Mornings with a House Wren

Every morning, this Northern House Wren sings the loveliest burbling song in my garden.  His ebullient music drifts in through the open windows and lifts my heart.  I took the photo below the other morning to use as a reference so I could add him to my spring nature journal.

I started with a light pencil sketch, then layed in the browns & grays of his plumage, touching in some ultramarine blue for darker shadows.  I mixed burnt sienna, burnt umber and ultramarine blue to create the grays. Warm azo yellow created the bold yellow of his beak, and I used yellow ochre, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue in the stick he's clinging to.

Next, I painted the entire background area with clean water, being careful to work around the wren and his stick.  Then, I touched in mixtures of Hooker's green dark, sap green, ultramarine blue, and azo yellow.

I finished the sketch with my black fountain pen -- adding a few lines and the wren's eye, and used some Prismacolor colored pencils on the stick and a white gel pen to create the spots in the wren's plumage.

When I'm painting animals or other fleeting subjects, I like to work from a reference photo.  It allows me to luxuriate some time on the details.

Somehow, this little guy looks like he's yelling!  I think I got his posture a little off -- a reminder to me to keep stepping back early in the sketching process.

What is going on around you in nature?  I hope you get to take some time to record your observations in a nature journal!

Happy Creating!

Watercolor Nature Sketches: Phlox

I love to sit in nature and sketch.  Sometimes, I only have time for a quick hike, so I snap photos of anything I wanted to sketch on the spot, like these wild phlox in bloom.

It's often the tiniest things in nature that draw me in.

I began this sketch with a pencil drawing, then painted in the flower petals in mixtures of permanent blue violet, Phthalo blue, & permanent rose.  I let the first wash of color dry before adding in shadows on the petals.  

I laid in the background by painting in one big wet layer, touching in darker bits and letting the color spread.

With watercolor, you control the flow of the paint by controlling the water.  Watercolor blooms and spreads within a wet area, and won't flow to dry areas of your paper unless it's very runny and dribbles.

To create the little shadowed spots behind the flowers, I let the flowers dry fully, then carefully painted the area beside the flower with clear water and touched in a dark mixture of permanent blue violet and Hooker's green. 

I worked quickly to touch in other green mixtures to give the sense of foliage on a forest floor.  By keeping the background indistinct and more abstract, the phlox flowers pop forward to catch our eye.

I finished the sketch by adding lines with a fine black pen with permanent ink.
 

Would you like to make paintings of tiny things?  

Here are a few photos to practice with!

Happy Creating!

Spring Nature Journal Update

So much is happening right now in nature!  Out on a walk in the state park, we stopped for a rest, and I found this lovely tree with lichen growing up the trunk.  

As I was drawing it, a male Eastern Bluebird perched nearby and sang.  Absolutely enchanting!

Now I get to keep this memory and return to it in my nature journal.

Digging in the garden as I planted potatoes, carrots, onions and beets, I turned up this large pupa (2-3" long).  Looking it up online, I discovered it was the pupa of a tomato hornworm or sphinx moth.  I tucked it back under the earth where I'd found it in the hopes that a lovely moth will emerge.

What is happening in nature around you?  I hope you take a moment to sit outside and make some sketches & observations in your nature journal.

Happy Creating!

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?

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!

Spring Nature Journal: Tiny Things

Out hiking in the state park, I noticed some little green plants that had emerged from the spring earth.  Dutchman's Breeches are an early spring wildflower.  Even though these plants aren't blooming yet, the newness of their growth inspired this watercolor sketch.

After a long winter, what a relief to see little green signs of spring!

I love to zoom in on little details in nature.  Tiny things can tell a bigger story.

What's new in nature near you? I hope you'll make a sketch of whatever small details that capture your eye.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal: Signs of Spring!

Spring is beginning to dawn. 

Birds are singing abundantly, spring peeper frogs are chirping in wild ponds, and the very first blooms are opening. What a relief!

I have a little pond off our front porch that I made years ago out of a mortar pan. Every summer, I put a goldfish in the pond to eat algae and mosquito larvae.

