Penny the Dog

A recent painting class spent with Alex.

Some of you may know that watercolor painting is a new hobby that has overtaken my life. The pandemic hit and all of a sudden I wasn’t traveling like I had been doing constantly for 25 years. I wish I could remember how I arrived at wanting to learn how to paint in watercolor. I had never painted before and was a true novice. But somehow I landed on learning and then you know how it goes - truly immersing myself into buying all of the supplies and finding all sorts of online resources for brushes, paints, paper and teachers.

I told you in my first Substack post that somehow, somewhere I landed on a website for Diva Pyari of Linea Carta, who at the time had a daily sketchbook class. I learned that there is a whole movement around the world called Urban Sketching. People gather on a regular basis, find an interesting (en plain air) outdoor location and paint together. This new category of painting has allowed the absolute beginner as well as more experienced painters to find like-minded new friends in a friendly space doing what they love. It does spill over into the fine arts community, but more likely, urban sketchers are doing it for fun and have no intention of ever showing or selling their work (like me). Here are some of my drawings from Diva’s classes on Saturday mornings, in no particular order. My instagram tends to be full of my painting work rather than my sewing work. You’re welcome to follow me there.