Urban sketch
“Urban sketching” means bringing a sketchbook with you everywhere, and drawing what you see.
Plein-air painting
“Plein-air” painting means taking your paints outdoors and rendering the scene on-site.
See all plein-air paintings here.
Illustrations
My illustrations are typically done in the studio over a longer time range, with a variety of media.
Tips & tricks
All art posts
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Solo performer
Walked into town and enjoyed a solo performance while sketching. Musicians are nice subjects because they stay sort of in place for a while 🙂 It feels a little silly to carry such a large array of materials with me when I only use a couple after all. But you never know which materials the
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Race weekend sketching
I took a sketchbook (of course!) to an amateur race this past weekend, and happened to snag a seat in the pit with a near-perfect angle on a beautiful custom-built hillclimb car! Media: Noodler’s “Bulletproof” black ink in TWSBI Eco pen with F nib; Leuchtturm sketchbook paper. My view was slightly obstructed by tanks of
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Outdoor musicians
I was inspired by a friend’s musician-filled sketchbook, and I wanted to practice with this neat mini-palette I picked up recently. Luckily, this very groovy five-piece band was playing right by the square downtown. 🙂 While I was painting, a little girl sitting nearby was fascinated by my portable paints. I gave her mom an
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Street corner from the coffee shop
It’s amazing how time flies when sketching. This ink-and-watercolor sketch took up the full two hours that I spent with the city’s urban sketching group. Much of the time was spent color-mixing, a skill I’m practicing more thoughtfully lately. Mixing a full array of colors in advance allowed me to avoid color gradients, keeping the
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View from the watch tower
We spent a night in a nearby city and I found a few opportunities to sketch outside. First, a beautiful vista from the top of a fire watch tower. It was very windy up there, so I rushed to scribble out a memory before I lost my sketchbook or my hat. And later, sitting in
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What to know before trying jelly gouache
One of the most frequent questions I hear from passersby as I’m painting is “What’s that stuff you’re using?” It’s jelly gouache (pronounced “gwash”)! As far as I can tell, this is a newly-developed medium. I saw illustrators using it on Instagram and simply had to try it. Since then it’s become my go-to medium
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Signs for the street fair
I helped a local business prepare for an upcoming street fair by drawing up some new signs using chalk markers. Designing these boards put me in a lettering-focused mindset, and I’ve been staring at fonts ever since. It’s a neat side of drawing that I’d never delved into much before. I never thought of myself
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Walking bridge
Despite frigid winds, the quality of light today was too beautiful not to spend some time painting outside. I struggled to hold onto my sketchbook and palette through the wind while painting the walking bridge over the river. But I’m glad I got a snapshot of the beautiful day. One of the qualities I love
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Camp Hill Plein Air 2025
My favorite yearly plein air event has come and gone again! This is the first year that I’ve been able to paint from the park that’s central to the event (previous years I’ve been chased under businesses’ awnings by the rain). It’s a beautiful neighborhood, and so many of the gardens and architecture beg to
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Sushi shop sketching
Kanagawa in Mechanicsburg has got to be one of the cutest sushi shops! I love the colors in here (though I didn’t have time to add them to my sketch). Sketched with a Traveller’s Company brass fountain pen.
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Mechanicsburg Art & Wine Walk 2025
Hiding from the rain (that never came) at the Mechanicsburg Art & Wine Walk, I painted this indoor scene of Revolutionary Hot Sauce while enjoying lots of great conversation. I love how artistically curious people are in this town! Great day; can’t wait for next year! Materials: Himi jelly gouache on Arches hot pressed watercolor
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Half-dome
An ink illustration of Yosemite’s Half-Dome, completed for my sister on her birthday. I’m having lots of fun with grayscale ink-washes lately. This sketch of a local bookstore was almost a practice run for inking Half-Dome. Returning to my ink pot and dip pens was also a refreshing change of pace after many recent outings
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Urban sketching in Midtown
This was a very enjoyable morning, sketching the outside of the bookstore in Midtown, chatting with my fellow urban sketching enthusiasts. The abundance of lines, parallels and overlaps had me feeling a bit overwhelmed as I got deeper into this sketch. But in the end I somehow managed to keep all those lines in order!
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View from an afternoon hike
Every time I walk this trail, I’m enamored by the sudden appearance of the blue ridge in the distance when the trail breaks onto this field. And every time I’m disappointed by the inability of a phone camera to capture anywhere near the beauty of the scene. This time I tried to capture it with
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Art museum clock
Our urban sketching meetup was held in the local art museum on this rainy day. This clock caught my eye with its sculptural ornament and soft green highlights. Lines: Lamy Safari fountain pen with F nib and Noodler’s Bulletproof Black ink Colors: Prismacolor colored pencils; ink wash with Noodler’s Bulletproof Black ink in Pentel Aquash
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Riverside garden
This ridgeline over the river is one of my favorite sketching subjects.
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Ren Faire market
A doodle while waiting for some friends to arrive at the Renaissance Faire. It was challenging and fun to capture the moving crowd.
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Hand with gold ring and peach
For a friend’s birthday. Painted in jelly gouache on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper while watching a long-play of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This took longer (6-ish hours) than most of my gouache paintings of the same size, because it took many iterations to nail the proportions of the hand.
