Art for Breakfast!

I found this holey tree trunk on a recent hike and I loved the rich, earthy colors and the many holes and craggly bits.  I snapped a photo to create from later.

Back in the studio, I made an ink sketch on watercolor paper, then washed in loose watercolors.  

After the watercolor dried, I decided to add the final touches with colored pencils, but the piece sat on my art table for a week or more.

I finally brought it to the breakfast table and finished it with Prismacolor colored pencils while I sipped tea.  

Art can be very portable -- you can create as you eat a meal, talk with a friend, or listen to a podcast.  You only need for your hand to follow your eye.

Where would you like to take your art?

Playful Inspiration

Like a sketchbook, this little weekly planner is a place where I can experiment and play.  

Often a color and a texture -- like a watercolor wash in ultramarine blue -- is the starting point for an entire double-page spread.  As artists exploring possibilities, all we need is a starting point!

I have been walking by a grove of sassafras trees every day, and have felt inspired by their bright, flaming leaves against the blue sky, their twisted limbs dancing among the foliage.

The things that catch our attention and inspire us show up in our art when we play.

After the watercolor washes dried, I added days and dates in ink and filled in the main events of the week.

Aside from ultramarine blue, I used yellow ochre, and a mixture of azo yellow and alizarin crimson for the sassafras foliage.  The limbs are a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

What has been attracting your artist's eye lately?

What medium, colors, & textures interest you?

That's all you need to start an experimental sketch.

Happy Creating! 

Nature Journal Update

I've been working in this nature journal lately, loving its brown pages.  

Brown pages have a magic trick that lets you use dark and light media to show highlights and shadows, quickly creating depth.

Here's a flip through of my journal over the last few weeks. On this page, I used colored pencil, ink and watercolor to sketch a colorful grove of sassafras trees.

Autumn is a great season for collecting treasures from the land and bringing them indoors to sketch.  I picked this apple from one of our trees.

Maple keys and squirrel-chewed hickory nuts make interesting bits to study.

I taught a nature journaling class for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in October.  We went out on campus and found loads of things to sketch.

And in my favorite park, Raccoon Creek State Park, I found a quiet log in the woods where I sketched this lake scene.

Even indoors on cold days, you can make observations in your nature journal. This is an entry about moving my potted plants indoors for the winter.

The trick to filling pages in your nature journal is simply taking the time to sit and observe what's going on in nature and your life.  

Use any art material you like, and record what's interesting to you.

 Happy Creating!

A New Nature Journal

A few months ago, I started a watercolor nature journal, and I'm having fun painting nature scenes in it. Still, I missed my brown craft paper and the possibilities it brings for working with colored pencils & gouache.

I cracked open a craft paper journal that I had bought online to create a new nature journal.  I can work in both journals, using whichever works best for my ideas.

Right away, I delighted in making simple pen and ink sketches, adding colored pencil to some.

The brown paper automatically creates the midtone, making highlights and shadows more dramatic.

I try to listen to my intuition, that tiny voice within that offers suggestions.  It often feels like a little nudge rather than a loud, obvious instruction.  Each scene calls out for a certain medium -- some feel very watercolor-y and others invite sketching with a colored pencil.  Maybe it's just my own moods that I'm responding to.  

I find that when I listen to these little nudges, I'm happier and create more freely. It doesn't mean I'm always going to create impressive work, just that it will feel right and that I will be more at peace with the finished artwork than if I had forced myself to follow an expected path.

Listening to your intuition and trying out its ideas is a valuable habit to get into.  Your intuition is full of exciting possibilities and will help you to make wonderful discoveries.

Happy Creating!

Spring Sassafras Leaves in Watercolor

Out on a walk around my farm, I was stopped in my tracks by the beauty of sunlight pouring through these sassafras leaves lighting them up like stained glass windows.

Back in my studio, I sketched the leaves in ink, then added color with watercolors. 

 Isn't it beautiful how each of us is attracted to something different to draw or paint out in the world?

What do you love to look at?  That's the thing to draw or paint!

Happy Creating!

Florida Travel Journal

The beautiful thing about a travel journal is that it is a place to quickly record your observations and sketches.  There's no expectation that you will create finished or "perfect" artworks.  You are free to experiment.

These are some of my quick sketches and watercolor explorations from our trip to Florida.

This pencil sketch of a sea turtle will always remind me of the magical experience of watching an adult sea turtle swim along the beach with apparent ease in the heavy surf.

A loose gesture of the sea oats brings back the feeling of the wind and sun on my face.

And I can just hear the sound of seashells tinkling in my hand when I collected this gathering of shells to paint.

