En Plein Air: Light & Color

Drawing on Location

I’m trained as an architect and have spent many years learning a very specific way of drawing freehand. My studies have only strengthened this practice. Design students are taught that a line should be made with confidence; it should have a specific beginning and end. With pencil, you can achieve a multitude of line weights and depths.

Everything starts with a line—that first mark you make when beginning a sketch or painting. To make the move from a blank sheet of paper to a finished painting requires you to put instrument to paper and begin.

The difference between drawing comfortably from a photograph in your studio and ...