Nature Journaling: Autumn Leaf Study in Gouache

An autumn walk can turn up a wealth of colorful fallen leaves.  I find myself returning from each hike with a handful of beauty.  This particular maple leaf, with its red, green and yellow splotches seemed the perfect subject for a gouache painting.

Gouache is much like watercolor, but it's opaque, so you can paint contrasting colors over one another, and light colors over darker ones.

I began this painting with an ink sketch of the leaf in my nature journal. I chose tubes of colors to match and began painting the larger swaths of red, painting them in. As I painted, I noticed the nuanced darker and lighter red areas, and added them. (Paints used = Quinacridone Rose, Quinacridone Red and Alizarin Crimson.)

Finally, I got down to all the detailed veins, spots and blobs of different colors. (Chrome Yellow Hue, Sap Green, & Burnt Umber. The shadow colors used were Ultramarine Blue & Alizarin Crimson.)

I love details! The places an insect chewed the leaf, the spots where the green contrasts brightly against the red, and the lovely little veins that show through catch my attention and delight me.

Here's the final leaf painting.  I especially love working from life -- the leaf -- rather than a photograph of the leaf.  There's something compelling about nature in the present moment.  Though I take loads of photos, I'm far more likely to sketch and paint actual natural treasures in front of me.

What do you love to look at?  Have you ever sketched it? You could record the details about your favorite things that make them special to you with a simple sketch -- or two, or more!

Happy Creating!

Autumn Colors with Watercolors

The beauty of fall can make an artist feel like a race is on -- to paint all the colorful scenes we can under the blue sky. I started this painting with a hike to see the landscape and to pick a scene to paint.  The view above caught my eye above all the others.

I started this painting with a pencil sketch, then added ink lines with a Micron waterproof pen, and started painting the Phthalo blue sky.

Working from light to dark, larger shapes to smaller details, the process of capturing the day's colors began.

Colors used: 

Azo yellow mixed with a touch of permanent rose for the yellow-orange foliage, 

Phthalo blue mixed with burnt Sienna for the deep green trees in shade, 

Azo yellow mixed with Phthalo blue and a touch of permanent rose for the green grass.

Burnt Sienna mixed with a touch of permanent rose for the reddish grasses in the foreground and the distant cows.

Sitting outside painting in the landscape lets an artist immerse themselves in the fleeting beauty of nature's fall colors.  What initially felt like a race to capture colors becomes a meditation on what is happening right now in nature and a beautiful way to experience the season.

I hope you get time to slow down, sit in nature, and experience the season.

Happy Creating! 

Nature Journal: An Afternoon Walk

A recent walk on a lakeside trail reacquainted me with what's in bloom right now.  The parking lot at the state park office featured a garden bursting with native wildflowers -- from Queen of the Prairie to bergamot, blazing star and goatsbeard.  Along the trail, American Bellflower stood out in its beauty.

It's a tall, leggy plant, but if you look closely, its individual flowers are elegant...

...even fairy-like.  I found this individual blossom irresistable to draw!

The evening was lovely, and I took a two mile stroll with my nature journal, sat on a bench by the lake, and drank in the peace of the scene.

I find that sketching & writing descriptions of nature connects me in a deeper way than simply sitting.  It relaxes me like meditation. Back home, drawing from photos I took along my walk reminds me of the beauty of the experience and cements it in my memory.

I hope you get the time to relax in a favorite place with your nature journal or sketchbook. I'll be teaching a Nature Journaling class at the Raccoon Creek State Park on Saturday, August 1st from 10am to 1 pm.  You can register by visiting the park's website here:

https://eventsreg.dcnr.pa.gov/register/create/52622653639305

 

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal Update

One of the most important aspects of nature journaling for me is sitting quietly in nature and noticing what's going on around me.  Slowly, the details filter into my awareness.  Then I sketch them on the journal page.

This page is from a quiet Friday afternoon when I sat in an empty camp and watched the animals while I sketched the scene in front of me.

I sat on a picnic table under a porch roof and noticed the flycatcher hunting from its perch on a fallen branch. Then I noticed so many darned houseflies swarming the area and heard a groundhog digging under the building behind me.

The breeze stirred in the trees, a Wood Thrush sang from the woods, other birds like the Ovenbird joined in.  I sketched scenes from the hike I had just taken -- the fawn that had burst from the woods and crossed the trail in front of me; the green inchworm dangling over the trail from a gossamer thread.

While at the park, I spoke with Ranger Karter, who said that in an earlier job he had led a nature journaling program for kids.  He would ask them to write lists of 

1) what they heard, 

2) what they smelled, 

3) what they saw, and 

4) what they felt.  

That's a great way to immerse yourself in nature and slow down!

Nature journaling is a wonderful form of self care.  It helps us to slow down and disconnect from the frenzied world of everyday life.  It gives us time to reflect and be still in the moment.  Sketching in nature, no matter how simple your sketch is, connects you with whatever you're sketching -- a peaceful tree, a curious bird, a beautiful flower.  It brings these aspects deep into our minds and spirits -- luxurious gifts to ourselves.

Here are some of the things I saw on my hike.  I hope you make a sketch or two from them, or better yet, go outside and make sketches from what you see there!

Happy Creating!

Nature Treasures and a Nature Journaling Class!

My studio is chock-full of twigs, feathers, acorns and other natural treasures picked up on walks.  Eventually, these bits get dusty & crumbly, so I return everything to the wild.  

