Studio Journal | 7.19.26

A season of showing up, trying new things, and following wherever my creative curiosity leads.

Hello! I’m back today with another Studio Journal, and this one is a full one. There has been a lot of art happening around here lately, which, as you can probably imagine, makes me very happy.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been making a real effort to be more intentional about showing up for my art practice. Less thinking about making art and more actually making it. And you know what? It’s been working.

I’ve started a daily ink and watercolor sketching practice, joined a few online portrait sessions, continued painting outdoors, and even pulled out my collage supplies again. I’ve been experimenting, trying new things, and following my curiosity wherever it wants to take me. It has felt really, really good.

While I’ve shared glimpses of many of these things in my Substack feed, I thought we could dive a little deeper here. I have some new work to share, a few things I’ve been learning and thinking about, and hopefully a little inspiration for your own creative practice along the way.

And, as always, if something sparks a question or you want to know more, leave me a comment. I’d love to keep the conversation going.

Portrait Sessions

I recently started joining some online portrait drawing sessions, which is a little outside my usual comfort zone. When it comes to my work, I tend to avoid faces. I used to avoid figures too, but I’m slowly getting more comfortable with those.

Friend and fellow artist Peggi Kroll Roberts recommended Drawing Is Free, a weekly Zoom session held Mondays at 12 p.m. ET where artists and sketchers get together to draw fellow participants on the call. You have about three or four minutes for each portrait, which I love. I’m a big fan of timed exercises because there’s no time to overthink anything. You just observe and start putting marks on the paper.

I’ve done three sessions now and have tried Neocolor II, oil pastels, and my Caran Neoart 6901. Of course, the oil pastels are my favorite, but since they never really dry, I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with all of these drawings. That small detail may prevent me from continuing to use them. Ha!

I’ve always struggled with drawing faces. And don’t get me wrong, I still do. But these exercises are starting to help me find a rhythm with them. Maybe even helping me figure out how I want to draw faces, which feels much more interesting to me than trying to draw them perfectly.

I don’t think I’ll ever become a portrait artist, but I’m excited to see how these drawings change the more I practice.

There’s another similar online session called Pencils for Tea that happens on Thursdays. I haven’t joined that one yet, but it’s on my list. If this sounds even remotely interesting to you, give one of these sessions a try. You may surprise yourself.

Dining Room Sketching

If you’ve been following along in my Substack feed, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been doing a lot of ink and watercolor work in my sketchbook lately. I have to give a shout-out to James O'Boyle for inspiring this new little habit. I’ve been doing it daily for well over a week now, and I’m loving it.

I try to keep everything really simple, both with my subjects and my supplies. I also work quickly. Most of these take somewhere around 10 to 15 minutes, and they would probably be even faster if watercolor would hurry up and dry.

I’m going to put together a separate post about my setup, but it’s honestly pretty basic: a sketchbook, fountain pen and ink, watercolors, a brush, and some Neocolor II.

I think the simplicity is part of why it’s working so well for me. There’s very little setup, very little cleanup, and almost no excuse not to sit down and make something. It’s much more about the practice than the supplies.

And honestly, this has been such a joy. I’m excited to keep going and see where it takes me.

It has also gotten me thinking more about what helps us actually show up and make art, especially when life is busy or we’re not feeling particularly motivated. That thinking eventually turned into my recent article, 10 Simple Things That Will Help You Make More Art.

The response to that post has been incredible. I’m so grateful for all of the comments, restacks, and conversations it has sparked. If you’re looking for ways to make more room for your creative practice, take a look. Maybe one of those ideas will be the little push you need.

Thoughts from Recent Plein Air

Last week I went out with my local plein air group and painted this little section of a building with flowers out front. I shared the finished piece and it received such a lovely response. Even my mom strongly hinted that she wouldn’t mind taking it off my hands if it doesn’t sell.

The funny thing is, while everyone seemed to like it, I felt a little “eh” about it. I suppose I still haven’t answered the question, ‘Who Gets to Decide if the Work is Good?’

And after sitting with that feeling for a while, I realized a lot of it comes down to the brushwork. It feels a little scratchy to me. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with scratchy brushwork, of course, but it’s not really what I want to see in my own paintings.

