Color Play
What better time than the dead of winter to play with color? I recently bought a new paint tin from Schmincke (I really just wanted the tin, but decided to get it full instead of empty) and I also received six tubes of QoR watercolors from Golden to try. But before adding any new colors to my palette, I took time this week to test them. What follows is not a brand review, as much as a glimpse into the practice of being a painter. I set about playing with various triads… Read More
The Beauty of Bulbs
What amazes me about amaryllis is the fact that a homely brown sphere the size of a softball can contain within it the potential for bold red blossoms to burst forth from its interior with a minimum of effort on my part. How incredible! I realize that onions and garlic are capable of similar feats, but it’s hard for them to compete. This is the last day that this particular bulb will fit on an 8-inch page at full size— it’s growing at about a half-inch a day— but you can be… Read More
Braving 18°F
After days of single digit temperatures, 18°F felt like it might be sort of manageable for sketching outside. And it was…more or less, given the challenge of sketching with gloves on and needing to work quickly to avoid frozen fingers and feet. Still, there is something fresh about working outside and I suspect this page will always bring to mind the chill of the setting sun and the unexpected sound of hundreds of geese overhead. Today it is minus-4°F and I am not so brave. Happy New Year! Tips & Techniques- Why… Read More
The Ripening Season
Seasons unfold, pages evolve. That’s what happened here as I sketched a variety of fall fruits and seeds from the trees in our yard over the last few weeks. It’s all part of learning what’s here on the rural property we moved to in July. There are nice old sugar maples, red and white oaks, black walnuts, cottonwoods, birches, and white pines, with well-placed dogwood, pin cherry, and apple trees. There are many year’s worth of sketches in the trees alone…and you’ll see more in the future, I’m sure. Tips & Techniques–… Read More
Bringing Hummingbirds to Life
The bird lay dead in my hand, a small and precious jewel given to me by a friend. Fully intact and still dressed in glittering green, it was a rare gift. I’d never held a hummingbird; never studied one so closely. An opportunity like this meant one thing: break out the magnifying glass, ruler, and pencil and get to work. As an artist, I find observing dead birds enormously helpful when trying to bring them to life on paper. I love the ability to look closely at various features, to study proportions,… Read More
The Right Brush
I’ve had a paint brush in my hand every day for the last few weeks. It just hasn’t been the kind of brush I most prefer. Still, I can’t complain: my to-do list has grown considerably shorter and our house is much improved. But now that this round of projects is complete, I am eager to get back to a regular routine of journaling and adventures with watercolor. Tips and Techniques– Do you struggle with finding subject matter for your sketchbook? There are lots of online sketch challenges that provide daily suggestions,… Read More
The Naturalist Sketchbook
Workshop Opportunity! I’m excited to be offering a one-day workshop hosted by the Maine Audubon Society this winter. Though its months away, it’s filling fast. The Naturalist’s Sketchbook: Sketching Nature in Pencil, Pen, and Paint February 3, 2018, 10am-4pm; Snow date February 10 Maine Audubon Society, Gilsland Farm, Falmouth, Maine Maine Audubon Members: $68, Nonmembers: $85 Get inspired to explore the rich diversity of life around you in pencil, pen, and paint. This 6-hour workshop will help you prepare to sketch outdoors, cover drawing and watercolor painting techniques, and explore ways to… Read More
Nest
I walked out and found the nest in the gravel driveway, not by the step as the poem says, but close enough. Nest by Marianne Boruch I walked out, and the nest was already there by the step. Woven basket of a saint sent back to life as a bird who proceeded to make a mess of things. Wind right through it, and any eggs long vanished. But in my hand it was intricate pleasure, even the thorny reeds softened in the weave. And the fading leaf mold, hardly itself anymore, merely… Read More
Time for a New Field Guide
Within the last few weeks, more than ten species of mushrooms have emerged in a grove of oaks in our yard and I’m only familiar with one of them. Mushroom identification is complicated and depends on a number of factors that I tend to forget from year to year: whether or not there are gills and how they are attached, the shape of the cap, the color of the spore print, color, habitat, season, and more. For now, looking more carefully and making sketches and field notes before these ephemeral species disappear… Read More
Making the Leap
I’ve been watching this robin’s nest on the window ledge of our new house for the last 10 days and every day I’ve wanted to sketch it. I’ve seen the tiny hatchlings go from half naked and barely opening their eyes to spouting feathers to jockeying each other for position in an overcrowded nest. Still, day after day, more pressing chores related to moving here kept me from picking up a pencil. Then this morning, I decided to get off a quick sketch before going to work, lest I miss the chance…. Read More
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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Drawn In 