Learning through teaching
On Friday, I wrapped up a two-week course, teaching botanical illustration as part of CSU Monterey Bay’s Summer of Science Illustration program. Botanical illustration is my favorite subject to teach, and plants are a wonderful subject matter for observational...
Painting in yellow (and learning to use a light touch)
For the past few months, I’ve been working on a painting of various California wildflowers, all in yellow. Apparently this has been seeping into other areas of my life, as I realize that I have multiple yellow dresses, yellow shoes, yellow Fiestaware bowls… a friend...
Working in stages
When I have taught drawing and painting classes, one of the most revelatory things for people is that I don’t start a painting by drawing right on my good watercolor paper—not at first, anyway. I start with pencil sketches, which I typically do on tracing paper. I...
