Hudson Valley Sketches -

  Here in the northeastern United States, October is the month when we plein air painters flock outside to capture the very short burst of p...

  A friend of mine gave me a really cute tin filled with 30 cold press Hannemule watercolor postcards. ( https://amzn.to/3cceRSN .) You can ...

I've been enjoying my gouache paintbox that I converted from a makeup kit in my previous post , and have some updates for my readers....

About five years ago, my daughter abandoned a makeup kit in the bathroom closet. It opened to reveal slide out trays with metal pan...

Immature Bald Eagle, gouache on gray paper of a Stillman & Birn Nova Trio Sketchbook (Click title if full review does not appear.)

Part of my current "Inspiration Wall" in the studio Project Megasketch has influenced and improved my art and creativity in m...

Watercolor over thin white gesso layer, calligraphy marker For many years, at least a portion of my sketches have been done in old books...

Faber Castell Polychromos Pastels have been a go-to pastel for artists because they are individually rated for lightfastness, and prov...

Pentel Pocket Brush Pen filled with Platinum Carbon Black ink, 13x44" mural drawing Here's a fun challenge for you Megasketc...

A couple of my gouache (left) and watercolor (right) palettes with some little sketches. The small, airtight plastic container has tit...

Although people generally start their New Years Resolutions on January 1, that's one of the worst days for me to begin new challenges an...

As a musician, one of the things we learn early on is that practice does not make pefect; rather, perfect practice makes perfect . If yo...

Every year, I choose a quote for the year, and write it into my planner. This year, my quote is: A year from now, you'll wish you h...

Pentel Pocket Brush Pen  with Platinum Carbon Black ink If you open up the Roger Tory Peterson Field Guide to the Birds, the first th...

When I want a bright white highlight on a sketch, I often count on white gouache to do the job. All whites are created equal, right? W...

Gouache on black paper Painted from life in Trish's back yard For landscape painters, being able to capture the character of a tr...

In January, 2015, I made swatches of the 48 colors in the Charvin Water Soluble Pastel Painting Sticks set, and cut the strips down the c...

Golden High Flow in an empty Montana marker While many artists are happiest when doodling or playing around with abstract concepts, I ...

One of the challenges of Project Megasketch was finding enough subject matter to sketch from life during the winter months. One great so...

One of the most important goals in my 600-page Project Megasketch was to develop line quality, and move away from chicken-scratchy typ...

If you're an artist who doesn't like winter, maybe this post is for you! I used to hate winter. If you live in a cold climate an...

Well for one thing, you end up with a heck of a lot more time. I logged about a thousand pages of ...

Last week, I had an opportunity to spend a few days at a sketching retreat at the Holy Cross Monastery along the Hudson River. I'd lo...

Sometimes you just have to let go.

Gouache, across a two page spread in a gray-toned sketchbook. My friend Mary came over one day to sketch. We sat on the little dock in...

You know the summer season is winding down when your very last Rose of Sharon bush has nearly finished blooming. I'm trying to make...

Wow, it's been nearly four years since I've posted my sketches! I've been doing a lot of them in the past couple of years, so pe...

Today I did a monochrome tree sketch in acrylic, using the 14x22" spread provided by my Stillman & Birn 11x14" Alpha sketch...

Watercolor in a Stillman & Birn Zeta hardbound book It's that time of year when change happens. The days are getting much shor...

I'm continuing with some palette ideas I started last winter and spring. You can see a couple more of them in this post from May . I&...

I don't always do compositional sketches before embarking on a painting. When working out on location, the time to paint is always to...

  11x17" (across the spread) in a Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook Background monoprinted in several layers with a Gelli Printi...