Please enjoy these paintings, illustrations, and snippets from my sketchbook.
Recent posts…
- Morning downtown with the sketchbook group
This weekend my local sketchbook group met close enough to my home that I was able to bike into the meet! Perfect timing with a crisp morning as we transition into fall. Clear blue skies… Read more: Morning downtown with the sketchbook group - Sketching at the lake
A sketch from a peaceful, clear morning by the lake. - Sons of Pitches 2
After I gifted this sketch to the performers I’d drawn, they reached out to ask for another drawing to use on future bills. Without the band performing in front of me, I grabbed stills from… Read more: Sons of Pitches 2 - Race weekend 4
Another race weekend, with another good batch of lessons learned about watercolor gouache painting. I’ve abandoned my pencil in favor of underpainting, which is allowing me more flexibility with shapes, as well as more speed.… Read more: Race weekend 4 - Race weekend 3
Plein-air lessons learned while painting from the top of a fire-watch tower. - Race weekend 2
Another race weekend, another chance to practice watercolor gouache for a few hours 🙂 From my paddock spot, I couldn’t see much other than trees. But it was a good opportunity for practicing green color-mixing.… Read more: Race weekend 2 - Race weekend 1
A plein-air painting in watercolor gouache for the first race event of the year. - Cosmo’s cosmos
A pet portrait painted in jelly gouache on a drink board for a friend’s wedding. - Solo performer
Walked into town and enjoyed a solo performance while sketching. Musicians are nice subjects because they stay sort of in place for a while 🙂 It feels a little silly to carry such a large… Read more: Solo performer - Free coloring pages
Please enjoy these free printable coloring pages 🙂 If you’re willing, please share your finished colorings with me at mail.steph.inks@gmail.com; I’d love to see what you come up with! - Race weekend sketching
I took a sketchbook (of course!) to an amateur race this past weekend, and happened to snag a seat in the pit with a near-perfect angle on a beautiful custom-built hillclimb car! Media: Noodler’s “Bulletproof”… Read more: Race weekend sketching - Outdoor musicians
I was inspired by a friend’s musician-filled sketchbook, and I wanted to practice with this neat mini-palette I picked up recently. Luckily, this very groovy five-piece band was playing right by the square downtown. 🙂… Read more: Outdoor musicians - Street corner from the coffee shop
It’s amazing how time flies when sketching. This ink-and-watercolor sketch took up the full two hours that I spent with the city’s urban sketching group. Much of the time was spent color-mixing, a skill I’m… Read more: Street corner from the coffee shop - View from the watch tower
We spent a night in a nearby city and I found a few opportunities to sketch outside. First, a beautiful vista from the top of a fire watch tower. It was very windy up there,… Read more: View from the watch tower - What to know before trying jelly gouache
One of the most frequent questions I hear from passersby as I’m painting is “What’s that stuff you’re using?” It’s jelly gouache (pronounced “gwash”)! As far as I can tell, this is a newly-developed medium.… Read more: What to know before trying jelly gouache - Signs for the street fair
I helped a local business prepare for an upcoming street fair by drawing up some new signs using chalk markers. Designing these boards put me in a lettering-focused mindset, and I’ve been staring at fonts… Read more: Signs for the street fair - Chickadee in a cherry tree
For my future mother-in-law’s birthday this year, I wanted to give her a memento that would suit the colors of her newly decorated home office. For a pink-and-white theme, of course I’ll choose cherry blossoms!… Read more: Chickadee in a cherry tree - Walking bridge
Despite frigid winds, the quality of light today was too beautiful not to spend some time painting outside. I struggled to hold onto my sketchbook and palette through the wind while painting the walking bridge… Read more: Walking bridge - Camp Hill Plein Air 2025
My favorite yearly plein air event has come and gone again! This is the first year that I’ve been able to paint from the park that’s central to the event (previous years I’ve been chased… Read more: Camp Hill Plein Air 2025 - Sushi shop sketching
Kanagawa in Mechanicsburg has got to be one of the cutest sushi shops! I love the colors in here (though I didn’t have time to add them to my sketch). Sketched with a Traveller’s Company… Read more: Sushi shop sketching
