This week’s subject: Moon Daisies

In this week’s lesson for the Journey Through the Natural Year course, we painted a beloved flower cultivated for more than 2000 years. Today we call it an oxeye daisy, but for centuries it was a moon daisy. Either way, this cheery bloom is a lot of fun to watercolor.

 

Remembrance

On the 100th anniversary of World War I, thinking of an entire generation lost. How much our world has changed in a hundred years, and how little.

Down on the rescue farm

My favorite childhood illustrator was Wesley Dennis, whose miraculous pencil work brought to life dozens of best-selling animal stories. Horses and dogs were his primary subject matter. In homage to his work, I copied one of his drawings in great detail on my fifth-grade desk. The fact that my teacher considered this vandalism and took away my recess for an entire semester did nothing to dampen my devotion. I wanted to grow up to be like Wesley Dennis.

The publicity photo on the flyleaf of his books showed a somewhat grumpy-looking man seated at an easel, with a crow perched on his shoulder and a horse watching through the studio window.  In my ten-year-old opinion, nothing could be more heavenly than drawing animals while a horse looked over your shoulder.

As it turns out, I still feel that way. It took 50 more years of drawing and painting and living life, but during this week’s video art lesson — the one on painting owls, which went out to students in my Journey Through the Natural Year course — a donkey suddenly brays in the background. That was Jenny, who was looking in through my studio window as I filmed the lesson. Beside her was Decker, a huge and ancient spotted saddle horse. Take that, Wesley Dennis.

I am drawing and painting the 60+ animal residents of a private rescue farm in north Florida. My little RV is parked outside a rustic cabin, and my plan is to split my time between working here and traveling. Each animal living on the farm — birds, chickens, dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, pigs — is a rescue with a unique story to tell. Their stories are sometimes shocking and sometimes heartrending, but every single one has a happy ending.

From time to time, I’ll share more about the farm. I’ll post sketches and paintings as they develop. I will have an exhibition of these illustrated rescue stories in a few months — and I will share more about that, as well.

But for now, if you will excuse me, I have to go get a carrot out of the refrigerator. There’s a horse looking in my window.

 

 

Owls in the Moonlight

The night skies of autumn, cool and clear, are ideal for owls. In this week’s Journey Through the Natural Year course, we painted moonlit owls in two styles — a barred owl (above) and a whimsical silhouette (below).

Join the Journey

We’re having fun in my weekly email video course, Journey Through the Natural Year.  I thought you might like to see our most recent projects: summer cottage garden (above) and watercolor koi (below).

Upcoming lessons (which land in your inbox every Thursday) include sketching autumn landscapes in ink and exotic birds in watercolor — and every fifth week is a hand-lettering project. The cost is $30 per month, and you can start anytime. Click here to find out more.

Crow or Raven?

This week’s email video art lesson uses ballpoint pen to explore the differences that set apart two geniuses of the avian world: the crow and the raven. Of more than 800 bird species in North America, these two are the only who are completely black… and, perhaps for that reason, people tend to mix them up.

Sketching them quickly reveals some enormous differences: the raven is four times the crow’s size, for example, with an imposing wingspan of up to four feet. The raven has a massive beak and a shaggy ruff beneath his neck. He tends to be a solitary fellow, while the gregarious crow likes to fly in raucous groups.

Both are delightful to draw. (Registration is still open for the weekly email course, Journey Through the Natural Year. For info, click HERE.)

Ballpoint Botanical

This week’s email video lesson featured the humble ballpoint pen… a simple tool capable of creating soft, velvety shading — perfect for botanical sketches. Our subject was the prickly pear cactus and its frequent parasite, cochineal insects. (Spoiler alert: dried and ground-up cochineal are the source of the food coloring Red No. 4. Enjoy that bowl of pink yogurt!)

Next week, we’ll go fast and loose to draw summer birds. See you then!

For information on receiving weekly video lessons and illustrated printables, click HERE.

Sneak peek video…

A few highlights from the lesson videos that will be emailed out on Thursday. (To find out more, go HERE.)

Countdown: Three weeks!

Simplify, simplify!       — Henry David Thoreau

I love a supply list that is short and sweet. My newest course, Journey Through the Natural Year, spans 52 weekly art videos and uses only 10 items plus the paper or sketchbook of your choice. It’s a back-to-basics approach that will help you discover new and surprising uses for the humble drawing pencil, the kneaded eraser… even the ballpoint pen.

I’m always excited with the approach of a new course, but this one is special. A video lesson will arrive in your email every week, season after season, steadily building a full year of videos you keep forever. I love the format because it can follow me as I travel and camp, including a kaleidoscope of plants and animals from a wide range of locations.

If you’re curious about the complete supply list, here it is:

JOURNEY Supply List

 

When office supplies are art supplies

This week, I’m working on videos for my upcoming weekly email course, Journey Through the Natural Year. One thing I can’t wait to share: the gorgeously soft texture created with disposable ballpoint pens. Inexpensive and very user friendly, the humble ballpoint can be a surprisingly versatile art tool — and perfect for tucking into your pocket to carry along outdoors.

Who knew?