When I collect drawings of these treasures, I get to keep them tucked away in my nature journal in their fresh, dust-free state.

I also get the experience of slowing down, immersing myself in nature, and drawing in my nature journal.

I made this sketch on a recent hike in Raccoon Creek State Park.  It's lovely to open my nature journal and bring back memories of that day and of making discoveries in the woods.

Would you like some inspiration and instruction on nature journaling?

I hope you'll join me for an in-person Nature Journaling class at the Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Reserve on Sunday, April 12th, 2026, from 1-4 PM. Cost is $15.

You can register here:

https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/nature-journaling-3974

Early Spring Nature Journaling

I recently loaded up a knapsack with some colored pencils and my nature journal and hiked to a local waterfall to sketch.  

There's nothing like sitting outside and drawing the beauty of nature.

  I enjoy drawing from reference photos, but prefer observing the details in nature in person as I sketch.  I can react to the parts of the scene that really inspire me.

After an hour sitting on a rock on a chilly afternoon, I decided to snap a photo and finish the last details in my studio.

When I got back to my studio, I noticed my sketch needed more contrast.

Sometimes it's hard to discern the areas that are darker or brighter when you're looking at a color photo.  

I converted my reference photo to black-and-white to make the values more obvious.

I added a bit more contrast between the water and the rocks around it.

I noticed I had made the waterfall too broad, so I narrowed it down a bit and added more bright values with a white Posca paint pen.

Here's the final page spread in my nature journal.

The beauty of drawing outdoors is that you get to be still and calm in nature, hearing the thundering of a waterfall or the music of songbirds as you create.  

Time stills as you observe the beauty of nature around you.  

When you're done, you have a sketch that will remind you of your experience every time you flip to that page.

I hope you find a quiet spot in nature where you can relax and sketch.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal Update: Colored Pencil Drawings

Here's a flip-through of some recent nature journal pages, from hikes in the woods (above) to sitting at the breakfast table (below).

What we draw we connect with. How could I be anxious when I am connecting with my sweet, snoozing cat?

Nature journals are great for recording discoveries -- like the page above remarking on my discovery of a place on Hawk's Hill that reminds me of a favorite place I used to sketch years ago.

I hope you take the time to make some sketches and written observations in your nature journal!

Happy Creating!

Sun Prints

This fall when I was out hiking, I collected leaves from trees, ferns and weeds. Back at home, I pressed them in books to flatten them.  I tried to collect a variety of shapes and types of leaves to use in sun prints, also called cyanotypes.

Below is the two-part mixture product I used to make my sun prints.  

The process takes a bit of preparation, requiring you to add distilled water to the powder in each bottle, then wait 24 hours for the mixture to activate.  After 24 hours, you mix equal parts of Part A and Part B, stir it up and paint it onto whatever you want to use for printing.  

In this photo, you can see examples of paper cyanotypes I made.

After trying paper sun prints, I bought some 100% cotton napkins and painted them with the cyanotype mixture.  

You have to let the mixture dry before printing, and you have to do all of this in dim light, away from the sun.  I set up a painting station and drying rack in my pantry and kept the napkins in the dark while they dried.

Finally, I was ready to make sun prints!  

I laid out a napkin on a drawing board, arranged the pressed leaves, and put a piece of glass over the top to keep the leaves from being blown away by the wind.

After 20 minutes in afternoon sunshine, this is what the napkin looked like.

The cyanotype mixture changes color from yellowish green to bronze in the sun.

The final step is to rinse the print in cold water, which will set the print so it is no longer sensitive to light.

You can see the yellow-green mixture washing out from the areas that were covered by leaves.

You rinse until the water runs clear, then hang up your print to dry.

Here are two of the four napkins I printed.  As time passed, and the afternoon sun moved closer to the horizon, I had to expose the napkins longer, up to 30 minutes.  But I could always tell when the napkin turned bronze in the sun that the print was done.

You have to be careful when laundering your cyanotype fabrics not to use bleach or detergents with phosphate.  Also leaving them to soak too long can wash out the blue dye.  Hand washing is recommended.

But that's worth it for the thrill of creating things for your home that reflect the beauty of nature!

Happy Creating!

Sketching Fall Leaves in Watercolor!

Fall has arrived and the colors are reaching their peak in my neighborhood.  I gather up brilliant leaves on every walk.  

Here are yesterday's leaves.

I picked out three sassafras leaves that drew my eye, and made pencil sketches of each, then laid in a wash of azo yellow and let it dry. This technique, called glazing, creates glowing, rich colors when you paint other layers of color over top.  

After the yellow wash dried, I drew in the leaf veins with a white wax crayon to create a resist and keep the veins yellow.  I brushed in layers of oranges made from azo yellow mixed with either alizarin crimson or pyrrol red.  I added table salt to some of the wet washes and let it all dry.

After the salt completely dried, I brushed it off and added some final marks.  The salt didn't have a big effect on the washes.  I think the paint had begun to dry and wasn't at its best point for this trick.

I love adding the little spots where a bug chewed the leaf, etc.  These create a more realistic appearance.

Autumn leaves are a wonderful subject to draw and paint -- they're small, beautiful and endlessly fascinating. And it's such a human habit to gather natural treasures, especially in the fall harvest season. A walk in nature with some creative time is a lovely way to slow down and practice self care.

I hope you take some time to create with fall leaves!

Happy Creating!