Brushstrokes
How do we measure a year? In months, weeks, days, hours? Or perhaps in moments lived. Experiences remembered. In births and deaths. In friends made or lives touched. Miles walked. Milestones achieved. Breakfasts and dinners shared. Gardens planted and harvested. Travels taken. Birds come and gone. In what we create, give, leave behind. In brushstrokes, bold and subtle. I hope you’ve made some good marks in 2023. Thank you for following and sharing your thoughts and feedback. I’m very grateful for your support. Tips and Techniques– When drawing outside in winter, try… Read More
A Winter Gift
It’s been cold and clear here for the past few days. I walk or run my usual two-mile loop on a country road; Canada geese fly overhead, their calls ringing out in the chill sunshine. I find myself glad for blue skies and brown fields, for stark vistas, and for subtle details among the roadside’s remaining weeds. A curled leaf, a thorny seedhead, a bright berry—slim pickings alone, but together they make the winter seem special for its own stark beauty. I send you my warmest holiday wishes and share with you… Read More
The Beginning of Something Beautiful
The great promise of the amaryllis begins as soon as you open the box and take out the naked bulb. The fact that this thing, this ball of a plant, will produce a huge red flower is remarkable. But it seems to me that it is also beautiful right now. Maybe it’s just that I like drawing tangled roots. Or perhaps it’s the papery peeling skin and ghostly stalk that intrigue me. Maybe it’s all that potential holed up inside such an unlikely package. In any case, it’s the beginning of something… Read More
The Last of the Garden
We put our garden to bed last weekend, composting what remained of stalks and dried leaves and scattering coneflower seeds in the meadow. Still, there were a few flowers, now faded and dried, but nonetheless impressive, that I culled from the rest. I love the curve of their petals and leaves and the hint of color left in a few of the zinnias. They’ve been on my desk all week, reminding me to look for beauty not only in its prime, but in every season. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving. I’m grateful… Read More
Incredulous
The colors and patterns that adorn the bodies and wings of beetles, moths, and dragonflies are nothing short of astonishing. My reaction to seeing them is like hearing an incredulous story: you can’t make this stuff up. And, in fact, you don’t need to…all you need to do is look. Tips and Techniques– When painting insects I start with the lightest “ground” color(s) on the body or wings. Sometimes the base layer is best created with a wet-in-wet wash of one or more colors that merge right on the paper. Once dry,… Read More
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
Juncos Return
When the Dark-eyes Juncos return each year it’s a sure sign that fall is waning into winter. A small flock arrives like clockwork when the oak and beech leaves are the only ones still hanging on. Their white tail feathers give them away as they flash across the road and dart into the brush. I welcome them with mixed feelings—I hate to see October go, but I’m glad to watch them all winter, small black bodies puffed up against new snow or hopping out from under the porch on cold mornings. They’ll… 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
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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Drawn In 