AMA! (Ask Me Anything)

AMA! (Ask Me Anything)

by | May 6, 2025 | Colored Pencils, Phenology, Vlogs & Misc, Watercolor

I had hoped to make progress on my drawing for Mother’s Day – but this past few days have been a bear! So instead, enjoy a little Q&A – which got a little long and complicated in production, but hey. At least I finally got some questions answered!

Tutorial: AMA!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

SKETCHBOOK EASEL

  1. Trues Hard Goods Sketchbook Easel Etsy 

PEN AND INK

  1. TWSBI Eco fountain pen F  Amazon

WATERCOLOR:

  1. Whiskey Painters Mini palette https://amzn.to/40tiYkY
  2. Arches Watercolor Travel Sketchbook: BLICK https://bit.ly/3UAG9JL AMZ https://amzn.to/4f77onF
  3. Brushes depend on where/what I’ll be painting that day. 

GOUACHE:

  1. Daniel Smith Gouache BLICK  JACKSONS 
  2. Jack Richeson brush set: BLICK  AMZ 
  3. Joybest airtight palette AMZ

Links mentioned in the video:

VIDEOS mentioned:

  1. Free video post about book Patreon
  2. Stippling paper video YouTube
  3. Phenology Wheel Playlist YouTube
  4. Open Studio Zoom call May 17: See event calendar at Artventure

CLASSES mentioned:

  1. NEW Bible Journaling colored pencil class Fruit of the Spirit
  2. NEW Snack Class, Color Theory Ella
  3. 30 Days to More Confident Watercolor Sketching

Phenology Wheel Updates

April’s watercolor + gouache buds and blooms are all done – it came out so pretty! And May is underway, alcohol markers for deciduous and flowering trees, because I don’t know the names of these trees growing all around me.

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Newest classes:

Fruit of the Spirit Bible Journaling

Learn to draw 9 animals and a stack of fruit in beautiful pages for your journaling Bible – all in colored pencil.

Color Theory Ella

Sweet little Ella will teach you how to mix beautiful colors to build up the ones YOU want! A nice little “snack” class at a snack price!

Color Theory: Make yourself THIS color chart!

Color Theory: Make yourself THIS color chart!

by | May 3, 2025 | Colored Pencils

I know a lot of people love making color charts….but I’m not that person. I can, however, recommend some charts—because they’re ones that really teach.

A lot of charts are just kept in notebooks and give us an excuse to waste our time looking through them again and again. Or they serve as a procrastination tool. Or a way to just have something to do when we’re stumped. 

All those may be reasonable purposes sometimes. But since I rarely have much extra time on my hands, any chart I make has got to have a good reason to exist. And this chart – or shall I say, the PS added to this chart – is one that may really help those who struggle to figure out what color to use to shift a hue, or to darken or desaturate a color. 

Tutorial: Color Theory—Make yourself THIS color chart!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

Paper

Create this on whatever paper you love to work on!

  1. The sample is on  Bee Paper, Stipple Texture paper 9×12: BLICK https://bit.ly/3GuXorS AMZ https://amzn.to/4dap55L

Pen

  1. Micron pen set Sakura Micron Pigma Pens BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS 

Colored pencils

Use your favorite brand!

  1. Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils BLICK  AMZ

To create this chart

Choose colors; I recommend a light and medium yellow, red (pink) and blue. You can choose cools in one trio and warms in another – but in time hopefully you’ll start to learn what happens when one color is added to another and not need to find swatch charts for them.

Steps:

  1. For a 6 color chart, draw 6 boxes across, 6 down. (1/2″ is just fine.)
  2. In the horizontal rows, color the same hue all the way across. Concentrate on getting a nice consistent medium pressure every time.
  3. In the first column, color the first color on top of the colors already in the squares. That’ll show you what happens when this color is on TOP.
  4. In each column do the same.
  5. The second time  you’re coloring the same pair of hues, it’ll show you the opposite order from #3 above.
  6. Then create threesome swatches with a blend into white.
    1. Start with one of the blues, add the light red (pink) and light yellow, adjusting to see what it takes to get them to be brown and grey.  Make a block with the 2nd blue.
    2. Then create a pair of blends with each blue, adding the medium red (pink) and medium yellow.

