Northeast Harbor AND a free event!

I’m just back from a few glorious weeks in Maine. Yes, we got hit with a few days of rain at the tail end of the Nor’easter that made its way up the coast, but mostly we had perfect autumn weather for both weeks of my workshops with Madeline Island School of the Arts. And some of the clearest light was on the days when we were in Northeast Harbor.

I love drawing in that spot because the boats are in a bay with a backdrop of hills and trees. In the two weeks that we were there the colours on those trees turned from green to yellow to orange.

The harbor has both pleasure boats and working boats. We spent lots of time watching the lobster boats come in, unload their catch and go out again. On one of the days we also drew a parade of people emptying out the water from their dinghies after the rains.

And now for the free event…

I’m very excited to be part of Sketching Retreat once again this year. It’s a free 6-day online event with 50+ workshops (mine included!) all about architectural sketching & drawing — both analog and digital techniques.

The event takes place from October 27-November 1, 2026, and it’s one that I am always proud to be a part of because of the quality of the instructors. In the coming days, I look forward to watching videos from people whose work I admire like Simone Ridyard, Darman Angir, Sebastien Thommen and Oliver Hoeller. And of course I look forward to discovering some new sketchers too.

In my demo “The Yellow House: Sketching in Water-Soluble Ink and Wash“, I’ll sketch a half-timbered house I saw this past summer in Alsace. I’ll start by drawing it in copper-coloured water-soluble ink. Then, when I go back in with watercolour, you’ll see how the ink line partially dissolves and blends with the paint pigment. The result is warm and meltingly gorgeous. My recent experiments using water-soluble ink and paint have found their perfect subject! I invite you to watch, and then try it out yourself.

On top of all that, I’ve also prepared a downloadable pdf “10 Ways to Think about Ink” for all the attendees! Here’s the link to register for the free event. Hope to see you there!