Gansai and Graphite

I first discovered gansai — Japanese watercolor — about a year ago. I purchased a small set, tried it, and … More

Our Morning Time Together

First and foremost, let me begin by saying that, no, our cat Flower Child is not as fat as I’ve made … More

Today’s drawing might have started out as a vase of sunflowers, but by the time I was finished, they’d turned … More

Before I learned to draw, I doodled — mostly flowers. Flowers are fun and fairly easy to doodle. Even now … More

There’s a wise saying that gives us a good definition of insanity. It is “doing the same thing over and … More

From time to time I see Facebook posts from artist friends who’ve gone outside to do a bit of plein … More

There’s a poem I love titled Sea Fever. It’s by John Masefield, and it talks about going down to the sea. … More

Yesterday I opened my new “goody box” from Paletteful Packs and I spent some time playing with the supplies. I’m … More

I did it! I went plein air painting — not on a solitary hike at our nearby nature trails, but … More

Our California Girl is no longer in California. She and her husband are now living in Arizona with a gorgeous view … More

One of the most rewarding aspects of art is the joy that comes from sharing. I love when the young … More

I’ve always loved the word hiatus. I was about nine years old when I first heard the word and learned its … More

Project Runway… here I come! Only kidding, of course. But I did think a lot about the television show as … More

Despite being creative — and therefore messy — I am sometimes overly neat. This is especially true with new art supplies. I … More

I’ve come to the final day of my “quick course” in fashion illustration, all lessons taken from Master Fashion Sketches in … More

Day 8 was hard. Really hard. Despite the claim that drawing hair is simply a matter of taking it one … More

I’m very glad I’ve learned the basic “how-to’s” of nature journaling. Although our weather was quite uncooperative for a while … More

Love. It’s not a word I use often when I’m talking about my art. Oh, sometimes I might say that … More

We’ve all heard that warning: Be careful what you wish for… you might get it. I think maybe it’s more … More

One of my favorite bits of life philosophy has always been the admonition that “If in doubt… don’t.” In other … More