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Don’t Miss the 11th Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out!
It’s almost time for the 11th Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out! Saturday, August 24 and Tuesday, August 27, 2019. Location: Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota. See this link on the Fair Website for driving instructions to the Fairgrounds, and a printable map of the Fairgrounds. (These maps are available at the Fair […]
In Context: Looking at the Arteza Watercolor Book Part 6
This isn’t strictly an “In Context” post. I don’t have things written on these pages and I’m going to show more than one spread. But I’m keeping it in context because these are all from the Arteza Watercolor Book and all these posts together constitute my review of that commercially bound sketchbook. […]
Pentel Pocket Brush Pen—New Ink Colors
Finally, at last, we’ve all wanted it for so long and now we get it—the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen can now be purchased with gray or sepia ink as well as black ink! These are Pentel’s hard-bodied pens, the fountain-pen type pen with a synthetic brush tip. (Some readers seem to be confused about which […]
Stonehenge Aqua Review Part 5—A Look at the Hot Press Surface
This is part 5 of a multi-part review of Stonehenge Aqua cold press and hot press. Please see this link for the first post in the series. Hot press paper is my paper of choice, so I’m going to spend more time testing a new hot press paper than I am testing a cold press […]
Acrylic Painting—Some Books and Materials Recommendations
In December 2018 I wrote a post on how to deal with an artistic plateau. I included some book recommendations in the hopes that readers would use some of the books as workbooks for self-study, to work themselves off the plateau they found themselves on. I added pen and ink as well as drawing books […]
Roz’s 2018 Minnesota State Fair Journal
Today’s gallery contains all the pages of my 2018 Minnesota State Fair Journal. This year I was able to attend on three days. There are sections indicating the start of each new day, and stating which day was the sketch out (I could only attend one of the sketch out days). I worked on 300 […]
In Context: Not the Time To Explain a Vignette
As an artist, you know whether it’s the right time to introduce the concept of “vignettes” or not. Pick your battles.
Looking Back at InkTober 2018
I frequently work for days and weeks at a time in ink only. I have an early, childhood love of dip pens and inky fingers. I love working with the brush pen directly, and taking chances with bold brush lines. This year I was also getting ready to go to a sketching conference and wanted […]
Everyone Needs a Side Project
A few weeks ago my friend Danny Gregory called me up to discuss my thoughts about projects. Most readers know my Daily Dots—daily drawings of my Alaskan Malamute bitch Dottie made the last 4 and a half years of her life. But friends and students know that I’m always engaged in whatever the latest project […]
Simple Approaches for Backgrounds—A Five-Part Series: Part 1
I was organizing my images for blog posts and noticed that I had a lot of common themes, some not as obvious. What do the images in today’s post and those referenced (linked) all have in common? Well all but one have backgrounds painted AFTER the sketch is made (and typically even after the sketch […]