I was sketching the dunes backing the beach, and a man sat down right in my composition.  So I included him in the scene.

Bird observations remind me of how excited I was to witness Magnificent Frigate Birds soaring over the shoreline.

When I glance at this simple kelp drawing, I can just hear the surf pounding and feel the grit of the sand between my toes.

The salt air caused this watercolor sketch to dry with an interesting texture. The salt attracted the moisture in the paints, creating clumps of color.

I encourage you to take a sketchbook with you on your travels, even if those travels are to a local park. 

The act of making sketches cements the memories of the visit in your mind, and you'll have a hand-made memory book to revisit long after you return home.

Happy Creating!

DIY Travel Postcards

We just returned from a winter escape to Florida, where we spent our days on a lovely, natural beach. 

I carried in my art kit a few pieces of 140# watercolor paper cut into 4" x 6" pieces to make postcards with.

On the beach, I found beautiful shells to set up in the sand, and then sketched them in watercolor, adding waterproof ink lines with a Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen when the paint was dry.

You can also draw the scene in pen first, then add watercolor washes when the ink is dry.  Either way works well.

If you're feeling the fear of the blank page, working on a separate sheet of paper can help loosen your hand up.  If the painting doesn't work out, you can recycle the paper and try again on a fresh sheet.  And if it does work, you'll have a postcard to send to someone!

I clipped the papers onto my travel journal, and used a water brush pen to paint.

You can see that the salty sea air caused unusual feathering in the backruns in the water & sand.  Salt attracts water, drawing the paint pigments with it and creating feathery clumps of color.  I love that the sea air collaborated with me in my art-making!

I enjoyed trying to express the incredible shades of blue and turquoise in the sky and water.

 Because postcards are so small, I could make a series of them quickly.

Back at the hotel, I laid them out in the sunshine.

I hope you'll make drawings and paintings from the photos below.

Happy Creating!

Finding an Old Stone Ruin

 On a recent hike, we found the remains of an old stone building.  It's tiny by modern standards, and we guess it was used by early settlers as a warming shelter when they took breaks from cutting stone from the nearby hillside.

The beauty of this natural building material, and the mystery behind the ruin entranced me, and I enjoyed sketching this corner of the building using the reference photo above.

Don't you love when a sketch in a nature journal makes you curious to learn more?  I ended up reading about the Civilian Conservation Corps in our local state park, an incredible story in this area's history.

Happy Creating!

Stormy Barn Scene

On a late afternoon walk, I snapped this barn and stormy sky photo with my cell phone.

The long drought has made me grateful for every storm cloud and every drop of rain.

I began with a pencil sketch that I added pen and ink to with my Lamy Safari fountain pen. The indelible ink allowed me to paint right over top of the ink once it was dry.

Using French Ultramarine Blue and a touch of Burnt Umber, I made the blue gray tints for the barn, the sky and the shadows.  French Ultramarine Blue and Winsor Yellow created the green grass wash, and I added New Gamboge Yellow with touches of Cadmium Red to create the yellow and orange foliage.  Phthalo Blue and Burnt Sienna mixed to make the darker piney greens, and the dead grasses were made with a touch of Yellow Ochre or Burnt Sienna here and there.

It felt good to celebrate the stormy weather.

What would you like to celebrate with a drawing or painting?  What brings you joy?  I hope you paint or draw it this week!

Happy Creating!

Nature Journaling in the Garden

The last blooms in the garden add their splash of color to the larger autumnal celebration.  The Foxgloves, who have raised their bright flowery faces all summer long, go on blooming even through light frosts.

Apparently spared from the frost because it grows so close to the house, Blue Salvia blooms vibrantly, too.

I sat on my porch stoop one recent afternoon and soaked up the sunshine while sketching with my Lamy fountain pen and a travel set of watercolor paints.

It's amazing to me how calming a few sketches can be, as I tune into the twists and turns down each branching stem.  Following the shapes of flowers and leaves with my pen, and spilling in color, the rest of the world recedes, troubles recede, and I am mindful of just the present moment.

Focusing on drawing a scene just for the sake of the experience takes away any pressure to make a "pretty" drawing, and lets you experiment with different marks, fainter or bolder lines, and new color combinations.  

I love to draw and paint flowers, and find the process relaxing.  You will find your own magic in your  favorite thing to draw, your favorite materials to use. Of course, it takes practice. The trick is to experiment with subjects you think you'd like to draw, trying different techniques, and filling up sketchbook pages. With each page, you make connections and discoveries and build your skills.  

The more often you sketch and create, the easier it comes to you. 

Happy Creating!