inspired to be a better artist, writer and human. 

Even if you're not looking for a deeply human encounter with a book, simply seeing into another person's sketchbook is a golden opportunity.  We humans are curious about our fellow humans.

Hannah hand-wrote this book, and her writing adds a beautiful energy to the storytelling.

I hope you take the opportunity to check out Hannah's books!

Hannah's books:

A Life in Hand: Creating the Illuminated Journal, 1991, Peregrine Smith Books.

A Trail Through the Leaves: The Journal as a Path to Place, 1997, W.W. Norton & Co.

Little Things in a Big Country: An Artist and Her Dog on the Rocky Mountain Front, 2004, W.W. Norton & Co.

I heartily recommend them all!

Happy Reading!

Nature Journal Update:Summer Wildflowers

Recently, I spent some happy hours at the Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Reserve, where the summer wildflowers are in bloom.

I love the simplicity of a handful of colored pencils and my nature journal to record what I see in nature.

The wildflower garden buzzed with honeybees and bumblebees.  When an insect moves so quickly, the only way I know to sketch them is to make super quick gesture drawings, my pencil scribbling loosely and swiftly.  

Sometimes the bee moved before I was done with the drawing, so I just started again with a new sketch.

I find quick drawings like this exciting and freeing.  There's no time to question whether you're getting the lines in the right place.  You just have to trust that you're doing it well enough.  

When I step back from my drawings later, I notice that, though incomplete, they are full of life and real details that make me feel closer to the little critter.  It's no secret; bumblebees charm me!

The most stunning aspect of the wildflower garden to me was the collection of so many blooms, so many colors and textures in the sunlight.

After sketching in the wildflower garden, I hiked the Jennings Trail, stopping on a comfy bench to sketch the woods.

Notes of the hike bring back memories long afterwards, and deepen the experience in the moment.  I love the intersection of art, writing and nature. No better anti-anxiety treatment for me!

I hope you find your own special bit of nature to relax in and make sketches in your nature journal.

Happy Creating! 

A New Kind of Bookbinding!

I discovered a new style of bookbinding that allows you to bind together a stack of single pages like this book of different-sized postcards.  I learned the technique by watching Tanya McGuire's YouTube video here:

https://youtu.be/DrEMsyYDvJY?si=eFrV5l5IUaY0pnHV

She links to a blog by Karin Bartimole with handy, printable instructions:

https://aviewbeyondwords.blogspot.com/2010/04/mandala-journal-tutorial-finally.html

After making the first book above, I gathered some papers and postcards I wanted to use in a book for my sister, who shares my love of art journaling.

I held them together with binder clips...

...and punched 3 holes in every page of the stack with a leather sewing awl.

Then I began sewing pages onto the stack.  With this method, you start at the back cover of the book and add pages working forward to the front cover.

The binding allows the pages to turn easily.

Here's the final book.

Here's a flip-through video of the book:

I hope this inspires you to create your own journal!

Happy Creating!

Watercolor Nature Journal: Black-Eyed Susans

Preparing for a class like Nature Journaling means visiting the park to see what's going on there -- what flowers are blooming, which birds dwell there, and what new nature developments have arisen since I last visited.

The wildflower garden at the Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Reserve is lush with native blooms this summer.  Volunteers tend this colorful garden.

The day I visited, sun splashed down through the nearby trees, and filled the garden with light.

I delighted in the way this Rudbeckia bloom contrasts with the dark forest behind it, and decided to add this scene to my concertina sketchbook.  A simple pencil sketch, then layers of Azo yellow and Yellow Ochre in the Black-Eyed-Susan petals, followed by layers of lighter and darker greens in the background brought this sketch together. It's more of an impression than a finished painting, and I like the looseness that approach creates.

I hope you'll paint your version of this scene from the photo above.  Or better yet, take your nature journal outside and see what's happening in nature near you!

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal - Painting a Turkey Hen and Her Brood

Earlier this summer, I snapped this photo of a Wild Turkey hen and her chicks in the morning sun. I was so taken by the beauty of the scene and the way one chick rode on her back, that I added the scene to my concertina nature journal, the one I began with spring violets:

https://betsyblissart.blogspot.com/2026/05/watercolor-nature-journal-violets.html

I started with a pencil sketch, then began painting the hen and her chicks, working from light to dark and from the birds to the background.  The birds are painted with mixtures of earth tones (Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre) and Ultramarine Blue.

I love the way the dark trees in the background contrast with the Wild Turkey mom in the foreground.  I mixed Phthalo blue with Burnt Sienna to make a deep forest green. And I left grassy shapes unpainted to allow me to come back with a lighter green.

The little piece of watercolor paper on the right lets me test out colors after mixing them in the palette.  

Here's the final sketch.

The beauty of this concertina sketchbook is that it's a place I can make sketches without the pressure of making a larger painting.  The book tells the story of the unfolding seasons here on Hawk's Hill where I live.

What nature stories are unfolding around you?  I recommend making your own small sketchbook to create in to record what you observe.

Happy Creating!