The Artist's Sketchbook--the new Book is out at last!

It's called Artist's Sketchbook; Techniques for Sketching on the Spot, and I'm very excited about the response it's gotten already--it just started arriving in peoples' mailboxes last week!

It features the works of a number of other international urban sketchers, most of them well known in our sketching family.  You'll find Don Low, Pat Southern-Pearce, Don Gore, Warren Ludwig, Vicky Williamson, Laura Murphy Frankstone, Roz Stendahl, Shari Blaukopf, Marc Taro Holmes, Nina Khashchina, Nik Ira, Steve Penberthy, Allisa Duke, Roisin Cure, Nina Johansson, Liz Steel, Danny Gregory, and Jennifer Lawson, as well as some of the finest naturalist/artists around.  People like Jan Blencowe, John Muir Laws, Kolby Kirk, Shevaun Doherty, Maria Coryell-Martin, Joseph Ruckman and Sue Hodnett fill the pages of the book with inspiration and demos.

I hope these images will give you a taste...

Here, the subject is travel sketching, featuring work by Laura Murphy Frankstone, Nina Johannson, Alissa Duke, Gay Kraeger, all accomplished travel sketchers!  And that's my sketch of the Kansas City airport terminal...on the right hand page.

Discussing format at the top of the page...see how effectively Don Gore and Don Low have handled an extreme vertical on opposite sidees of the globe?  The lower images are my own, dealing with the surprises we sometimes run into, working on the spot!

Of course we cover materials and supplies for sketching on the spot...

And there are plenty of demos...here, I add watercolor to an ink sketch.

Lots of opportunities for nature sketching, right in our own back yard!

We talk about different tools and paper surfaces and size...

...and look at how different artists handle similar subjects...here, at upper left, Marc Holmes is hard at work.  Below that, Nina Khashchina explores the rocky coast.  At upper right is Shari Blaukopf's fresh beach scene...Nina Johannson paints the palms and beach in the Dominican Republic,  and the surf sketch on toned paper is mine, from one of our trips to California.  Widely varying conditions of waters all over the place...

Steve Penberthy (top) and I explore landscape and water...

Taking a peek at colored pencils...that's my husband Joseph at left!

The back of the book is almost as pretty as the front!

I'll be giving you more sneak peeks in the next week or so, but better yet, snag your own copy! 
In the US the 128-page book is available from Amazon , as well as local bookstores and art supply stores, and soon to come on my own website if you'd like a signed copy!

If you get it and you like it, please consider writing a review on Amazon, it would be much appreciated!

Earthshine

Best seen during Crescent Moon phases (the one to five day period before or after a New Moon), Earthshine is caused by direct sunlight on the earth that reflects onto the Moon which creates the smoky glow of the shadowed portion of the moon.

After sunset tonight, take a peek at the sky to see Venus, the Crescent Moon and Earthshine for your very own. Venus will be to the lower left tonight.  Happy viewing and hopefully journaling!!

Water containers for journaling on the spot...

I've been experimenting with our friend Richard Sheppard's great idea of using palette cups for travel sketching.  (If you haven't seen his Flickr, it's here--have fun!)

Richard is the author of The Artist on the Road: Impressions of Greece and if you love travel journals AND bright fresh watercolors, you'll enjoy this one as much as I did!  It's in my permanent collection now...

You can see that the cups, either single metal ones or double plastic, here, will clip to several types of palettes...

An added advantage here is that the clip itself raises the mixing area so that it's much flatter, when laid on a firm, flat surface (you still need to watch spilling if you're holding this in your hand by the loop on the back though...)

It will fit on my old folding plastic palette, too...very versatile!  Of course these don't hold much water, even the double ones, so if you're painting larger than, say, 7" x 10" you're going to want a source of more.  I like the doubles because I have a source for mixing and a source for rinsing my brush...if I remember which one to dip into!

I used the single metal cup and my small palette when doing this double spread in my current journal, and it worked great!  (Too bad I didn't remember to shoot my painting setup!)

Here's Richard's own kit, beautifully done in his signature style:

Thanks for the inspiration, Richard!