Portugal, Part 2: Olive Trees
Portugal’s Alentejo region is known for its olive groves, olive oil, and ancient trees. During my recent workshop at Sofia in Monsaraz, our group passed century-old olive trees lining a farm road on our daily walk between the hotel and the retreat site. I loved imagining their many years in the sun: sheltering sheep, bearing fruit, and growing more gnarled year by year, until each one developed its own distinct personality. I could draw olive trees for days and never tire of them. But time was short, so I only had the… Read More
The Gift of Time
I had a lot of fun drawing art supplies this week. During the busy holiday season, it’s been great to take time to sketch something every day. As I worked, I thought about my favorite tools, but also about how much more important time is to developing art skills. And so, while I hope that Santa slips a new paint brush or pen into your stocking, my greater wish is that you find time for regular creative practice in the New Year. Take a class, treat yourself to a weeklong workshop, or… 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
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
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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Drawn In 