-
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: Sketching tools
Never plagiarize: copy instead!
According to the dictionary, plagiarism is “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.” We can all agree that plagiarism is a very bad idea; even if you don’t get caught, you’re … Continue reading
“Look at That!”…but where do I start?
Well my dear friends, I have launched my wonderful book on Amazon, and I couldn’t be more pleased. eBook: I struggled with three separate versions of the ebook, each one with its own drawbacks, and finally settled on one I … Continue reading
Posted in 1- Nuts: Graphic Styles, 2- Bolts: Sketching Tools, Look at That! book, Look-at-That! Pouches, Pen & Ink, Pencil sketching, Sketchbooks, Sketching tools, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor, Writing
Tagged Beginnings, Community, Creative Habit, drawing habit, Looking, Perseverance, seeing, seeing meditation, Sketchbook, Watercolor, Writing
8 Comments
Today’s the day! “Look at That!”
My book is finally a reality! I am so proud to announce that a book that began its life as a twinkle of a notion of an alternative sort of art class three years ago, has turned into a lighthearted, … Continue reading
Posted in 1- Nuts: Graphic Styles, Cartoons, Look at That! book, Look-at-That! Pouches, Pen & Ink, Sketchbooks, Sketching tools, Urban Sketching (On-Site Creativity), Watercolor, Writing
Tagged Creative Habit, drawing habit, Inspiration, Looking, meditation, pen and ink, seeing, Sketchbook, sketching, Watercolor
9 Comments
The Quickest Way to My Heart is via a Fountain Pen
Another fun Sunday out sketching with my friend Patrick. This past weekend we enjoyed an unseasonably warm patch of weather, and took advantage of the afternoon light right here in town. This is Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, a beautiful … Continue reading
A piece of unexpected art equipment
If you’re like me and you haven’t totally divorced yourself from Amazon, you probably have received more than one piece of blue-and-white bubble wrap packaging from them. That packaging may be hard to recycle, but it’s dead simple to repurpose. … Continue reading
“Look at that!” said the soon-to-be author.
I’m writing a book. Yes, I’m as surprised as you are. I see now why, for the past two months, I have written so many blog posts about staying grounded, finding equanimity with outside distractions, and not letting your lists … Continue reading
Reopening the World: Will you forfeit what you have gained?
Although I would never say this worldwide pandemic has been a blessing in any sense, many people have discovered that running at a snail’s pace has its perks. The question is, even though you may be on the verge of … Continue reading
Have you ever taken a nap with your eyes open?
That’s pretty much what sketching felt like today. I was gently focused on what I was doing and at some point I thought, “Yeah, I think I’m done.” ( I wish you could hear how I enunciated that ‘yeah’—it was more like ‘yehhhhh-aaaaaah”—it had about four syllables.) When I finished, I took a picture of […]
Episode 1/11…wherein I escape the reality of 2020 quarantine and Travel Through Time and Space to 2022 Britain
March 30th, 2022 What a crazy time it has been in the two years since that insane 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It slapped the entire planet, sending it to its room for weeks, months on end. The rhythm of adjustment was … Continue reading
Simmering Pots & Comrade Spirits
“The Show” is up, finally! Thanks to a good friend’s assistance, on Sunday March 1st we hung up 25 paintings, evenly spaced, along a 49′ wall. It was a very long year of learning a new approach that was both … Continue reading
