Winter’s Cache
Last week’s snowfall coated nearby fields and hedgerows and, lucky for me, left little clumps of snow atop of bird nests that were formerly hidden. I waded into the shrubby field adjacent to our house to have a look around. It didn’t take long before I found several nests amidst the waist-high goldenrod, thorny vines, shrubs, and pioneer white pines. This one had been repurposed by mice as a larder of bittersweet and rose hips. Though not an unusual practice, it was a rather colorful surprise and quite worth the cold feet… Read More
On My Desk
Feathery milkweed pods sit on my desk this week next to a stack of field guides, a large tome on the beginnings of modern natural history, and flyers for holiday strolls. Rounding out the desktop: pens, ink cartridges, notes with art class ideas, receipts, and the usual assortment of brushes, pens, and paints. Outside my window: gray, cold December. Tis the season for messy desks, indoor confinement, and more project ideas than time. Amidst the clutter, I’ve been putting a new fountain pen with an extra fine nib through the paces to… Read More
Grateful
Sending you good wishes, a bit of November beauty, and gratitude on this Thanksgiving holiday! I’m grateful to you for taking time in your life for art and for your kind “likes” and comments on my posts. It’s a strange thing to send my sketchbook pages out into the world each week and not really know where they go. I’m grateful to those of you who I’ve met in person or online who thank me for being on the receiving end. I’m also grateful for the wonderful artists who take my classes— I love… Read More
Inspired by the Moon
In just 15 words, Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, who lived in the 1600s, correctly explained a beautiful night sky phenomenon that I recently saw: the lunar halo. “The moon glows the same:it is only the cloudsmake it seem to change.” For those who prefer science to poetry, a bright halo around the moon is caused by light refracted through ice crystals suspended in cirrus clouds located at altitudes of 20,000 to 40,000 feet. Seeing one is more common in winter when the moon is full or nearly so. But no matter how… Read More
Golden Hour
Last weekend I had the pleasure of teaching a four-day botanical and nature sketching retreat at The Ashokan Center in the Catskill Mountains. Hosted by Draw Botanical, it was a joy to work alongside the amazingly accomplished Wendy Hollender, Lara Call Gastinger, Giacomina Ferrillo, Vern Fannin, and nearly 70 participants. I started this page during a session I led on “Sketching on the Go.” It was late afternoon and the setting sun’s still warm light cast its last glow over fields and woods. But really, anytime I get an hour to sketch… Read More
Mother Lode
After a season marked by a dearth of mushrooms I found a mother lode of amanita growing under a large spruce tree just down the road last week. They were so colorful and numerous I could hardly wait to go back home and retrieve my sketchbook. When I nestled under the branches later in the day to sketch, I was surprised by the driver of a passing car who rolled down his window and called out—“Amazing mushrooms!” This was a first. I’ve had people slow down to see what I’m doing, and… Read More
Something Old and New
I bought a leather-bound journal with lovely cream-colored laid paper with deckled edges while in Italy. It’s not suited to watercolors, but it’s good for ink sketches, which I’ve been eager to do more of using sepia ink. Brown inks, including sepia (originally derived from cuttlefish), bistre (made from the residue found in chimney stacks), and iron gall (made from the tannins in oak galls and iron), were frequently used for drawing and light washes during the Renaissance (think Leonardo Da Vinci or Rembrandt drawings). I love the way that brown inks… Read More
Sketching the Nature of Umbria
I had an exceptional week teaching in the Italian countryside in Umbria with Winslow Art Center, and I couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic group of participants. There is a quote that I shared with them from Italian painter Cennino Cennini (c.1360 to 1427), “Now then, you of noble mind, who love this profession, come at once to art and accept these precepts: enthusiasm, reverence, obedience, and perseverance.” Obedience aside, it exemplified the way in which they approached the lessons and techniques I shared throughout the week. As you can see,… Read More
Once in a Lifetime Sighting
Have you ever had a wildlife sighting that is likely to be the only one you’ll ever have of that species? For me, these have typically been extraordinary moments: a California condor soaring below me while hiking the steep cliffs to Angels Landing at Arches National Park; walking past a field of Tule elk in the dark at a campground in the Redwoods in California; coming upon bobcat kittens playing in the road by our house. And last week, I discovered a wood turtle larger than my hand eating a mushroom in… Read More
Vinalhaven Sketchbook 2025
Ah…the rocky coast of Maine…and the island of Vinalhaven, specifically! Visiting once a year for a week hardly feels like enough. But I’ll take it, and I’m happy to share some of the magic with you through my vacation sketches. Beloved by many, the Lane’s Island Preserve is simply one of the most beautiful places on the island. A large meadow and bayberry thickets ring a tidal cove and lead to an extensive rocky shoreline. With a bit of scrambling over granite boulders and rockweed, you can reach numerous tidepools, which I… Read More
Drawn In 