-
Recent Posts
- Playful Art Liberates! August 15, 2026
- Lower the (Paper) Bar and Bring on the Fun July 14, 2026
- Painting: Is it a Noun or a Verb? May 18, 2026
- My visit with Erik Koeppel May 2, 2026
- Art History: Is it about the Artist or about the Art? April 9, 2026
- You Won’t Know Until You Try February 8, 2026
- When you Know Better, but don’t DO Better January 28, 2026
- The Gentleman Farmer from Newark: Part 2 December 8, 2025
- The Secret is to Make Practice Effortless November 8, 2025
- An Inch Made All the Difference October 31, 2025
Categories
-
Join 425 other subscribers
Tags
- aging
- architecture
- art
- artist
- artist's memoir
- art kit
- art supplies
- art tool kit
- Beginnings
- Being Present
- Book #2
- books
- brickwork
- color mixing
- Community
- Constant Learning
- Creative Habit
- Creativity
- Double Take
- drawing
- drawing habit
- Eyesight
- fountain pen
- Freedom
- habit
- Habits
- Innate Health
- Inside-Out Understanding
- Inspiration
- Integrity
- kieep it simple
- learning from masters
- life
- life-long learning
- lifelong learning
- Look at That!
- Looking
- mark-making
- meditation
- Memoir
- mental-health
- Mentors
- observation
- painting
- pen and ink
- pencil sketch
- Perseverance
- perseverence
- photography
- plein air
- plein air kit
- practice
- reflection
- rule of thirds
- seeing
- seeing meditation
- self-publishing
- simplicity
- Sketchbook
- sketching
- sketching with others
- storytelling
- Three Principles
- time management
- tint brush
- urban sketching
- Watercolor
- watercolor-painting
- Watercolor chemistry
- watercolor paint
- watercolors
- winter sketching
- wisdom
- Writing
- Writing Habit
Category Archives: Watercolor
Your artistic license is mandatory.
I have heard people say, apologetically, that they took “artistic license” when they changed a scene they were trying to draw or paint. I get it, but they’re wrong to apologize. The truth is, your artistic license needs to be … Continue reading
Posted in Beauty, Books I Love, Design Basics, Seeing and looking, Watercolor
Tagged Inspiration, Looking, Mentors, Perseverance, Watercolor
3 Comments
I never have to sit waiting for the pencil to start
I just spent a chunk of time trying to open a properly-saved file on my computer that, for some reason, now needs to be recovered. Couldn’t do it. That file was a blog post draft in MS Word, so instead … Continue reading
Posted in Beauty, Musings on Life, Pencil sketching, sketching, Watercolor
Tagged Creative Habit, Inspiration, Perseverance, restlessness
8 Comments
The Perfect Cure for Your Next Creative Stall-out
Do you ever feel like sketching, but you don’t feel like sketching? By that I mean, do you ever feel like playing with your pens and paper and watercolor toys, but you have no interest at all in finding a … Continue reading
My Ultimate Toolkit for Plein Air Watercolor Enjoyment
As promised last week, here is the story of the latest “Ultimate Plein Air Watercolor Set-up.” This time, yes, I think I’ve nailed it. Warning: If you are not a watercolor painter, or even if you are and you never … Continue reading
Playing with Watercolor Toys on a Snowy Day
Do you ever feel like playing with your watercolors, exploring all the juicy gorgeous possibilities without having to sketch a scene first? Congratulations, you’ve come to the right place. I have two active sketchbooks with distinctly separate purposes. One I … Continue reading
Posted in Sketchbooks, Watercolor
Tagged color mixing, color theory, Creative Habit, Mentors, Perseverance, Watercolor
4 Comments
I’m moving! Not really…
Last week I was lucky to have a long visit with my niece who is in the midst of one of life’s top stressors: Moving Your Household. I’ve moved more times than I can count (okay, full disclosure, I’ve moved … Continue reading
99¢ is practically free!
This coming week, from November 7th through 13th, my first book, Look at That! will be available in eBook form for a mere 99 cents! It’s a promotion that Amazon.com and Amazon.ca are doing, and at that price, of course, … Continue reading
A Slammed Door and an Unexpected New Confidante
On September 10th, 55 years ago, at 6:30am, the phone rang. It was Dr. Boschenstein calling to tell Mom that my sixty-one-year-old father had a stroke at 5am. My father was dead. It was a bright, sunny Sunday morning, the … Continue reading
I did a terrible job explaining viewfinders…
… but this guy does a great job. Our approaches are somewhat different, but the point is the same. He shows how to make a clear plastic viewfinder, as well as the “hole in the index card” style that I … Continue reading
My watercolors are lonely!
I’m sure you’ve been here too. It’s super hot out, or really humid, or maybe buggy, and you’d love to fit in some time sketching outdoors, but oh my, naw, maybe later… Then you think, “Maybe if I pull out … Continue reading
Posted in Book #2, Look at That! book, Sketching tools, Watercolor, Writing
Tagged brush dance, Creative Habit, Perseverance, practice, recreation, Watercolor, Writing
3 Comments