Category Archives: Watercolor

Curiosity + Looking = Unexpected Aha Moments

Here’s your mid-week dessert, a bit of combined brain and eye candy. Watch and listen to my mentor Oliver Pyle (whom I mentioned in my previous post) as he guides you into a world you may have never seen, the … Continue reading

Posted in Beauty, Design Basics, Seeing and looking, sketching, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Power and Purpose of Story

What is a story anyway? Just because you’re talking doesn’t mean you’re telling a story, right? Here is Dictionary.com’s definition: Story: a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or … Continue reading

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Prepare to March On

Face it, we are all going through some interesting times right now. 2025 arrived with a crash of cymbals. Many of us have struggled through (and barely survived) wildfires, blizzards, floods, civil unrest and more – all during the past … Continue reading

Posted in Beauty, Musings on Life, My Story, Watercolor | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Emulating the Masters Again

As I mentioned last week, I am navigating a couple of medical challenges that leave me with very little energy to do extra things, even those things that normally rejuvenate me. Then I glimpse my sketchbook on the table…. next … Continue reading

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Travel is my favorite path to Enlightenment

Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” I agree, and I love experiencing this truth firsthand as often as possible. Five years ago, I traveled to England to visit a friend I’d never met. Well, that’s … Continue reading

Posted in Beauty, Book #2: Double Take, Seeing and looking, sketching, Trips to the UK, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

If you stop, I’ll stop.

Those of you who sketch outdoors regularly may recall times when you entered a trance-like state while sketching. Without planning it, you traveled from effortful thinking to effortless rapture, and before you knew it, you had the shallow breathing of … Continue reading

Posted in Beauty, Book #2: Double Take, Musings on Life, Pencil sketching, Seeing and looking, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Why not me? Why not you?

August 11th has been a powerful day for me… several times. In 1973, it was the day of a horrific car accident where my brother and I were both badly injured. Fast forward 41 years to 2014, August 11th was … Continue reading

Posted in Book #2: Double Take, Look at That! book, Pen & Ink, sketching, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How to Double the Fun when Travel Sketching

(This is the next in the series of excerpts from my illustrated memoir, “Double Take.”) Planning a vacation? If you’re like me, the minute you buy your plane ticket or book your B&B, it feels like you’re almost on your … Continue reading

Posted in Book #2: Double Take, Pen & Ink, Seeing and looking, Sketchbooks, sketching, Travel Adventures, Trips to the UK, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When a pen is more than a pen

(The next in the Autumn 2024 series of excerpts from my illustrated memoir, “Double Take”) April 25, 2015 – journal entry about pens and my pen history Back before the invention of markers, gel pens, roller-ball pens, and ballpoint pens, … Continue reading

Posted in Beauty, Book #2: Double Take, Musings on Life, My Story, Pen & Ink, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Do your pauses refresh or agitate?

A brief note first: This latest series of posts has given me an unexpected gift:  the feeling of reading “Double Take” for the first time. When writing, editing, proofing, final proofing, final-final proofing any piece of writing, it’s natural to … Continue reading

Posted in Beauty, Book #2: Double Take, Musings on Life, Pen & Ink, Seeing and looking, sketching, Watercolor | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments