This week in The Pearl – spring is coming


The buds on the trees right outside our fourth floor window are growing every day, new leaves cannot be far away. Last Saturday was such a good day. We visited Adam in the morning, then a quick stop at New Seasons to pick up the fixings for Sunday lunch – large portobello mushrooms and Yukon…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip


Try painting the darks first. Traditional watercolor practice is to work from light to dark, which makes sense since watercolor is transparent so the dark colors cover light colors. Oil, gouache, and acrylic painters often, usually, start with the darkest areas first, then they lighten as needed. Try breaking the watercolor rule and painting the…

TheTravelsketchers Tuesday Tip


Today’s tip comes from the blog of Mark Alan Anderson, Just Sketching. His blogs and posts on Instagram are always motivating and instructive, which makes sense as he is a teacher. Just follow this link. Finding the Unexpected in a Sketch Here is one of his sketches from the blog post. I hope you find…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday Tip


Learn to enjoy your pencil. “I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing.” Vincent Van Gogh “I love the quality of a pencil, it helps me get to the core of a thing.” Andrew Wyeth For me it is a Blackwing pencil, there is pleasure in just putting marks on paper with no…

This week we end the cruise


Today we are at sea headed for Los Angeles, we arrive early on Thursday, and disembark. Sixteen days is quite long, a bit too long for me. Here are what may be the last two pages of my sketching journal for this trip. I plan to print it up into a spiral bound book. An…