Category Archives: Sketchbooks

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

Posted in Beauty, Books I Love, Pen & Ink, Pencil sketching, Sketchbooks, sketching, Sketching tools, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , | 4 Comments

Downshifting to autumn tempo

The only thing that beats my love of words and watercolor is having people to share both with. I’m sitting in my favorite cafe, Bean & Bakery in Concord NH, indulging in the most amazing pumpkin raisin muffin I’ve ever … Continue reading

Posted in 2- Bolts: Sketching Tools, Book #2: Double Take, Look at That! book, Musings on Life, Sketchbooks, Sketching tools | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

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

Posted in Beauty, Book #2: Double Take, Musings on Life, My Story, Pen & Ink, Seeing and looking, Sketchbooks, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The latest finished sketchbook

I just finished a sketchbook that I began back on June 15th, 2019. An educational ending to a long process! The paper in this sketchbook is one of my favorites, the same as what was in the big square sketchbook … Continue reading

Posted in Cartoons, Musings on Life, Pen & Ink, Seeing and looking, Sketchbooks, Tip Jar, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

In praise of weird-shaped containers

Sometimes all you need is a weird-shaped target area to overcome perceived obstacles. Notice I said, “perceived.” Most of time, what’s keeping us from writing, from sketching, from taking up guitar, or even harmonica is the crazy notion that we … Continue reading

Posted in Cartoons, Pen & Ink, Seeing and looking, Sketchbooks, Watercolor | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Another sketchbook completed, and what I learned

I just finished another sketchbook, six months of Sundays, literally. And because I can’t simply leave it at that, I had to go one step further and try to figure out: 1- how to shoot a one-handed video in a … Continue reading

Posted in Pen & Ink, Seeing and looking, Sketchbooks, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

What I’ve been learning

It’s been a busy month since I last wrote: finishing up one course (writing), still in the middle of another (art), loving what I’m learning in both. Writing The course I just finished was offered by Memoir Writing Ink, an … Continue reading

Posted in Pen & Ink, Sketchbooks, Sketching tools, Tip Jar, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

How clean are your glasses?

I was prescribed eyeglasses when I was about 10 years old, and for me, wearing glasses is as normal as breathing. My poor mother had three kids who all wore glasses from a young age, and I recall her chiding … Continue reading

Posted in 3- Magic: Art Epiphanies, Musings on Life, Pencil sketching, Sketchbooks, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Goldilock’s Sketching Travel Kit

It has suddenly jumped from almost-too-cold to almost-too-hot to be sketching outdoors, which means there’s no time to waste in fine-tuning my art-supply travel kit. I say “travel,” but in truth for me, “travel” usually means leaving my third-floor loft … Continue reading

Posted in Look at That! book, Look-at-That! Pouches, Pen & Ink, Sketchbooks, Sketching tools, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor | Tagged , , | 2 Comments