Spring Mornings
I love going outside on spring mornings to discover what birds have migrated north overnight. Every day brings new species and new songs to the woods and fields around us. Tree swallows came back a few weeks ago and I always love seeing their flash of blue and hearing their twittering song as they fly overhead. They typically hang out for a week or two before settling down to nest in one of our bird boxes. The rose-breasted grosbeak, on the other hand, just passes through. A single male spent only one… Read More
Tender Greens
There’s a fleeting moment each spring when shoots emerge and recently barren ground begins to turn green. In another week these sprouts, these plants marching across my page, will be twice as tall and unfurling fast. If I had to wager, I’d say that Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) wrote her poem, Spring, in mid-April. When “blows the thaw-wind” and “drips the soaking rain,” she celebrates the season’s change in “tips of tender green.” I was pleased to find her words, connecting across time and place, resonating still. Tips and Techniques– Experiment with mixing… Read More
Red Blooms in the Greenhouse
I met three artistic friends last weekend for a few hours of sketching and good cheer at the Lyman Conservatory at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. It’s always a treat to be surrounded by greenery during the transition from winter to mud season. As it turned out, hundreds of other people felt the same way. The place was packed. I had to be careful in the cactus room not to back into spines when letting people pass me in the aisles. And when I thought I had found a good spot to… Read More
Anatomy of a Shell
How many of us have picked up shells on beaches, turning over a smooth and perfect whorl, or marveling at the pearly shine inside a clam or mussel? We owe our fascination, of course, to the mollusks that created and lived out their lives in these structures, and then left them behind for the sea to recycle or someone to find. I hadn’t really thought much about the anatomy of shells before, but it’s time I learned. This page illustrates some of the major features of both bivalve and gastropod shells, along… Read More
From Bulb to Bloom
I’ve enjoyed watching my amaryllis over the last month as it shot up out of the bulb, grew taller each week, and finally exploded in colorful blooms. I drew it each week and ran out of room on this page just as the blossoms emerged. When I tried painting the flowers on a new page, I found I couldn’t do them justice in the confines of my sketchbook. So, I started again, this time on a 12×16 sheet of hot press watercolor paper, and that did the trick. Tips and Techniques-… Read More
Simply Complicated
It was a banner year for the White Pine tree in our yard. Laden with green cones at the uppermost branches throughout the summer, the tree rained down pinecones throughout the fall. I decided to collect a basketful before winter, thinking I might find them useful as holiday décor. They did, indeed, look nice in an old metal basket on our back porch, but the more I looked at them, the more I wanted to draw them. The simplicity of this sketch belies how very challenging that was to do. My plan… 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
Drawn In 