Touched by an Island
I had the pleasure of joining 120 volunteers, current and former staff, and adult campers at Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine this weekend to celebrate its 90th Anniversary. For me, and so many others, the experience of being on this 350-acre island in Musgongus Bay has been life changing.
I attended first as an adult camper in 2000, then became the director of Family Camp, and later directed the Arts and Birding program. Though I only spent a week each summer on the island, it became a deeply meaningful place in my life. It’s where I developed my passion for sketching in the intertidal zone, explored nature with countless children, gained confidence as an educator and artist, met the publisher of my book, and, for 20 years, had the privilege of sharing the island’s profound beauty, rich history, and call to stewardship with wonderful people from around the country.
It was deeply gratifying to be back on the island after several years away, hiking through its moss-carpeted forests, sporting “old man’s beard” as in days long ago, and connecting with generations of Hog Island friends. If you’ve never been, I encourage you to find your way there for one of its signature programs. And if, like me, you have been touched by the island, I hope this gallery of sketches and photos brings back fond memories.
Thank you Hog Island Audubon Camp and Friends of Hog Island for inspiring generations of educators, nature and bird enthusiasts, conservationists, and artists since 1936. Here’s to an impactful next 90!
New classes coming up! Visit the WORKSHOPS page and join me online at the Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference or Watercolor Bootcamp at Winslow Art Center.
Savoring Summer 2026
Here’s to all the farmers, harvesters, and gardeners for making summer so sweet. Their land and labor sustain body and soul, year after year. I am especially grateful in summertime, when I have the good fortune of going to a farmers market almost every Saturday. What a bounty there is, spread out on a half a village block: flowers, vegetables, fruit, bread, meats, and artisan goods. I buy some things to eat (beans, peppers, squash) and some to paint (kohlrabi), and supplement the bounty with a few homegrown cucumbers and tomatoes. What a feast!
Tips and Techniques– I paint a page like this almost every August and I never tire of it. It’s a fun exercise to create a cohesive composition from a variety of vegetables and to celebrate this colorful season in my sketchbook. Head to a farm stand, local grocery store, or your garden and give it a go.
Madeline Island Sketchbook
“The lake is the boss.” – Julian Nelson, Commercial Fisherman on Lake Superior
When I read that statement in the National Park brochure for the Apostle Islands, it gave shape to everything I would see and learn during my week on Madeline Island, Wisconsin. I was there to teach a workshop for Madeline Island School of the Arts, and my class outings took us to forests, cliffs, and dunes on the lakeshore, and to the local historical museum in the tiny town of La Pointe. The lake—big, cold, deep, and windswept—influences it all. Nature and culture, people and place, have been bound to one another and to the lake for centuries. These pages reflect some of my experiences and a few ways a new place can be understood—and sketched.
The Earth in the palm of your hand
“A map says to you…Read me carefully, follow me closely, doubt me not. I am the Earth in the palm of your hand.” So wrote Beryl Markham (1902-1986), the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic from Britain to North America in 1936. She wrote about her adventures in her memoir, West with the Night. I love the perspective that sketching a map can give you. It is a wonderful way to learn about the places you visit and to record your experience.
Teaching a class this week on how to make a vacation map gave me a chance to revisit Cabrillo National Monument near San Diego. We enjoyed fantastic tide pooling there two years ago, but I did not make a map at the time. Creating one now makes that adventure feel more complete: I have a piece of southern California in the palm of my hand.
Hot Topic
My desk and my free time have been given over to mushrooms– the best thing to come of our recent exceedingly hot, humid weather. The area under a small grove of oaks in our yard has been very productive. Many mushrooms form mycorrhizal relationships with plants, and oaks have particular fungi associated with them. In this partnership, the fungus provides the tree with nutrients, especially phosphorus, while the tree gives the fungus carbon. Over the years, I’ve tried to track and record as many species as I can, though it’s a challenge. Identifying them is often bewildering, as is keeping up with new ones emerging each day and competing with squirrels who seem to delight in romping through and wrecking them.
Tips and Techniques– Talk about symbiotic relationships: watercolor is a perfect medium for mushrooms and mushrooms are a perfect subject for learning watercolor. Mushroom shapes are simple to paint—upside down cups and cones on top of cylinders—so they are excellent subjects for learning to tone shapes to make them dimensional. Mushrooms also will teach you about subtle color mixing, layering, and mark making. If you find mushrooms near you—pull out your paints and enjoy!
Sketchbook Harvest
I picked up my first quart of local strawberries a few weeks ago and have been supporting our farm stand at least once a week since. Although I wanted to set some aside to draw, we kept eating them before I could manage it. This week I finally showed some restraint. And here you have it: twelve local strawberries with personality; the way a strawberry should be.
