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Influences: Why It Helps to Recognize Them
A couple days ago, after running some errands, I stood outside on my front porch and sketched the neighbor’s tree. It’s an immense pine. I think it’s a Scots Pine. A huge trunk, huge branches breaking off of the main trunk creating “clouds” or platforms of foliage. (None of that is visible in my sketch […]
In Context: More Brush Pen Talk—Hair
You can click on the image to read the text note on the spread for this “In Context” post. More brush pen hair for the week. The bonus of stubble. When you are sketching with a brush pen life is really pretty great. (And you can cope better with all the times you aren’t sketching […]
In Context: Studies Are Also Thoughts about Color Mixing
A peek in my journal—that’s what “In Context” posts are. And typically not a lot of text in the post. Here you see a gouache painting on toned paper. This happens to be a hand-bound book I made with Annigoni Designo. It’s about 7-1/2 x 9 inches closed. (All my rulers have migrated downstairs where […]
Letting Go of Perfect: Part Whatever We Are Up to at This Point…
Usually I work way ahead in my blog. But for some reason today’s post wasn’t written—only the image selected. It’s serendipity, because in a weirdo circumstance I slammed my hand into an unfriendly cast-iron base of one of Dick’s shop tools, while tossing him a house key. And typing anything new would be problematic, if […]
TV Tips: Chef Shows—Lee Anne Wong
I’m a fan of competition cooking shows where leading chefs compete for prizes, money, titles… I have always enjoyed watching cooking shows since seeing Julia Child on PBS. (I most enjoyed her shows with Chef Jacques Pepin later in life.) In season 3 of “24 in 24” Chef Lee Anne Wong competed. I first saw […]
Don’t Let Perfectionism Keep You from Enjoying Your Art Practice
When you’ve spent decades teaching in-person classes in book binding, you’ve made a bunch of demo books! You work through a stage in the structure while students pay attention and ask questions. Then they complete the steps you just demonstrated, while you mingle and help those who are confused or struggling. Teaching, over time, presents […]
Television: The Big Bang Theory
For various reasons I’ve been rewatching shows I watched when they first ran. These days with all the streaming possibilities it’s hard some days to remember what TV used to be like, with the three networks and seasons, and summer re-runs and everyone in the office watching the same top shows. Then of course we […]
Mixed Media Portrait Supplies
Sometimes you work in watercolor and you pick up some color pencils too. It’s fun, why not? Especially if you spent your childhood working with color pencils. I started this portrait of a fairgoer from Earth’s World using a black grape Prismacolor pencil. (It’s not black, it’s not overly strident. I enjoy it. I also […]
Zines: Another Way to Record Your Life, Interests, and Events
What is a zine? Well “Factsheet 5” defined a zine as “A small handmade, amateur publication, done purely out of passion, rarely making a profit, or breaking even.” We’ll start there. I’ve been making zines my entire adult life. I’ve made zines about food, shoes, snow piles, dogs (of course), movies, literature, and of course […]
Six-Pocket Pamphlet Book for Journaling
Blog readers know I’ve been on a life-long crusade to get people to journal everyday. I think this habit of observation with visual and written documentation is a great way to stay focused in life, find gratitude, and keep your creative mind engaged. For children dealing with the upheaval of the past several months and […]