TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip – July 15, 2025


Remember what brought you joy. We all go through phases as we journey through our art. It is good to revisit some of the styles that we may have neglected. While watching a slide show of our time in France I was reminded of how much I like ink sketching, without a lot of color….

This week in The Pearl – July 11, 2025


Thank you in advance for indulging me a bit of reminiscing. Just a year ago this week we were in the final throws of leaving La Thebauderie in Normandie. I am one of those people who tends to let events pass with little residue, yet if you have followed this blog you know that is…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip – July 8, 2025


Approach painting like a chef preparing une création du chef, approach cooking as un artiste. “All is mysterious, magical, spellbinding, that which is accomplished between the moment of placing a pan or cooking pot and its contents over the fire, and that sweet moment, full of anxiety and sensuous hope, when you uncover, on the…

This week in The Pearl – June 13, 2025


Last Sunday we got back to our longstanding practice of Le déjeuner dominical (it has been jokingly called le messe du ventre – the mass of the stomach). Tricia and I both cook, I resist using the phrase “cooking duties” as that implies a burdensome task; for us it is a pleasure. The Brits use…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip – June 3, 2025


To make your bright areas more intense make your darks darker. I did the painting on the left first, it really did not look too bad. The Sunset at Otter Crest was quite dramatic so I wanted it to “pop”. I darkened the rocks and even the distant, dark, part of the ocean, as well…