Late to the game

Posted: March 26, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 23 Comments

I’m sure that you already know that in Canada we have 11 seasons, but I’m a bit late to the game. I only heard about this last week on the radio. My particular favourites on this list are the ones that occur around this time: fool’s spring, second winter, spring of deception, third winter and mud season. I think we are probably in fool’s spring right now. Which means there’s still time to paint the wheelbarrow with some snow on it.

I haven’t painted my old friend the broken wheelbarrow in many months. It was in a spot in the backyard that I couldn’t see from my window, but I fixed that yesterday. I put on my boots and went out there to move it, carefully, to a new spot. It’s not as good as the old spot in my previous yard because it’s up against a skinny pine, not a grand old oak, but it will do. It’s in a forested corner of my yard which makes a good backdrop and hopefully makes up for the lack of a big tree.

I sketched this on hot press paper using a Lamy pen that’s filled with copper ink, and added watercolour after. If you want to learn a bit about this process, have a look at my newest online course, “Sketching Techniques with Pens and Inks“, on sale this week.

These are a few of my favourite things

Posted: May 15, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 31 Comments

It’s finally warm enough (and I am home long enough) to sketch outside. That’s a reason to celebrate. I’m still discovering new places to draw, and of course trying to find places that look like my old favourites. The village of Hudson reminds me so much of Pointe Claire, especially now that it’s spring and the main street is getting busy again.

Today I ordered coffee from Furley’s Bakery and sat outside on their terrace to draw the view down Main. I felt SO rusty so I started with something I feel comfortable with: the bins and the utility pole! My drawing grew organically from there. The tree was next, then the yellow picket fence, a bit of the building, the awnings, etc. It made me so happy to be outside, to be looking at the things I love to draw and to watch people going by.

There’s plenty to draw in Hudson, including lots of charming buildings, a lakeshore and even a boat club. I’ll happily be discovering it all with my sketchbook this spring and summer.

A new online course: Sketching Spring Flowers

Posted: April 3, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

I know I haven’t been posting much on my blog lately. I always miss that. But I have a good excuse. I’ve been painting lots of spring flowers, and after being so inspired by all the tulips at Cheekwood Gardens in Nashville, I decided to turn all that intensive flower painting into a new online course: Sketching Spring Flowers.

If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you know that I love to paint spring flowers in my garden. I once even filled an accordion sketchbook with drawings from my garden after I planted 200 bulbs from Costco. This year, alas, I have no spring flowers in my garden, or none that I know of, because we moved house in November, well after planting season. But my former garden, and the one in Nashville, were the inspiration for this course. And I’m hopeful that next year I will have spring flowers in my own backyard again.

Here are a few of the watercolours we draw and paint in the new class: hyacinths in my window, crocuses as they open in the sun, and a wide swath of tulips blowing in the wind. And here’s a link to the course. Have a look! And as always, the course is on sale for $30 USD or $42 CAN for the first week and goes back up to the regular price of $35 USD or $47 CAN after April 9, 2024.