I have not put brush to paper in over 2 weeks. My creative side is screaming at me to get into the studio. I just finished cleaning my palette and adding fresh color. Although my palette has a cover, the paints were all dried up. I like to 'hang' fresh paint on the outside edge of each well, which keeps that paint clean. I have mixed color in the bottom of each well to the consistency of buttermilk or heavy cream. My paints are now ready for painting more spontaneously, more intuitively, more loosely for that 'painterly' impressionistic look. I don't want to have to stop to activate hard dry c ..read more

2 weeks until the Artisans Road Trip!!! October 8 & 9! Saturday, 9-5; Sunday, 12-5 Mark your calendar and get out the map to start planning YOUR Northwest Iowa road trip to visit the 41 incredible, professional participating artists in their studios and/or galleries. I personally will be displaying my watercolor paintings, colored pencil drawings, graphite drawings and illustrated journals at Summerwind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa. A huge part of this annual event for me is visiting with people, listening to their comments regarding my work, answering questions and joyfully sharing the sto ..read more

If you draw/paint from photos, use your own photos, if you can. Photos capture and preserve a moment in time for you to refer to immediately or years later. That photo is reference material for the patterns, the shapes, the spaces, perspective, textures, colors, lights and darks and the finest details. However, at the moment you snap that shutter yourself, YOU are also experiencing feelings and emotions of the place and internalizing the smells, sounds, the temperature, the time of day. Be aware of your reactions to your surroundings and listen to your internal voice when photographing. Trust ..read more

..read more

This winter has been very productive for me as far as creating work- large, small, watercolor, graphite drawings, colored pencil drawings, oil, illustrated journal entries and a few experiments. It feels real good. Now that the weather is warming up and things are so very green and lush, the flowers are spectacular, and I am able to get out and move and breath fresh air, I find it extremely difficult to stay in the studio. It is so ok. I will sketch, journal, make value sketches and studies, take photos, become immersed in nature...........and all this will fuel my physical, creative and spiri ..read more

I have not put brush to paper in over 2 weeks. My creative side is screaming at me to get into the studio. I just finished cleaning my palette and adding fresh color. Although my palette has a cover, the paints were all dried up. I like to 'hang' fresh paint on the outside edge of each well, which keeps that paint clean. I have mixed color in the bottom of each well to the consistency of buttermilk or heavy cream. My paints are now ready for painting more spontaneously, more intuitively, more loosely for that 'painterly' impressionistic look. I don't want to have to stop to activate hard dry c ..read more

2 weeks until the Artisans Road Trip!!! October 8 & 9! Saturday, 9-5; Sunday, 12-5 Mark your calendar and get out the map to start planning YOUR Northwest Iowa road trip to visit the 41 incredible, professional participating artists in their studios and/or galleries. I personally will be displaying my watercolor paintings, colored pencil drawings, graphite drawings and illustrated journals at Summerwind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa. A huge part of this annual event for me is visiting with people, listening to their comments regarding my work, answering questions and joyfully sharing the sto ..read more

If you draw/paint from photos, use your own photos, if you can. Photos capture and preserve a moment in time for you to refer to immediately or years later. That photo is reference material for the patterns, the shapes, the spaces, perspective, textures, colors, lights and darks and the finest details. However, at the moment you snap that shutter yourself, YOU are also experiencing feelings and emotions of the place and internalizing the smells, sounds, the temperature, the time of day. Be aware of your reactions to your surroundings and listen to your internal voice when photographing. Trust ..read more

..read more

This winter has been very productive for me as far as creating work- large, small, watercolor, graphite drawings, colored pencil drawings, oil, illustrated journal entries and a few experiments. It feels real good. Now that the weather is warming up and things are so very green and lush, the flowers are spectacular, and I am able to get out and move and breath fresh air, I find it extremely difficult to stay in the studio. It is so ok. I will sketch, journal, make value sketches and studies, take photos, become immersed in nature...........and all this will fuel my physical, creative and spiri ..read more