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
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.
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
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
November’s Nest
I spy the nest in a thicket at the edge of the field. There’s no way to reach it but to wade in. I follow an old deer trail that takes me part way, and then battle brambles, thorns, and waist-high goldenrod stems to reach the prize. Unlike many nests at this time of year, this one is still quite intact. Whoever wove it did a beautiful job. Tips and Techniques– I always do some research about my subjects, especially nests. Like identifying birds, identifying nests requires a process of elimination. At… Read More
Adirondack Birches
If you have never been to northern New England in the fall, you must put it on your bucket list and go. Blazing red and orange maples, yellow birch and aspen, and russet beech trees, set off by evergreens paint an extraordinary canvas. This is just about the end of “peak” season, as rain and wind subdue the palette each week. I consider myself lucky to have seen New York’s Adirondacks in a blaze of glory this weekend while at my nephew’s wedding. What a treat—on both counts.
When Work is Done
Our list was long last weekend: paint the back porch railing, fix windowsills, repair broken glazing, prime bare trim, rake leaves, mow the lawn, mulch the gardens, brush hog the field edge, clean out the gutter, mount the rain diverter…you get the idea. It was a beautiful fall three-day weekend, perfect for a hike or bike ride, or for getting stuff done. That’s why you didn’t see a blog post and I didn’t pick up my sketchbook until the sun was sinking low on Monday afternoon. I went to a local conservation… Read More
Autumn Trio
More than half of the autumn leaves are on the ground now where I live, which means two things: lots of raking and beautiful colors littering the woods. It doesn’t take long for leaves to dry out and fade, so I have forsaken the rake in favor of the paint brush. A good choice, don’t you think? Tips and Techniques– Leaf “portraits” like this are a good way to practice painting skills. They force you to work on getting crisp edges, mix subtle color variations, and use both wet-in-wet and dry brush… Read More
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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Drawn In 