Aspen Sketch, 29" x 15"

I’ve had great fun this past week getting outside to field sketch and to test out my new tripod. I’m able to paint my largest plein-air sketches yet with it- 15″ x 30″! I’m heading to Seattle this week and plan to pick up a larger drawing board that will support a full 22″ x 30″ watercolor sheet.

My new tripod is a Slik Sprint Mini II model with a few key versatile features. First, it has three leg lock positions, so the legs can be independently opened to different angles. Next, the center column is detachable and has a screw cap that I was able to modify to add a wire hoop (for hanging a water-bottle as a weight during windy days. Finally, the tripod is under two pounds! I love it.

To attach my art boards to the tripod, I’ve modified two camera flash extenders I found at Glazers Camera Supply to form a “T” that secures to the tripod and which I’ve covered with velcro tape. My folding drawing boards have corresponding velco strips that hook onto the “T” support- the velco is surprisingly strong. I hope to soon rig up a support for my palette that clamps to my tripod leg or center column with this VersaMount.

The rest of the kit components include a folding brush holder, collapsable water container, palette, and a folding stool. So far my whole kit fits in my large Ortlieb Messenger backpack. Yesterday I took it to Washington Pass for some practice in the snow and am continuing to explore the Methow Valley as I hone my field kit in preparation for my trip to Greenland this summer.

Do you have any favorite field sketching tools?

Sketching at WA Pass

Early Winters Sketch

From Sun Mountain

I listened today to a TED talk by Dan Buettner on how to live to 100 years old and took time to reflect on my art and lifestyle choices. Buettner and his team have studied communities around the world whose elders live to record setting ages with vigor, and this talk features nine habits that are common across borders. The concept of ikigai in Japanese culture particularly caught my attention as I was sketching in my studio. Ikigai is believing that your life is worth living. It’s your subjective sense of well-being, your sense of purpose what gets you up and going in the morning… Everyone has the potential for ikigai.

When I was applying for the Watson Fellowship while in college, I was advised to choose a project for which I’d still get out of bed for even when I was feeling sick, tired, and lonely. The answer for me was easy — sketching and painting. And so developed my project for which I spent 12.5 months traveling around the world, “Ties to the Land, exploring remote regions through art” (learn more).

Many things bring me satisfaction, but encountering the world with a sketchbook particularly delights me and leads to rich experiences and relationships. It brings me ikigai. Where do you find ikigai?

Ponderosa, 7" x 10" Watercolor Sketch

On that note, with springtime here, I’m taking more time to field sketch and warm up my skills in preparation for my summer High Latitudes expedition. I made these sketches today just using my extremely portable pocket watercolor kit and brush pen.

Weather blows in, 7" x 10" Sketch

Cloud Study, 11.5" x 6.5" watercolor

The sky yesterday at lunch was magnificent. Cumulus clouds were boiling over the hills, growing in towering cumulonimbus as the winds began to gust. After lunch, my husband Darin and I dashed outside to record the clouds with my paints and his camera. The clouds advanced and within half an hour the sky was overcast. Darin made a short timelapse video with his photos- check it out!

I also noticed this morning that local Seattle meteorologist Cliff Mass posted to his blog about the clouds with another beautiful timelapse.

Capwright and Hills Across Valley, 14.5" x 5.25" watercolor sketch

I had a great time sketching this past weekend. I’m excited to build my Methow Valley palette and plan this spring to develop a series of watercolors that will be exhibited at the local (and delicious) Cinnamon Twisp Bakery.

I sat outside on my porch a few days ago with my watercolors and painted amid gusts of wind. The sky was rapidly changing and I played with painting clouds and discovering the early spring colors. The following are a promising limited palette: Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold, Pyrrol Red, Indathrone Blue, and Pthalo Blue (red shade).

Together they create lovely golden browns and deep greens. I find it useful to work with limited color palettes to bring harmony throughout my painting and I find it pushes me to mix colors  instead of relying on what fun tubes of paint I may have on hand. (There’s always such temptation to buy new colors!)

Across Valley, 14" x 8" watercolor sketch

What are your favorite colors and mixes?

Methow Valley Sketch

I’m settling into my routine now after a great Wilderness First Responder (WFR) class in the Methow Valley, one of my favorite regions. Paul Nicolazzo, founder of the Wilderness Medicine Training Center (WMTC), taught the 80-hour course and was an inspiring instructor. I chose to take the class with WMTC in part because they offer distance-learning programs for which the academic studies are completed at home and exams are taken online. This meant I had five days of practical studies instead of the eight to ten days other courses may take when they include the academics on-site. The distance format allowed me to pace myself with the material and I felt well-prepared for the practical sessions (which included many scenarios and fake blood). I highly recommended the WFR course to anyone who spends time in remote regions.

With the lovely weather, I’m hoping to get out sketching more frequently. If you’re in Seattle, I invite you to join the Seattle Plein Air Painters Facebook group I’ve started as a place to announce outings and share work.

Great Blue Heron

Scared Coots

Mt. Rainier