Illustration + Nature Sketching
I’m excited to announce that another sketching class is finished and ready for you. It’s called: Wildflowers in Watercolor and Ink: Introduction to Botanical Sketching and it’s available directly from me or through Skillshare. The class has a lot of the energy I was after this summer, with long field trips, concentrating on new sketching …
I’ve been collecting a lot of wildflower seedpods throughout the summer months, mostly roadside finds from plants around the neighborhood. I thought it might be nice to take a closer look and do a sketching session with some of the seedpods. A lot of them are as beautiful and intricately built as the flower itself, …
As I’ve already mentioned in my sketchbook tour, recently I’ve slowed down my sketching process a bit. As much as I love quick and spontaneous sketching, I’ve found that when I take my time for the drawing I often like the results better. Just to clarify, “taking my time” still means that I will typically …
Welcome to another sketchbook tour! In this one, I will share what I’ve been up to in my sketchbook since June 2022. I started a new sketchbook back then and took a longer break during August, so it’s only one quarter full – somehow I enjoy taking my time for drawing lately, and don’t want …
It’s September and I’m back from my summer break. For anyone who joined this newsletter in the last four weeks, a warm welcome! I usually share sketching tips and art-related stuff, but in this installment I will talk a little bit about personal stuff and my plans. I hope you will also forgive me if …
I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying creative times! You probably have noticed that the blog has been a bit slower than usually recently – I’ve just been very exhausted in recent months, due to work and health stuff, and haven’t found the time to write blogs or create a lot of …
Something that came up in the recent run-through of my class Sketching Fundamentals and that is also a frequently asked question generally is how do you capture the atmosphere of a place quickly (in drawing or painting) before the light changes, and how to you find a good place to set up and work? I …
Last time, I took you with me on a day of field sketching rich with local plants and orchids. There were so many and the day became increasingly hot that I didn’t finish all my sketches on that day. So I took a few close-up photos and made some color notes, and decided to finish …
I’m taking you on another field sketching trip today. In this location, I found lots of different wild orchids at the beginning of June, and I was happy to spend a long time sketching, so the video got a bit longer. You can follow me around the entire day while I’m exploring the area and …
It’s time for another sketchbook tour, this one will cover the sketches I completed in the spring of 2022. One thing I’m noticing about my sketchbook work recently is that I’m drawing slowly and with more intent, and that I’m focusing more on each subject. From a naturalist standpoint, I welcome this, it means I …
Over the years I have been asked repeatedly if I use different palette colors in different seasons. Usually my answer was no, because I very rarely change the “classic” color on my small palette, and this is a field kit that already has quite the large number of colors (right now: 20). But this year …
It can be hard to get started with sketching. Usually it’s simple enough to get all kinds of tools, theorize about all the materials you will need, but usually they are only a stand-in that you believe you will need for making great art. When you actually have a great sketchbook, and all kinds of …
Today I’m going to take you with me for a field sketching session. I’m drawing Early purple orchids on location and finish my sketches at home, where I also do a few experiments with ink. I’ve also changed a few colors in my palette and I’m talking about how that happened. Here’s the video: Sketching …
Today I have something a bit different for you, a calm painting video in which I sketch apple blossoms. I enjoy spring time so much, the apple and cherry orchards are always breathtakingly beautiful when they’re in bloom – and it’s always over so soon! This year, I managed to paint some apple blossoms in …
Today I’d like to get your feedback!I’m always thinking about how I can write and structure this blog so that you enjoy reading it. So I’d like to ask you what you want me to write about, or what you generally would like to see more of, or any questions you might have (art-related or …