Sketching at RiverWinds Gallery

RiverWinds Gallery is located in Beacon, New York. They carry a lot of my paintings as well as work by other artists. They also have fabulous handmade pottery and jewelry, framed photographs, and other handmade gift items. This varied assortment of art is beautifully set up on shelves and cases around the gallery. If you're still out there looking for holiday gifts and close enough to Beacon to make the drive, it's a great place to do holiday shopping.

Our sketching group was invited to sketch there this past week. Having sketched there before, I was very excited about another opportunity. Four of us fell in love with this setup of sunflowers and yarn bowls (by potter Marilyn Price). We pulled up chairs around it and got to work with whatever mediums we had on hand.

I selected this page spread in my sketchbook that I'd previously prepared with lavender, pink, and blue shiny iridescent acrylics, and started out by sketching with a fountain pen filled with Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses. I used a waterbrush to create an ink and wash, and then splashed on some color near the end of the process. The writing was done with the same ink, which tied the color harmony together quite nicely.