Winter Flowers
Mop-topped goldenrod dance in the frozen field. I find them a fitting celebration of winter: stark and windswept, but still lively and lovely, especially when tinged with frost. I like walking out into the cold field and sketching a few right in place, feeling the same air and wind that chills and rattles their thin leaves. I also appreciate being able to take a few home to study and sketch without wind or gloves. On this first day of winter, I wish you a season full of new discoveries, unexpected gifts, and… Read More
Along the Roadside: November
If you were to walk along the roadside here, you would see a landscape of tawny browns, russets, and grays, mixed with pale ochres and faded greens. But every now and then, a pop of red hangs on, waiting for wind or birds to snatch it away. It’s late November’s palette. I appreciate its bright surprises, glinting in the cold sun. Tips and Techniques- Even when it’s cold, I often take my sketchbook with me when out for a walk. I stop to sketch what catches my attention and hope that a… Read More
Retreat
The sketches I’m posting today are from my weekend teaching at the Botanical Art & Nature Sketching Retreat at the Ashokan Center in New York’s Catskill Mountains earlier in November. Sixty-eight people from all over the country came for the weekend and it was an incredible convergence of artists. I was honored to teach alongside extraordinary botanical artists Wendy Hollender, Lara Call Gastinger, and GiacoMina Ferrillo, and to be in the company of so many warm, enthusiastic, and supportive people. Given my brother’s deteriorating health, I wasn’t sure whether to go but… Read More
I’ll Look for You
Losing a brother is like losing part of yourself– part of your childhood, your growing up, your everyday life. You grieve for yourself and for the future without him, but also for those who lost a friend, a teacher, an uncle. My brother Jim died last Monday night of a progressive and fatal lung disease. His decline over the last few weeks was precipitous and heartbreaking. I’m grateful that we shared many intimate and honest moments together, including on his final day. When I told him how much I would miss him,… Read More
Leaves Down
We know it’s coming; sooner or later, the brilliant colors of autumn leaves will go from trees to ground. After slowly letting go little by little, a strong gust of wind came along last week and blew everything but the oaks down all at once. Suffice it to say, we have a lot of trees surrounding our house and we were blanketed overnight. Which explains this page and why I didn’t post it last weekend. Tips, Techniques, and a Note…After working most of the day last Sunday, I wandered around looking for… Read More
A bit of weaving
Grass and twigs, pine needles and spider webs, plant fibers and lichen, pen and paint. We weave our nests over hours and days, the birds and I. The birds, of course, are the first artists. I’m just picking it up where they left off, in awe of the fine details and beautiful forms they’ve created. Tips and Techniques- Sketched with a Micron 005 sepia pen and painted with combinations of ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, and burnt umber. Nests from the collection of the New York State Museum.
The Pleasure of a Soft Pencil
Though I typically pick up a pen and watercolor when I have time for art, I just really felt like drawing this weekend. A soft pencil, smooth paper, and loose lines were just what I needed. I’ve got 30 bulbs to plant and though each one seems unique and interesting, these five will have to do. The spade is waiting. Tips and Techniques- Sketched with a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 3B pencil on Canson Bristol 100lb paper.
Otherworldly Stars
I’m back in the basement collection of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Benthic Invertebrate Collection this week. Not literally, alas, but channeling row upon row of jars filled with bottom-dwelling spineless creatures from the world’s oceans and drawing upon photos from my visit earlier this year. I’m not striving to bring these brittle stars and sea stars back to life on the page, but rather to highlight their beauty and understand their complexity. Even though they have been “living” in jars for fifty years or more, I like thinking about how they… Read More
Indian Summer
Back in my own habitat this week, I enjoyed sitting and sketching in the field in the warmth of Indian summer sunshine. The goldenrod is in its glory, while other plants are fading. Still, I like showing flowers past peak and I find their curling petals and dried seedheads as worthy of sketching now as when they were in their prime. Tips and Techniques– Consider not only what you want to convey with your subject, but also how you want your page to feel. After sketching this page using a sepia 005… Read More
Diving into Seaweed
How often have you walked along the seashore or a rocky beach and not given a second glance at one of the most important players in the ocean: seaweed. Seaweed, or marine algae, live in the marginal world between the tides and in deeper waters where sunlight still penetrates. Arguably, they are the key to life for the world’s oceans and the larger species that we notice and care about. But as an artist, the variety, color, and beauty of algae are just as fascinating. Seaweeds are identified and grouped by the… Read More
Drawn In 