So now I have something new to investigate.

Is it the brush I’m using? Is my paint too stiff? Am I not using enough solvent or medium? Am I simply fussing with an area too much instead of putting down a mark and leaving it alone?

Sometimes I finish a painting and know I don’t love it, but I can’t quite figure out why. In this case, I’m actually grateful to have identified something specific that I want to explore. It gives me a direction to follow instead of simply deciding, “Well, I guess I don’t like this one.”

Now I get to experiment a little and see what happens. I’ll let you know what I figure out.

Plein Air Advice Post

Speaking of plein air, I’m not sure if you saw my recent Paint and Paper post, What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Plein Air Painting.

I’ve been painting outdoors for a while now, and I wanted to put together some of the lessons that have made the experience much more enjoyable for me.

The post is really more about process than product. I’m sharing 10 things that have helped me release some of the pressure, simplify the experience, and rethink what a successful day of plein air painting actually looks like.

If you’ve been curious about painting outdoors but feel intimidated by the whole thing, I think this one will be especially helpful.

New Art Books

Apparently I’ve decided there is no such thing as too many art books.

I recently ordered Jenny Aitken’s Beginner’s Guide to Plein Air Oil Painting. Her book hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m a big fan of her work, so I’m looking forward to digging into it. And while I’m certainly not brand new to plein air painting, I’m a firm believer that there is always something new to learn. I also love having the chance to support fellow artists.

Another book that was recently recommended to me is Clare Walker Leslie’s A Year in Nature: A Memoir of Solace. I picked that one up too and have already started flipping through it.

Now I just need to carve out some actual reading time instead of continually ordering more books.

Collage Work Continues

I finished a couple of new collage pieces this past week after taking about a month away from it.

My mom visits for about one week each month, and she’s an artist too. We’ve discovered that we really enjoy working on collage together, which I love. So this visit, we pulled everything out and each got to work.

If you’re curious about how I make my collage papers, I have an article that walks you through two of my go-to methods.

I ended up making two new 11-by-14-inch pieces on canvas. I love them both, but I’m especially excited about one of them.

The first is a close-up of coneflowers based on a photo I took while we were out on a walk a couple of years ago. This one is so punchy and vibrant, and I had a lot of fun playing with all of those colors and shapes.

But the second piece feels really special to me.

It’s based on a reference photo of a vase filled with sunflowers with a few tomatoes sitting in front. I approached this one a little differently. Before I started adding collage paper, I loosely sketched out the image using a limited palette of acrylic paint.

With collage, I can get lost pretty quickly. To be honest, that’s part of what I enjoy about it. But this time, I wanted to see what would happen if I gave myself just a little more direction before diving in.

Spoiler alert: it made a huge difference.

I love the finished piece, and the whole process felt much easier. I also think I started with a particularly strong reference photo, so now I’m curious to try this approach again and see what actually made the biggest difference.

Was it the preliminary acrylic sketch? The reference? A combination of both?

Thankfully, I already have an idea for my next collage, so I suppose there’s only one way to find out.

That’s a Wrap for Now / What’s Next

And I think that’s where I’ll leave things for today. It’s always interesting to sit down and look back at what I’ve been making, especially after a stretch of being more intentional about showing up for my practice. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve been doing until you put it all in one place.

I hope something I shared here has inspired you to make a little more art of your own, try something new, or simply follow whatever has been sparking your curiosity lately.

As for what’s next, I’ve been wanting to get a little more focused with my oil painting, so I think that’s where I’ll be putting much of my attention. I’m doing an art swap with an artist friend, and that painting is first on my list. I’ll be sharing more about that soon.

I’m also starting a new online workshop this week with one of my favorite artists, Amy Brnger. Workshops with Amy are the best and always get me fired up! It’s all about painting flowers, so I have a feeling there will be plenty of oil paint flowing around here very soon.

Of course, I’ll bring you along for all of it. I’ll share what I’m making, what I’m learning, what I’m trying, and probably a few things that don’t go quite as planned.

Until next time, I’m wishing you lots of joyful art-making, plenty of curiosity, and a few new discoveries of your own.