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!

What if we taught this one art truth to kids?

What if we taught this one art truth to kids?

by | Mar 1, 2025 | Gouache, Phenology

I’ve taught little art lessons to many many kids over the decades. Not always in formal settings, though sometimes I get invited to a homeschool group or other childcare setting. But when I go to babysit for a friend, or even go to have dinner at their home – I always have a little bag with sketchbooks and crayons or pencils. The kids know to ask if we get to make art!

I try to do more than “only” turn them loose, unless they’re on a mission to create something they know they want to do. But I try to find something fun at their level, with subject matter that’ll appeal to them, and teach a little something. A bit of shading, how to draw a shape, just something small – but they get to learn a fancy art word and that makes them feel like an artist!


During February I worked on my “skies” phenology wheel, so found myself painting the sun quite often. And it kept gnawing at me that the sun is white – so why do we color it yellow!? (Yes when it’s very low on the horizon it *can* be red, orange, or yellow, but that’s rare.) 

Much of it is that there’s no white crayon to show up on white paper. So sure, we need a color, and I’m cool with anything yellow. But how can we use the fact that the sun IS white to help kids to figure out how to draw that?

Video: What if we taught this one art truth to kids?

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!

Negative drawing

Coloring a subject that’s white requires some unique thinking; rather than filling IN the shape, coloring AROUND it is what makes the subject look white. 

For my adult students, I find many who say they just can’t think that way. It’s too much opposite-thinking. But what if we helped kids learn what negative drawing is while they’re young? They accept new concepts MUCH easier than adults do!

Try showing littles in your life how to make a white sun. Add whatever landscape is suitable – trees, houses, or an ocean like this. It can help if you find a picture of a sun shining on that kind of scene so they can SEE the sun is white. Or go outside and look at the sun (carefully, no blinding yourselves!) and see how it shines on the ground. Is there a lake it’s reflecting onto?

Phenology wheel

I’ve now finished month 2! I’m pleased enough with how this worked out; it’s been challenging working so small right now, as I still can’t see particularly well; taping off the segments really helped me keep the paint corralled! March will be birds…they’ve been out and singing up a storm for the last week as it’s gotten much warmer than the first snowy half of February.

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It’s painted in gouache – an opaque watercolor. Text is in Copic Acrea pens as well as gel pen and sharpie.

Would this lesson have helped you as a kid?

I’m going to try it next time I’ve got kiddos at my disposal, and see if they even need to learn the “negative coloring” term. Just helping them see that coloring the background will make the circle white can be enough!

Phenology Wheel Update #2: January/February 2025

Phenology Wheel Update #2: January/February 2025

by | Feb 1, 2025 | Phenology, Watercolor

Welcome to February – and my phenology wheel update! I promised I’d share how it went, and today’s video has some treats in it – from a walk through my neighborhood (with birds!) to looking at others’ wheels, painting my last January entry and setting up the February one. Let’s go!

Tutorial: Phenology Wheel Update

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

January version, watercolor:

PAPER

Arches Bright White CP 22×30 sheet BLICK    JACKSONS 

TOOLS

  1. Staedtler Mars Compass with universal adaptor: BLICK  AMZ
  2. Westcott Tsquare JR BLICK  AMZ

WATERCOLOR BRUSHES

  1. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4 BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS 
  2. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 2 BLICK  AMZ 

WATERCOLOR PAINTS

Daniel Smith Watercolor Tubes BLICK 

PENS

  1. Tachikawa Comic Pen Nib Holder AMZ
  2. Sharpie Ultrafine black marker: BLICK  AMZ

Gouache version for February:

PAPER

Arches Natural White HP 22×30 sheet

PAINTS

Daniel Smith Gouache BLICK  JACKSONS 

BRUSHES

Jack Richeson Travel brush set BLICK  AMZ 

Lavender: final Phenology Wheel entry for January

I’ve been asking my pups to show me green plants to use for entries – so they’ve been LOVING this month of walks! Normally they both pull in different directions, but if one is permitted an extra few moments of sniffing, the other joins in and doubles the time spent there. ha!

The phenology project has changed how I experience my walks; now I’m slowing down, looking closely at the plants all around. Sniffing the leaves. Examining  how branches fan out from the stem/trunk. Mentally “marking” plants for future days, as I worried a little that I might have to resort to dandelions if I ran out of greens! But that wasn’t needed, whew!

If you decide to follow in my footsteps and have neighbors with interesting plants, if you can ask for a tiny branch to take with you, that’d be best. But in January during the mornings, there wasn’t anyone around for me to ask….so I took the smallest piece I could from the back or underneath, so that I wouldn’t create any broken branches where they are seen.

Last tweaks

In January I mentioned that I’d created the snowflake in the middle in wash AND ink – but that my first entry with no ink gave me the thought I should have skipped the ink. Given that this is just for me, it’s perfectly fine to glue another shape on top, so I redid the snowflake with masking fluied (same technique as in the previous video) – and just did the border around it when the circle didn’t fit quite perfectly.

I also decided to trim the white edge from around the outside, inking the very edge to make sure its all black.

In this picture you can also see I messed up January 4 – had trouble weith the leaf smooshing, so I glued a new piece on top.

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Monthly Phenology Wheel

For this wheel I’ll be choosing my favorite entry for the month and painting it here where it has more “room.” I think it’ll serve as a “key” or “index” for the book when I get the year done. I may write notes in the white space about about what I was capturing that month. Because one day I may well forget. lol!

Weekly Phenology Wheel

This one’s going to be a bit of a cacophony….I know even when looking for green plants, I noticed other things. Birds calling. Moss on a wall of rocks. An intensely red leaf, a tree profile. This one gives me a place to sketch that thing without interrupting my other wheel, and helps me realize I can sketch something that won’t go onto the main wheel for the month.

February Phenology Wheel

For the coming month it’ll be skies! Initially my thought is to attempt early morning skies, but…well, it might not always work. For one it won’t all be colorful, for two if I oversleep even a moment or two I could miss the color. So i’ll be giving myself permission to paint a sky from another time in the day, and will record that time on the wheel. We get some glorious sunsets out the back of the house. But there might also be a spectacular cloud formation that I’ll capture too.

Through February I’ll be a little bit out of pocket, and I don’t really know how much. (For all I know I could be on my phone way more than usual?) I’ve got a few surgeries with surrounding doctors appointments, so if you send in an email, please be patient. I’ve worked hard at getting my content ready ahead, and also finally paid someone to fix some website things at art-classes, so I’m hoping everything stays stable while I’m dealing with medical stuff. Thanks in advance for your patience!

 

It’s not too late to start!

I posted one of my wheel entries on Reddit, and was excited to see so many responding that they’ll be starting. One posted a picture of their first day – they started on the 28th!!! I’m such a neard I’d have to wait til the first, but hey I’m impressed by that dedication. No time like the present!

So whenever you see this post, know you can just dive in. There’s not a need to wait! Your month can run from the 17th to the 17th or something – no problem!