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…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip – June 17, 2025


“Try not! Do!” Yoda Yesterday, I thought oil painting would be a good idea, but setting up and cleaning seemed like a lot of work. Thankfully Tricia gave me a bit of encouragement and I got my stuff out and started. Once into the motions I enjoyed doing a small painting from our trip to…

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…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip – May 27, 2025


Add people to your sketches. Including people in your sketches adds interest and perspective, and it turns it into a story – it is quite simple and they don’t have to be portraits. Check this sketch I did of a road we walked often near our home in France. The first is without a person,…