Every once in a while, I don’t even bother starting with a line drawing, and just go straight to watercolor instead. On this day, the dust being kicked up by tractors had obliterated much of the definition of objects in the scene. The result was a landscape distilled down to blocks of pure color, like… More
Category: Country Mouse
Palouse paletteEastern Washington state
Quick n’ dirtyColumbia River, WA
Posted 9 years ago
And then there are sketches where I don’t have the luxury of time. I did this sketch from a (however slowly) moving train, so I frantically blocked out the drawing in pen, and then approximated the color based on whatever was currently passing by my window. It’s maybe not the most precise or accurate way… More
No hurry, no worrySonoma County, CA
Posted 9 years ago
Lone wandererBig Sur, CA
Posted 9 years ago
I just got back from two and a half weeks of wandering in California—and by the time you read this, I’ll be on the road again, after just a few hours at home. The pre-trip scramble is never the most fun part of traveling, but I know that the trip ahead will have plenty of… More
Baa ram eweBadlands National Park, SD
Posted 9 years ago
Sealed with a kissSan Simeon, CA
Posted 9 years ago
I’ve never done Highway One in the summer, so I’ve never seen it the way most people do—choked with tourists and traffic. I prefer to see the coast highway in the winter, where the only teeming hordes to contend with are those of the pinniped variety. The elephant seal breeding ground on the Big Sur… More
In seasonCentral and Napa valleys, CA
Posted 9 years ago
One thing I always look forward to about driving to California is watching the seasons change as I go. It never ceases to amaze me that you can go from winter… …to spring, sometimes in the course of a single hour. These two sketches were done on the same day, just over 60 miles apart…. More
Folds and faultsNear Cambria, CA
Posted 9 years ago
If you were to page through my California sketchbooks, you’d think I had some serious A.D.D.—thematically they’re all over the place, because the state just has so many different things that interest me. But what I keep coming back to, time and time again, are the landscapes themselves. There is just something about the hills… More
California or bustDunsmuir, CA
Posted 9 years ago
As it turned out, I didn’t get to do a whole lot of traveling last year—which was a bit of an adjustment, especially compared with previous years. It’s looking like 2015, though, is going to be another big travel year—which to me feels more like normal life. Tomorrow morning I’m hitting the road again …… More