Notes from the Studio: September 2025

In August, my family and I spent a slow week on Topsail Island, North Carolina. I love being able to spend every morning at the beach playing in the sand and waves with my husband and 3 1/2 year old son. 

I love traveling because I'm always excited about things I’ll find in a new place. I love being able to experience a different sunrise every day as it rises over the Atlantic. We also had fun exploring the southern tip of the island. 

I try to document these memories with photographs and absorb the feeling of them in the current moment to translate them to paintings at a later time. 

Plein Air at the Beach

This year, I packed a small travel watercolor sketchpad and two Sakura Koi Pocket Field Sketch Kits - both the 12 Color Set and the 24 Creative Art Colors Set.

I never paint plein air, but I found that having the small supplies ready to go in a crossbody bag made the process easy. I had fun experimenting with color triads in both traditional pigments and metallics. I enjoyed using my metallic paints to capture the sparkle of the sand and sun on the water.

I love the different hues in the Sakura Koi Creative Arts Color set and thought I’d use them as an accent. If you have an interest in painting, you should try a whole painting with metallic paints. Using a triad of metallic blue, bronze, and light gold created a cohesive scene with a slight sparkle that wasn’t too distracting.

I have a few Daniel Smith luminescent watercolors at home that I’m eager to paint with now.

Herb Paintings in the Studio

I’ve been plugging away at my herbs series—soon to be notecards and possibly prints. I'm working hard to capture the feel of the textural elements of all the different leaves. I have four herbs left to tackle: Sweet Mint, Calendula, Chamomile, and Echinacea. 

I’m enjoying working with a limited color palette of 5-6 colors to create a unified series even though some plants lean warm (Basil) while others lean cool (Sage). 

My most used colors from this series include:

• Daniel Smith Sap Green
• Daniel Smith Deep Sap Green
• Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue
• Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold