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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 […]
Playing with Markers in Backgrounds
There are a gazillion ways to use wide tipped makers for backgrounds on your artwork. Typically you see me put backgrounds on some of my portraits AFTER I’ve drawn the portrait. I like cutting around the figure with the wide tip. It’s just fun. You can’t really see the edge of the portrait all the […]
Mixed Media Portrait on Toned Paper
If you’re going to play around with mixed media I encourage you to seek out toned papers. The strokes and values you achieve on the toned background make a fun departure from white paper. This sketch of an Earth’s World Fairgoer (who was wearing black lipstick) is in a hand bound journal I made with […]
Mixed Media View of the Backyard: Expanding Your Visual Vocabulary
It’s always a great idea to take a moment and look out the window. Our neighbors at the back of our yard have a lush growth of ferns at this time of the year. I turned the page in my journal and sketched on this pre-painted background—the verso page background was in the same vein […]
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 […]
Mixed Media Experiments Continue
This dog portrait was my warm up sketch to continue my mixed media experiments. I started with a brush pen sketch from a Sktchy muse reference photo. I used leftover gouache and then the dry media you can see listed on the recto page. I then searched for another photo reference on Sktchy and did […]
Neocolor II or KingArt Artist Mixed Media Gel Sticks?
If you’ve been following along this past few weeks you’ll know that I used some “stick” media in my 2026 International Fake Journal Month Journal. And that led to questions, which led to a discussion, which led to me making some videos about Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Water-soluble Wax Pastels (CANII) here. And also this […]
Sketching with Neocolor II Water-soluble Wax Pastels—Doodle of a Chicken
Today’s post is all contained in the video below. In this video I discuss how to transfer a drawing using graphite transfer paper; build up a color sketch from my transferred doodle using Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels; discuss different ways I use this art material; and provide a lightfastness chart. I’ve come back to […]
Don’t Be Afraid of Messy Studies—What Are You Learning?
Too many of my students in the past have obsessed about perfection in their studies. They worry about their studies being messy, partially complete, and in every other way weak and unconvincing. They are worrying about the wrong thing. The purpose of a study is to try out an idea or approach. To give a […]
A Short Review of Tonic Watercolors from Federal Color
“Why do you do this to yourself Roz?” you may be wondering? Sometimes I wonder too why I feel so compelled to test watercolor brands. I love my Schmincke Pan watercolors and I love my Daniel Smith Tube watercolors. I hope they never change the formula or quality of those paints. But because change happens […]