Plein air with Massimiliano Iocco. He did his with graphite wash, but I couldn’t find mine at the time, so I used Davy’s gray, which was also interesting. It is a weird paint.

Wood texture with Makoccino. I definitely intend to do a great big page of this wood texture to use as a photography background.

Where ink meets watercolor with Andrea Deng. To make this illustration more “me,” I made the people into mice and squirrels and gnomes.

Urban setting in 3 steps with Wade. I like this loose style of ink and watercolor and need to remember to try it more often, especially with comics.

Unlocking contrast with Alex Hillkurtz. I think I liked painting (or not painting as the case may be) the crosswalk stripes best.

Stunning mountain sunset with Hannah Pickerill. It was interesting to paint the entire sky then paint over them for the mountains. Which works really well! Very glowy. Plus I used some opalescent paint for the stars and moon.

Simplifying streetscapes with Vanidas Mangathil. I did not have the patience to let this dry so I might have simplified it a bit more than intended…

Rio de Janeiro with Alan Ramiro. This is the first workshop I did in Win with Watercolor. Good depth.

Quick figure drawing with Shari Blaukopf. Fun practice drawing straight to watercolor.

Old Dutch windmill with Julia Henze. Look at that moody sky!! And some, er, rickety blades (in gouache).

Mood and atmosphere with Dani. I like how she taught this class. We started with how not to paint, using all the colors, then how to use a more limited palette to create focus. Then we practiced how to make mood using, I think, the same palette: storm and bright day. Finally, a fantastic snowy day.

I drew this in 2012. I have no explanation. A coincidence is this cup I bought about 10 years later at Goodwill.

I have a recommendation. Spumoni. The only problem is…no one makes it! As described by Wikipedia: “…a molded gelato made with layers of different colors and flavors containing candied fruits, chocolate, nuts, and nut brittle. The three main flavors are pistachio, cherry, and chocolate…”

Loose, spontaneous landscapes with granulating watercolors with Mansi Gupta: I loved this class. But it made extensive use of a spray bottle, which I didn’t have. So I am going to do it again!

Loose minimalist landscape with Shelby Abrahamsen: This is one spread in my sketchbook. We did tape off the edges. I can’t draw a line that straight! I like the upper left best.

Language of light in urban sketching with Darya Mitta: I now have a new favorite color mixture: quinacridone orange and new gamboge, both from Daniel Smith. New gamboge from Winsor Newton is not as vibrant.

Lakeside light with Matt Gibbons: I didn’t quite nail the dark to light to dark in the green of the trees but other than that, not bad. Also, I should have erased those perspective lines before painting.

Illusion of detail with Pedro Alves: Fun to follow along but really a lot of cartoonist’s bag of tricks.

Finding freedom in shape with Reham Ali: Another fantastic class. I really loved her purposeful-messy use of watercolor. I did not wait long enough for it to dry in some cases, but still learned a lot. I especially like her purposeful dripping down the page.

Expressive color with @hoelleroliver.bsky.social : This class was awesome. I loved the two colors he chose. Nearly random but not quite. I didn’t actually have the reference photo so this is a very loose drawing. #winwithwatercolor

I decided to risk it with the dark blue background for the gouache and color pencil persimmons, and I love how it turned out. I just had to make sure it would be dark enough against the very middle value red. Fruit of the year from Stacie Martinez prompts

Ok, pears are among my least favorite fruits to eat because of the texture. And the flavor on its own reminds me of the texture. But they are a fun-looking fruit. Such a great shape and it turned out well in gouache and color pencil. Fruit of the year from Stacie Martinez prompts

I am so pleased with how this gouache and color pencil apple turned out. It really shows that beautiful mottled color of the skin. And the background square in the vibrant blue color pencil works great! Fruit of the year from Stacie Martinez prompts

I love how soft-looking these peaches in gouache and color pencil turned out! Plus they are one of the few fruits I'll eat. Mainly as peach cobbler and in peach oolong iced tea, though. Fruit of the year from Stacie Martinez prompts

I don't mind fake strawberry and I kind of like strawberry jelly, but I can't stand eating strawberry seeds. They sure do look pretty though! Fruit of the year from Stacie Martinez prompts.

I was handed down a huge pile of old, musty Communication Arts magazines from 20 years ago. I ripped out all my favorite pages and am now using the leftovers as acrylic palettes. When I'm done, I smear it around, and while it is still wet, I drag a stylus (or the back of my brush) in it to draw!

Color Planning for Stronger Watercolor with Patty Edge. This was an interesting little workshop about color planning. We started with the color swatches, figuring out the colors we wanted to use, and then a brief color thumbnail before the actual painting.

Charles Bridge in Prague with David Drazil. The demo for this painting was done at "live" pace, which many of them were not. Since watercolor takes so long to dry! A wonderful reminder of how I love to ink and paint together.

A Boat at the Beach with Ink and Watercolor with Martin Lachmair. This was annoying but fun. Annoying because I had just refilled all my pens and this was a bleeder. Worked fine after I let it dry a bit longer. I love the looseness in this piece.

The Art of Simplifying: Loose & Expressive Tropical Sketching with @anastasiiamoro.bsky.social . This loose tropical painting was great practice in negative painting, that is painting around the subject, instead of painting the subject itself.