This week in The Pearl – August 8, 2025


Our week was a bit slower paced, with just enough activity to make it interesting, as well as a lot of cooking. Last Friday we had salad for lunch, always a favorite, we usually construct our own, here is mine. There are a few foods that sound good to me, that should work, yet when…

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….

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 – 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,…

This week in The Pearl – April 3, 2025


We have had a good week in spite of all the negative news going on. We often watch the late night talk show monologues on YouTube since we don’t have live news. “A spoonful of humor helps the yuck go down.” (Apologies to Julie Andrew’s.) This morning I woke up thinking about the tranquility of…