WHERE'S POCKET SKETCHING?

5/30/2026

Are you escaping for part of the summer? Will you be sketching? I hope so. It’s terrific fun, total immersion. Because you’re trying to catch the essence, you are so involved that when you see your sketches, the total memories come back. It’s a slow form of travel where you slow down to really embrace what you see, smell, feel and hear. Email me sketches. I’ll love to see them and pick some for the next blog! [email protected]

We are leaving for Pinetop, Arizona on Sunday. I’ve been packing supplies, books, etc. for three weeks of painting and sketching. As you know, the sketching has almost no equjpment. However, watercolor and acrylics involve bringing the kitchen sink. I’ve just spent two days accumulating ‘stuff’ to take. I should take a picture so you don’t feel you’re the only one over-planning.

Pinetop/Lakewood Arizona

Giclée (definition via AI)

A giclée (pronounced (zhee-clay) is an extremely high quality, archival-grade injet print used for fine art reproductions. The term comes from the French word gicler, which means 'to spray'.
Key Characteristics

Archival Inks: Uses fade-resistant, pigment-based inks (rather than dye) which provide a wider color gamut and exceptional longevity without degrading.

Premium Substrates: Printed on acid-free materials, such as 100% cotton rag fine art paper or textured artist canvas.

Superior Resolution: Printed at extremely high resolutions (often 1440–2880 DPI) using 8 to 12 ink cartridges, meaning you won't see any standard dot screen patterns.

Value: Considered museum-quality, these are the highest standard of art reproductions and are priced accordingly—usually 2 to 3 times more than standard poster prints.

Matted Giclée Sketches vs Originals

You might suspect that I have a large inventory of my sketches. (Many oil paintings too.) It is time to re-home them. Susan can put up a sale gallery. As you know, the Pilot ink is fugitive: the ink washes will fade but the watercolor is archival and will stay. Giclee prints are totally archival. Would you rather have the original sketch or the print, if you were buying one? The giclee is the same size. I have finally found a source of double 5 x 7 mats. They should look good. So I will ship each sketch matted but not framed. If you were interested in buying either, what’s a reasonable price? (Surveys are so much easier in person!!!)

Please, if you have a moment, shoot me an answer: [email protected]

Color & Contrast

Last Friday I took my weekly class outside for plein air. My demonstration of the little house is boring. They sketched. They will bring those sketches to class tomorrow and I plan to tell them to look for problems in contrast, color and focal point (which they should know). Here you have my demo. and the same sketch reworked for color and contrast. Notice what a difference it makes! When you have a bit of time and don’t want to start anything new, take out 4 or 5 ‘loser’ sketches, figure out what’s wrong and fix it. I usually get two really good ones, two worse and one the same as before, but they were all losers before. It’s great training on the basics.

Sketch It Again

The second pair of attached sketches is from my back yard. The first one is really busy. The second one I sloshed in the blue for the plumbago and then added the tree. If you have time, sketch the same place more than once. Each time you will do it differently and I find I capture the essence better on the second or third sketch. I won’t hang around to do four!

Upcoming Workshops

July 10,11,12  Basic at Pacific Northwest Art Center in Coupeville, Washington

July 20,21,22  Refresher at Pacific Northwest Art Center in Coupeville, Washington

July 28,29,30  Basic at Lakewood Center for the Arts in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

August 3,4,5 Basic at Sunriver Homeowners Aquatic & Recreation Center in Bend, Oregon.  Contact: Julie Barrett: (203) 232-8243 [email protected]

Membership Update

Due to Susan's move to Cottonwood, Arizona, the Membership portion of our website has been delayed. Why, you might ask? Internet speed...or lack thereof! Yesterday's download speed was 27 mbps with upload of 36 mbps. Susan was uploading 39 individual videos but the website conversion queue kept kicking them out due to the extremely slow speed. She tried meshing various modems, switched to Starlink and still couldn't get "up to speed." She finally bought 75' of cable, paid two delightfully helpful guys to crawl through the attic crawlspace (approximately 50' at over 100°) and run a cable directly to her computer. They were literally 'dripping wet' when they came down the ladders but are truly her Heroes!

We're now planning to have the membership available for July. If you haven't already sent an email or left a message on our Contact page letting us know you're interested, just click the following link and share your thoughts: https://www.pocketsketching.com/contact.html Susan is collecting the comments and will notify each of you when it's proven ready. Once you join you can watch any video as often as you like, day or night, which really helps you practice the techniques as your confidence grows...and it will!

Happy Sketching!

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