I also made time to sketch peas in our garden this week. The yield won’t amount to much, but I enjoy them equally for drawing and eating.
Tips and Techniques— Subtle or bold? Don’t be afraid to let color stand out in your paintings. Garden vegetables and flowers almost demand it. At the same time, you can treat your use of color in different ways. Here, the strawberries called for fully saturated color, but the peas were more delicate. I wanted to see how how they would look if I drew and shaded them extensively in sepia ink, before adding watercolor. This gave me the option of hinting at color in several places and using pale washes to create depth.
Portugal, Part 3: Cultural Heritage
In the Alentejo region of Portugal, the sweet clanging of livestock bells became part of the soundscape of our workshop at Sofia in Monsaraz. Sheep grazed under the olive groves just beyond our hotel, and we passed them each day on the way to and from the workshop site. I had read about these bells before the trip, so I was thrilled to find an exhibit about them at the Museum of Natural History and Science in Lisbon. Chocalhos, the traditional livestock bells of Portugal, are UNESCO listed for their Intangible Cultural Heritage. This hand-crafted art has been passed from generation to generation for 2,000 years. Different sizes and tones are made for different animals, helping people track free-roaming livestock. Unfortunately, only 13 master chocalhos makers remain, and none are young.
That same sense of heritage carried into the patterns we saw in Portugal’s textiles. At a 100-year-old factory that makes hand-woven blankets and rugs, I especially enjoyed seeing the original natural wool patterns and tools on display. We also watched weavers at work with far more complex combinations of color and pattern.
Food, of course, is another vital part of cultural heritage. I didn’t have much time for full food sketches, so I made tiny drawings to help me remember what we ate: lots of codfish, savory pumpkin soup, and many indulgent desserts.
Tips and Techniques: Don’t shy away from painting different textures and subjects, especially when traveling. It will force you to experiment with color mixes and painting techniques, and that kind of practice will strengthen your skills.
Portugal, Part 2: Olive Trees
Portugal’s Alentejo region is known for its olive groves, olive oil, and ancient trees. During my recent workshop at Sofia in Monsaraz, our group passed century-old olive trees lining a farm road on our daily walk between the hotel and the retreat site. I loved imagining their many years in the sun: sheltering sheep, bearing fruit, and growing more gnarled year by year, until each one developed its own distinct personality.
I could draw olive trees for days and never tire of them. But time was short, so I only had the chance to sketch a few. No wonder they are considered symbols of prosperity and wisdom.
Tips and Techniques- It typically takes me at about and hour to sketch a tree, which I prefer to do from life. However, because it was very hot with limited shade, I had to work more quickly and finish using photos. I tested a variety of techniques here, mainly wanting to emphasize the beauty and character of the twisted trunks. I like the two sepia sketches best, with just a touch of raw sienna. The date stamps are based on Portuguese tile designs.
Portugal, Part 1
I’ve just returned from a fascinating and rewarding trip to Portugal, where I taught a workshop at Sofia in Monsaraz. It was my first visit to the country, and I was captivated by the artistry on display in both Lisbon and the more remote Alentejo region, where we traveled for the workshop. Ceramic-tiled buildings, patterned stone walkways, ornate religious vestments, hand-loomed rugs, colorful pottery—I wanted to draw it all. I don’t often create such an elaborate opening page for a trip, but inspired by tile motifs and frequent sightings of House Martins, this page felt right.
I also sketched a few things that caught my eye during a visit to the Lisbon cathedral (Se de Lisboa), where Common Swifts ruled the skies and where we lit a candle in honor of the recent passing of our Uncle Max.
Another highlight in Lisbon was a visit to the Museum of Natural History and Science. It was fabulous: not only were there plenty of historic specimens, but there was also an excellent exhibition on natural history illustration, along with another on the impacts of climate warming on wildlife.
And this was only in the first few days, before I met my group and headed into a countryside dotted with ancient olive and cork oak trees, vineyards, and white-walled villages. More to come!
Enough said.
“There is a sweetness of May verging on June that no other time can equal.” – Hal Borland
Tips and Techniques– I’ve sketched allium for several years now and it’s always a pleasure. Poppies are usually next, with numerous flower heads ready to unfold in a week or so, but I’ll miss them this year while traveling and teaching in Portugal. I look forward to returning with a sketchbook full of new sights. (Sketched in Handbook Journal Co. 140lb watercolor journal, with a Micron 005 pen and QoR watercolors.)
Drawn In 