Last fall, as the first cold snap approached, I was catching the goldfish to put into deeper water for the winter, and was surprised when a frog kicked against my hand in the bitterly cold water. 

 I figured the frog knew what it was doing, and I left it there, but thought about him all winter long, especially when the temperatures bottomed out at -10 degrees F.  I read that frogs can survive being frozen for a short time. Was he still alive?

From the little sketch above, you may guess the answer to that question!

I was scooping dead leaves out of the mortar pan pond the other day, and that frog surprised me again!  

It inspired me to make art.

A friend gave us some very old photo printer paper designed to go to an outdated system.  It's shiny and smooth like old photographs.  I used a fountain pen to make some sketches, but it kept getting clogged by the shiny finish material on the paper.  Colored pencil worked well, and watercolor worked surprisingly well!

Sometimes when you have upcycled materials, it frees up your creativity.  Often the materials were headed for the trash can, and you are saving them.  They may have properties you're unaware of, so it's natural that you'd experiment with them.  You can take on an attitude of "I'm just testing this stuff out."  No pressure. 

That's a magical attitude to have, and you'll find it releases you to make free art.

Keep an eye out for materials that could be used for art in a thrift shop, yard sale or other second-hand source.  Look for "trash" that could become art. 

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!

Watercolor Sketching in the Flower Garden

The season has begun when we can sit outside by a flower garden and make watercolor sketches. 

The pages above were in my garden at home, and below were from Highland Park in Pittsburgh.

Pick your favorite medium, whatever feels best in your hand, and get outside to explore what nature is doing in the garden!

Remember, you can do anything in a sketchbook.  Have no expectations of making "perfect pictures." You're an explorer, and your pencil, pen or brush is your tool for making discoveries.  

If you decide that a sketch didn't work out, turn the page!  

If you don't have a few pages that look like a total mess, you're not trying hard enough.

Here are a few of my recent messy pages that I chalk up to experience.

Each of these were practice and taught me something. The one above taught me that rainy days can make for low-contrast, dull paintings.

The sketch below reminded me that when I'm in a rush and very excited to see a wild turkey in my yard, I'm not at my best as a sketch artist.

The rest of these are just warm-up practice.

It's a normal part of sketching to make some inelegant drawings.

I find it freeing to accept these messy pages as part of the process and move on.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journaling Class at Raccoon Creek State Park

At the end of April, I led a class in Nature Journaling for Beginners at the Wildflower Reserve at Raccoon Creek State Park.  We had a wonderful day -- sunny and warm with loads of wildflowers blooming.

When I arrived at the Wildflower Reserve before class, I warmed up with a quick sketch of Virginia Bluebells, and even watched a hummingbird hawkmoth -- a moth that looks and moves like a hummingbird --  drink nectar from the flowers while I drew!

It was so quick, and I was a bit flummoxed, but here are my quick sketches of this amazing moth.

During class, we found tons of different plants in bloom in the wooded outdoor classroom behind the nature center.

I also found a blister beetle, a large and beautifully iridescent beetle slowly crawling through a rotting log on the forest floor. When picked up, these beetles exude an oily substance that causes blisters.

After class, I walked through the floodplain area and found more gorgeous wildflowers like this Toadshade Trillium and some Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

What a magical day to find so much beauty!

If you'd like to take a Nature Journaling class with me, I'll be leading one at the Community College of Beaver County in July.  You can read more about it and register for class here:

https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/course/nature-journaling-washington-county2

Here are a few photos I snapped.  I hope they'll inspire you to make sketches!

And I hope you get a chance to take your art supplies outside to create in nature.

Happy Creating! 

Line & Wash: Apple Blossoms

Spring has been springing abundantly around here!  My favorite apple tree bloomed recently, and I snapped this photo with a Sony RX-10 IV.

I created this watercolor sketch from the photo above.

And finished up by adding textural lines and definition with a Faber Castell Pitt pen.  Sometimes when I create with the line & wash technique, I draw with the permanent pen first, then add splashes of color.  

If you feel inspired by the photo above, I hope you'll use it to create a drawing or painting!

Happy Creating!