Passing on a Sense of Wonder
“What Bird Is That? A Pocket Museum of the Land Birds of the Eastern United Stated Arranged According to Season” by Frank M. Chapman, published in 1941, sits on my bookshelf next to several other old field guides. This guide is special not only because of its lively descriptions of birds, but also because it previously belonged to my mother-in-law, Alice, who I never knew. The book makes me think about the ties that connect us to generations past and future. Chapman, as curator of ornithology at the American Museum of Natural… Read More
Am I finished?
I could have used twice as long and four times the size of my sketchbook to really convey how gigantic this Honey Locust at Thomas Cole Historic Site in Catskill, New York is. Instead, my time for art has been very short this weekend, so I decided to stop here. I may add watercolor, but I’m not sure– I like it as an ink sketch, but I can envision some fall color on the page, too. Pausing seems like the best choice for the moment. I’ll be exploring the topic of Knowing… Read More
Fall Collection II
There is still a lot of nice fall color here in New York, but this weekend’s rain brought a lot of leaves down and, by next weekend, I expect I’ll be seeing a lot farther into the woods. I’ve been picking up pieces of fall—nuts, fruits, berries, leaves, flowers—for weeks and stowing them in small collections on my desk, on the back porch, and on windowsills. I did another page like this a few weeks ago, but the collection has continued to grow. It’s nearly time to let it go back outside,… Read More
Perfetto
In Italian, perfect. I am grateful to share sketches and photos of an extraordinary week teaching Sketching the Fall Nature of Umbria with Winslow Arts Center. The weather, the setting, the accommodations and, most importantly, the workshop participants were, in a word, perfetto. I thought I’d write a longer post to share the experience with you. Feel free to skip the details and enjoy the images if you prefer. 1. Friday- My husband Dan and I fly nine hours to Rome the day before the workshop begins, arriving at 1:30am Eastern time/6:30am… Read More
Finished – Unfinished
I found this Jack-in-the- Pulpit at the edge of our woods a week ago but it didn’t make last week’s Fall Collection. With its bright red berries and arcing leaf, it deserved its own page. Still, its three faded leaflets paled in comparison with the fruit, so I decided to let the berries get the attention. Finished? Unfinished? I think finished, especially after the moth showed up on our porch ceiling and made its way onto the page. Tips and Techniques– Decision, decisions! Right from the start of every piece, you are… Read More
Fall Collection 2023
My desk is littered with signs of the changing season. It started with a walnut and an acorn and quickly turned into a full-on collection. I love recording these small treasures, though I’m happy to clean up and have my desk back, too. Tips and Techniques– What treasures are you seeing as the season changes? Take a walk or a hike and see how many tree nuts, seeds, and fruits you can find. What’s nice about sketching things like this is that they are easy to bring home and work with as… Read More
Left Behind
What a treasure to find the shell of a northern moon snail, a perfect whorl nearly four inches end to end, decorated with a few barnacles. I love the heft of it in my hand. I love turning it over and over to study it from different angles. The huge snail that built it is long gone, but how nice that this was left behind. Tips and Techniques– I did this page directly with a Micron 005 sepia pen and a light wash of sepia watercolor, plus a bit of yellow ochre… Read More
Vinalhaven Sketchbook 2023
Moss-carpeted forests, spruce spires reaching the sky.Mushrooms after rain: scarlet, orange, purple, yellow.Granite boulders that sprout gardens of ferns and grey-green lichens.Rocky pools brimming with life caught between the tides.Migrating shorebirds and seabirds.Quarry swimming. Quiet. No stop lights. No chain stores. No cell coverage.Ferries. Fog.These are the things that draw me to the island of Vinalhaven, Maine. I hope your summer has taken you to some of your favorite places, too. See other Vinalhaven Sketchbooks:2020 Map, 2020, 2021.
Unexpected Encounter
One evening a few months ago my neighbors came over to check on me. They had heard a terrifying scream coming from the wooded creek next to our house and, knowing my inclination to wander there, thought I might have been attacked. Finding me unharmed, we speculated that they may have heard a bobcat. I had rather forgotten about the incident until one morning this week when, to my surprise, I discovered three bobcat kittens, lounging in the road about 30 yards from our driveway. We eyed each other from a distance… Read More
Iceland Travel Sketches
Iceland is all drama: volcanos, lava flows, cinder cones, geysers, tectonic plates, waterfalls, sheer cliffs, glaciers, frigid waters, shifting weather. It’s a place of all or nothing. All darkness, all daylight, all in, or stay home. But it’s also a place of great subtlety, where keeping your eyes wide open makes all the difference. My family spent a week exploring just a small fraction of the country. I took many photos but managed just a handful of sketches. Despite my best preparations and intentions, cold weather, gusty winds, big hikes, and traveling… Read More
Drawn In 