In October I started keeping a nature journal. I share my process, journal pages, and why this is exciting for me.
Read moreNature Journaling
Nature journal pages studying the weather and some cottonwood leaves
Sketchbook Explorations: Watercolor and Ink Worlds
Sketchbook page with a grid of wet-on-wet watercolor squares
In this post, I share a short video on making wet-on-wet swatches in your sketchbook. I also share the inspiration behind me making such pages and discuss the idea of building a visual vocabulary.
Read moreA trip to the beach
I posted about a trip to the beach with a few sketches over on my Patreon page
Read moreCreative Play
“Creative play” probably means different things to different people, and especially for artists. For me it is tied to “not working” though I think it can be an important part of the art and work process. To free me up I decide that there is no pressure to sell or even share whatever I am playing with. It often means trying something new as well. Maybe it will be the start of a series or a new technique, or maybe it will lead to nothing. Maybe I’ll stick it in a box and won’t decide to revisit it for several months or years, and then a snippet may become a solution to a problem down the road.
Read moreHumans on the Landscape- Hannah Hinchman On Kinds of Nature Journals
Last summer I was putting together a presentation on field sketching and natural journaling and consulted the internet on one of my art heroes, Hannah Hinchman. I have several of her books, but she doesn’t have much of an online presence. However I did find this lovely discussion on four kinds of nature journals quoted on Morning-Earth.org in their series on Artist-Naturalists.
Read morePodcast Interview with She Explores
Sketching as artist in residence in the Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve
Photo by Richard Kahn
I’m excited to announce that I am on a podcast and it’s up for you to listen to. Gale Straub hosts a show called She Explores about inquisitive women in the outdoors, on the road, and besides. The podcast episode starts with Gale talking to Chevon Powell about an exciting upcoming event called the Refuge Outdoor Festival. Then we talk about my story of how I grew up spending time outdoors, how and why I moved to Alaska and got interested in science illustration. I also talk about why it’s important for me to make art in the wilderness and to participate in artist residencies on public lands.
Read moreTravel Sketchbook Tips - Number One: Draw an Overview Map
This February I am traveling to Vietnam and Cambodia and I want to take you with me, via my sketchbook. I have cooked up some fun ways to share with you (learn more here), but I am also planning to write a ten-part blog series about my ideas for keeping a travel sketchbook.
Read moreLara Call Gastinger’s Perpetual Journal
A spread from Lara's Perpetual Journal
Lara Gastinger is a botanical artist and illustrator in Virginia who keeps the most inspiring sketchbook. I found her work on instagram (@laragastinger), where each week she usually posts from her “perpetual journal”, a weekly journal and sketchbook (now two books) that she’s been keeping for over a decade, since 2000. Her artwork is gorgeous in its own right, but the collection she’s put together and shares in her perpetual journal is really inspiring.
Read moreSummer Sketchbook
In the last year or so I’ve been changing up how I work. I’ve been taking more photographs when I travel, and spending more time working in my studio, working from photographs and specimens. Nevertheless field sketching has always been an important part of my practice, and remains so now.
I travelled a lot this summer so I mostly used my sketchbook to slow down and have a moment of reflection in a new place as well as to document the landscapes, plants, and other things I found. I thought it would be fun just to peek into the disorganized pages of my sketchbooks.
Read moreAdventures and Open Horizons
Sketching on the bow of the boat. Photo by Vince Hempsall
Last Monday I sat down at my desk and thought, today is the first day of my new job. I’ve had an exciting fall. After completing my artist residency at Joshua Tree National Park, (which I promise to tell you more about soon!), I came back to Alaska to scramble like crazy before leaving for another month to raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
Read moreSparrows Egg Orchid
Sparrow's Egg Orchids, Gouache and pen (2014)
I still remember the first time I saw a Sparrow’s Egg Lady Slipper, Cypripedium passerinum. Allison, who was then the kitchen manager at the Wrangell Mountains Center, pointed one out, and I was delighted that such a cool flower grew in the surroundings forests.
Read moreDrawing to Learn
Pixie Cup Lichens, 8.5 x 5.5", watercolor and pen
Why do I keep a sketchbook? There are many reasons, one of which is that drawing and sketching help me to learn about the world around me.
Read moreA pond in the woods
I just got back from a trip to the north eastern United States to visit family. We decided to go in October so that we could get home to Alaska before winter set in too hard and so that we could catch some of the nice fall weather there. One of the places we went was my grandparents' cabin on a pond near Rangeley, Maine. This has always been a very special place to me.
Read moreBack to Blogging
I kept up a blog called "weekly-sketch" for a while on blogger, but I have wanted to move the blog to my website for a while. Since I took a couple months off of blogging now seemed like a good time to make the switch. So welcome to my new blog!
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