There's now an additional way that you can experiment with and dig a bit deeper into the techniques I offer in the more extensive, multi-week online courses ...  Mini Courses! These shorter classes that focus on one technique at a time AND present a quick project for you to create with the...

Yesterday I received the following comment from Jane, an artist who has recently completed the Drawing Alternatives I course.

"Thank you, Chris. I have become much more aware of values - something I really hadn’t taken on board - and although I didn’t actually enjoy doing the value...

Recently, on the Sketchbook & Watercolor: Tools and Techniques Facebook Group, I posted a video of sketching while riding the Coast Starlight train. Jessica commented, " Can we see more sketches to go with this? As I watch the view out the train window, I am really challenged about how I...

December 12 - 17, 2019

It's a bit crazy to head off on an artist retreat in Spain right before the holidays.  And ... it might be just the adventure you need to help you survive the joy and chaos of that special time of year with family and loved ones.

This is an opportunity to experience a...

Several days ago I received a request to teach a workshop in Mumbles while I'm in Wales next month. While planning the logistics, my painting of Mumbles Pier Lifeboat Station came to mind.  It was Week Three of my self-proclaimed Year of Influence and the artist I chose to be my influence...

September 27, 2019

This was my first trip to Indonesia.  My journey to Bali was not a sketching trip, nor was it a teaching trip.  I did not travel solo as is my custom.  This was a spiritual journey, a journey to the land of a million temples.  As a young girl of six or...

When I end up at a grocery store without my cloth bag, I request paper rather than plastic so that I can make good use of the bag that I wouldn't have needed if I'd had my cloth bag with me.

When I returned to Mike's apartment, I made a sketchbook out of the bags.  Having never made...

This morning I added to  Week 6 of Creating Dala Art an example of creating a Dala, from beginning to end, along with the thoughts that were running through my head as I made choices of design, colors, values and patterns.

The added lesson includes 27 illustrated steps! 

When I...

While wandering through MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Arts) in the Arts District of Los Angeles I came upon a video monitor looping a piece by Mungo Thomson. The 34 minute video was titled The American Desert (for Chuck Jones). The odd coloring and the strength of the landscape design caught...

Yesterday, I walked a mile and a half to the nearest branch of Bank of America. I needed a break from the challenge of simplifying how to visualize and layer veils of warm and cool colors onto a drawing or painting.  Eventually, I'll create an entire online course on the power of...