The type of learnings to watch for:

  • Which yellow has more or less effect on other colors?
  • Does a warm or cool pink make a better purple?
  • When shifting from a greenish color to a neutral, what color do  you need to add?*

*hint: red + yellow + blue = neutral. Add the one that’s the least prevalent in the color that needs adjusting!

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Coming by Tuesday

Once I finish editing, this little elephant will be available as a snack class – those are little courses that are nicely inexpensive – which is perfect for tough economic times! I’ll be trying to add more of those in the coming months as well as some of the bigger classes with deeper learning. Let me know if you think of a great name for this little course!

Stippling has never been this easy. Or fast!

Stippling has never been this easy. Or fast!

by | Apr 29, 2025 | Fine Art & Sketching, Pen and Ink

I’ve always loved stippling! Yes it’s a lot of dots – but sometimes it’s just mesmerizing to create beautiful waves of value changing from darks to lights and back again.

But it takes SO LONG. Is there something to make that process easier?

 You bet! And it’s a surprising thing – the paper!

 

 

Bee Paper makes a stipple texture paper – it’s more bumpy than lots of other papers, and depositing pigment on the peaks can make it look like you’re making dots on it! I’ll show you how it works – and tell you a crazy little story about a fire that made me haul pads of paper all over the country since the 1989s!

Tutorial: Stippling has never been this easy. Or fast!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

Paper

  1. Bee Paper, Stipple Texture paper 9×12: BLICK  AMZ 
  2. Bee Paper, Stipple Texture paper 22×30: AMZ  (very expensive, but it’s full sheets!)

Drawing tools

  1. Sakura Micron Pigma Pens BLICK https://bit.ly/3yznw17 AMZ   JACKSONS 
  2. Black Prismacolor Pencil BLICK

Inspired by John Muir Laws

Years ago I’d seen a video about how to draw black and white images by John Muir Laws; my recollection is that people came to parks and he wanted them to go out and draw things, and he collected the drawings to print for something. A great volunteer opportunity!

But I remember he said he needed good black and white images, ones that were accurate as well as with some consistency between artists. And he recommended this paper for just those reasons. I was sold, even though I wasn’t working on his project – the stippling paper sounded fascinating!

My brain didn’t hang onto that very long; the paper arrived and, well, I looked at the it and realized I’d forgotten where I heard about it and what had inspired me to get it. The pad ended up in a box of pads of papers, and until I received the box of new goodies from Bee Paper, I’d just not gotten it out.

Fortunately JML came back to my memory – and a quick search led me to this post. Which led me to today’s little drawing!

Simple Supplies

In addition to the paper, I found out from John Muir Laws’ tutorial that my gut instinct to just use a graphite pencil wasn’t necessarily great. He recommended drawing the outlines of the object in a Micron pen, then a black colored pencil for making the “wash” for the dots.

I hadn’t thought about pens, and when I just scribbled with the graphite, I could see I’d end up with fuzzy edges. That’s because of the deep valleys in the paper pattern – a crisp edge requires a line that goes up and down into the texture. A pen with “wet” ink can travel into the valleys, without moving and blending around. Makes sense! 

I did find a few other tutorials out there with this paper, and they all celebrated the sketchy look without the crisp edges – a look which I’ll definitely try. But finding the JML tutorial reminded me of what I bought the paper for, and that’s making a drawing that’s a bit tighter.

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Value variance

A black colored pencil gives a nice smooth, consistent value with even an imperfect application of the pencil; it even works a little BETTER if it’s not super sharp so the pencil stays on the peaks of the paper! 

But to create value differences, let up on the pressure to let it get to a lighter value, and go over it a time or two in order to darken it. Lots of pressure won’t really help – but basically going over the same area again with the same pressure makes the amount of pigment on the peaks of the paper increase, making the dots appear bigger, therefore darker. While also retaining the texture.

Why might a stippled texture be helpful?

Especially if trying to print a drawing, crisp black vs white can make the very best prints; the greys that make beautiful transitions can be pushed darker or lighter by either a scan that interprets them wrongly for various reasons, or the printer that does the same. Some pigment is reflective, complicating how machines can render subtleties, and even your own phone’s camera has troubles interpreting very subtle value changes. 

But a piece of art with clear blacks and whites is a lot easier for machines to interpret!

As I’m working on a book I’ll eventually be producing, I may want to have some drawings that clearly show value transitions, and some of the drawings on this paper could really help in illustrating certain concepts. I’ll be keeping it in mind for which lessons may find this helpful!

If you’re interested in following along with my drawing book process, I’ve been sharing it with Patrons – you can find out more about it here. However for the next few months I’m changing things up to share a children’s book I’ll be illustrating; I can’t share everything but hopefully posting a little peek at something each week will help keep me motivated all summer! Different levels of patronage will get different numbers of posts, just like the drawing book, so you can choose how much of my inner thoughts you want to be bombarded with, lol! 

 

Bible journaling class

 I mentioned a class – and my new Fruit of the Spirit class is the one! It’s been a long while since I had a new one for Bible journalers, and I hope this one’s worth the wait. It’ all in colored pencil, and it’s level 3—but you can trace the images, so it’s not that scary. Lots of cutesie animals are in it! 

What is Tomoe River Paper?

What is Tomoe River Paper?

by | Apr 26, 2025 | Bible Journaling, Colored Pencils, Fine Art & Sketching

Tomoe River Paper has been around a long time, and was a favorite for ink artists and calligraphers. I kinda wish I’d known about it then! But over the course of a number of years, the paper went through a lot. The decommissioning of one machine, then another, then the sale of the paper to another company, Sanzen. Calligraphers have panned it, mostly because of feathering – and if that’s a big part of your work, I can totally see it.

Does that mean Tomoe River Paper is now useless? Maybe it’s not helpful for those whose work depends on crisp lines. If you know me and my sketchy style, I’ve never panicked over feathering a little from time to time. (My all time fave paper for pen and ink is Hahnemule’s Lettering Paper if I need a really crisp line, and I’m now becoming aware of some others that calligraphers recommend. Stay tuned.)

I tested out a few different black pens as well as fountain and dip pen….and yes, various amounts of feathering if you look really really close. Not a dealbraker for me, but yes, it’s there!

I’ve used this paper for more than pen and ink, though. Primarily Bible journaling, but maybe more in my future, after some revelations that clicked in my brain!

Tutorial: What is Tomoe River paper?

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

Paper

  1. Tomoe River Paper pack A4, 52gsm (loose sheets) 
  2. Tomoe River sketchbook A5 68gsm (bound journal) 

Pen and ink:

  1. TWSBI Eco fountain pen M 
  2. Platinum Carbon Fountain Pen Ink 

Graphite:

  1. Caran d’Ache Grafwood pencils 9B: BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS

Colored Pencil:

  1. Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils: BLICK   AMZ 
  2. Afmat Long Point Pencil Sharpener Hand-powered 
  3. Afmat Long Point Pencil Sharpener USB rechargeable 
  4. Copic Acrea Paint Marker white: BLICK  AMZ 

Wet media tips

While this was once known as great paper for inking – the amount of liquid matters. Maybe one day it hadn’t mattered – although I do find I struggle with Sumi-e papers buckling too, so maybe it’s user error!

For Bible journaling I love watercolor and washes of color or ink enough that I’m good with somewhat wrinkly pages. To mostly flatten them I iron them (cotton setting) for 10-15 seconds between a few sheets of computer paper. I say “mostly” flatten – but remember we’re talking about paper. The buckling is sometimes turned into fine wrinkles in the paper. Not in a terrible way, IMHO – I’m not expecting perfection. But for art that I want to sell or frame, this paper wouldn’t work for me – not for washes.

But for line art, it’s fine, primarily for sketching and doodling. Most pens won’t bleed through, and it works nicely – though with slight feathering. So it depends on how bothered you might be by that. Again, I’m not sure I’d be selling anything on this paper that isn’t truly labeled a sketch, but for inexpensive paper that I can play with? It’s awesome. 

Graphite sketching – and kiddos

The smooth surface of this paper is lovely for graphite. The pigment rests on the top of the surface – no tooth to hide pigment down in the valleys of the paper. Which means blending methods work more immediately than a lot of papers I’ve regularly used! 

A simple cotton ball can soften and blend easily. Gamsol enriches the blackness, and drawing on top of wet blended areas comes out darker. Erasing can lighten areas, from soft kneaded eraser lifting blended highlights, or a stick eraser to draw with. The value range is pretty much off the charts.

The price here is a big benefit as well. I’ve talked with parents of kids who obsessively draw – and they ask what they should do with ALL THOSE SKETCHBOOKS they keep buying for their children. This paper is less expensive in its loose-sheet format than most sketchbooks (100 sheets for about $12-13), and the parent can spirit away some of the best drawings or the ones that mark special milestones or stories. (Parents, SAVE YOUR KIDS ART! What I wouldn’t do to have more of mine….)

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Colored Pencils 

The same tips for graphite also apply to colored pencil – layering, blending, gamsol, tools, and techniques. But using artist grade pencils works better for more saturated drawing; the pencils you can get at the drugstore or grocery store are for kiddos, and have more binder than pigment in them. Your kids can still get some potential benefit from Gamsol, but I’d recommend getting even a small pack of good pencils. 

Bible journaling

If you’re new to the concept of Bible Journaling, I’d recommend one of my courses to get yourself started; I find colored pencils are my top recommendation of a medium to start with since we all know how to hold a pencil! The whole point of Bible journaling is creating while in an attitude of worship, documenting what you’ve learned from a particular passage of Scripture, or a prayer in your heart inspired by the text. I find that creating imagery helps to cement those ideas in my mind and provide me with other reminders in daily life of what the picture was about – this elephant is paired with a passage about remembering God’s faithfulness….my next trip to the zoo might well help me recall that when I see the elephants.

Fruit of the Spirit class

As seen in the samples in the video – 9 of the images taught in the class are animals, and then I added the fruit for the 10th (I have a thing for round numbers!) The images are taught at full page size for ease of working with the techniques but feel free to use the smaller images in a column-style journaling Bible.

The new class could well be a little much if you’re truly brand new, but if you’ve got some drawing experience, colored pencil isn’t that different, so the new course could work out great for you.

VISIT CLASS
Happy Earth Day! 14 Tips for painting a Tulipscape

Happy Earth Day! 14 Tips for painting a Tulipscape

by | Apr 22, 2025 | Gouache

It’s Earth Day – and I always celebrate by making some art honoring our beautiful planet! Today it’s a tulipscape – like a landscape, but with tulips as the focus, not just ‘land’! I went up to the Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley last week, and had such a lovely time painting there. I took my gouache kit and a bunch of different papers and went a little wild. And even sold one painting right off the easel!

Tutorial: Happy Earth Day! 14 Tips for painting a Tulipscape

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

Gouache sketch kit

  1. Sketchbook Easel Trues Hard Goods 
  2. Tripod Amazon Basics 
  3. Sketch Stool 
  4. Jack Richeson travel brush set 
  5. Daniel Smith Gouache 
  6. Black Watercolor Paper 
  7. White ceramic tile (from hardware store for a dollar or two)
  8. Baby Wipes, rag, plastic cup, water bottle

Tulipscapes

After many many years of visiting the tulip festival for one of my first plein air outings without a jacket (YAY!), I’ve decided my favorite medium to paint them is gouache – the brightest color, as well as a nice limited setup given the vast crowds. Both carrying it all out to the fields and making my setup so that a small child won’t just wander into an easel can be a problem. (And yes, you’d be surprised how many kids get away from their photo-op parents when tulips are involved!?) I do try to engage the kiddos in conversation to get them to just open their eyes and see me and my stuff.

So many tulips

I think one problem I’ve struggled with is that there are just SO many tulips. In this particular bed it was such a mix of types and colors that I needed to somehow simplify it. I’m not at all sure how I’d tackle this in watercolor – I’ve tried in past years but had huge messes! So this was one of the first years when I felt like I’d wrangled the tulips. The public commentary endorsed that, though more comments were made about my tree than my flowers, so there’s that 🙂 

This painting in the video is a version of the one on my easel above – that one was square, and I didn’t have time to fuss around with some large and more detailed tulips in the foreground. So this was fun getting to sit down in the studio and spend hours playing with the things I wished I’d had time for while outside.

 

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More tulips

The rest of these are either paintings created out in the field or at home…or a combo, as I started several and brought them home to finish. Each of these is available for purchase – by clicking HERE.