A sketchbook has always been a telescope, a microscope, a compass; my way of exploring and discovering the world. Some of my favorite sketches are nice drawings that I'm happy to have made. Some sketches are full of memories or associations that mean something to me but don't easily translate into other people's lives. As I built up my business of creating prints from my sketches, I've had to make choices between a sketch and a potential finished scene. Here are some examples from my latest sketchbook: Croatia and Amsterdam.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is a natural choice for my series. Not only is the building a treasure and great fun to draw, its collection is beyond magnificent. I love it, I know it well, and I also know it will be a memory for anyone who visits Amsterdam. My sketch, done from life as always, includes other Amsterdam treasures: canal boats, bicycles, bridges. I used colored pencils for this finished scene - it fits the place and the drawing.

Here's an example from Croatia, from the beautiful ancient city of Split. This pleasant scene doesn't show any of the historical significance but I think it has such a nice sense of Split, the ever present coast, a relaxed atmosphere, the Mediterranean (Adriatic) lifestyle, that it will appeal to Croatia lovers and visitors.

One thing I loved about Croatia was the way daily life and awesome history went hand in hand. A familiar sight everywhere we went was clotheslines - everybody dries their laundry in the open air (very eco-friendly) adding lots of color among the sober browns and greys of the ancient buildings. This Split courtyard was delightful; a garden, nice old buildings, a sky full of laundry. I don't think it will make a finished scene but it's a lovely memory.

Dubrovnik is something of a miracle, with Croatia's signature narrow climbing streets but also with its intact medieval walls surrounding the city. No wonder it catches the eye and imagination of movie and TV producers. I was certainly transported deep into history and relished every discolored old stone and crooked doorway. It's a very popular tourist place so there are good possibilities for scenes that will resonate with visitors. This old church and fountain greet you when you enter through the Pile Gate, and just behind is a starting point for the climb and trek around the walls. It was very rainy when I was there in May, but my finished scene has, by choice, a bit of the warm sun of summer.

I'm adding Croatia scenes to my INPRNT site where you can buy prints whether I'm in my studio or away. The prints are excellent archival quality, come in several sizes and are shipped directly to you. Please take a look. https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/macgregorart/
I'd love to hear your thoughts about my sketches and my scenes. What do you think about choices? Are the quieter simple scenes of interest or do you prefer the better known tourist sites?

I hope you've had a chance to see pictures and reports I've been posting about my town in France. It's a very special place; beautiful, historic, friendly, full of life, busy with people making great wines, sharing good food, enjoying true joie de vivre. The town is Saumur, located in the western part of the Loire Valley about 2 hours by train from Paris. Now a friend and I are getting together to offer a very special opportunity this September, a 5 day ART RETREAT in and around Saumur. Mandy will provide accommodations at her elegant, townhouse, I will be the art leader, and we'll share our love of Saumur.

If you join us, you'll stay in a beautiful, luxurious town house, enjoy delicious meals, and have the creative fun of drawing, sketching, and painting in the historic town, at the castle, along the river, and in nearby villages.

Dates for the first Loire Valley ART Retreat are September 5 to September 10. This is a very special group retreat, limited to 4 singles or couples sharing a bedroom. Accommodations all have private bathrooms, and participants can freely enjoy the gracious home and lovely garden. September is a beautiful time of year in the Loire Valley - think about joining us! See more about accommodations for the retreat at lamaisontrumeau.com

I've prepared a pdf brochure with all the delightful details. If you're interested and would like more information please email me at [email protected] and I'll send it right out to you.

I did it again; missed one month blog post, and almost missing a second. In my defense, I've been busy with new sights, new views, new experiences to share. So this month's blog you're coming along to some nice places.

My husband and I and a couple of friends just spent about 2 weeks in Croatia, notable for very old stones, the Adriatic sea, steep narrow streets, and some of the nicest people I've ever met.

The centerpiece of the trip was a week on a small ship that wandered along the Dalmation Coast from Split to Dubrovnic, sampling a wonderful variety of islands and intriguing places. Life on the ship was delightful, even when the wind and the sea picked up at the end of the week.

I did lots of sketches trying to capture the spirit and life of Croatia, the combination of mystery, stoic grace, everyday life, charm and beauty. Above a street in Hvar, and in Split, a wash line above a pretty garden and a scene along the esplanade. 

We spent the last few days in Dubrovnic, impressive stately bastion with its complete set of medieval walls. By then we were having some serious rain and wind, but it was beautiful nonetheless, and I managed a couple of good drawings between the drops. Above a pretty square in the center, and the grand fountain and church under the walls near the entry gate.

While I'm away from my studio, I especially hope you'll look for them and others at  my site at Inprnt.com  where you can order fine art quality prints to be shipped directly to you.
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/macgregorart/

Lately I've been working on a commission for some very good friends. I do commissions fairly often, mostly of homes or to celebrate occasions. This one has been a great pleasure - I know and love the place I'm recreating and the people who treasure it. Of course there's also pressure to make sure it's right - for the same reasons. This is the second one I've done of homes in the area around my French town of Saumur in the Loire Valley. I'm including details of both, starting with the first one a couple of years ago.

Here's the working sketch, once I'd put together a lot of separate pieces. Getting the drawing right for a commission is different from one for one of my scenes drawn from life. I use a variety of photographs, along with memories and sketches from being at the site if I've been there.

The final celebrates the lush setting of this wonderful old farm house, which has an historically important pigeon tower, several caves that go deep into the hillside, 3 different gardens, and just beyond all the trees, a view of the Loire River. I promise it is as charming as it looks!

For the most recent one I did a series of sketches on site, chasing my impressions as the sun got lower and lower and my light began to disappear on a beautiful autumn evening. As always, my sketches are quick, seeking to capture the feeling as well as the facts of a place.

The property is substantial, an old farm turned into a family home with outbuildings transformed into a marvelous series of gites (rental homes) and B&Bs. From the beginning I conceived this as a multi-part scene so I needed a selection of drawings to choose from.

I ended up with a combo of sketches, reflecting my  choices and the owners' affections for their experience in the setting. Once I had these in place, I fiddled, adjusted, tweaked sizing and placement, waiting to add color until the overall design was set, since the design has to be  a harmonious whole, not separate pieces. 

The plants, the trees, the details of stone and wood - there is so much here to treasure. I also couldn't leave out their beloved cat, who sat staring at me as I drew.

There will be some text and a few more tweaks to finish this commission. I hope it will bring the owners much joy in their good memories of a wonderful unique home.

If you want to explore a commission for yourself or someone else, email me at [email protected]

2023 got off to a great start with a week's trip to Mexico City, where I'd last been many years ago. It was a wonderful week of sights, smells, good food, nice people, interesting history and art ... and a few sketches. Fewer than I'd thought, mostly because there was so much going on and not enough time to stop to think about it!

It was January, and while mornings were chilly, days were in the 70's and the many parks were spilling with greenery and flowers, including masses of purple and hot pink bougainvillea. This sketch is of elegant, dog-loving Parque Mexico in the Condesa neighborhood.

We had a few tour adventures, including one to the UNESCO World Heritage site of ancient Teotihuacan, about an hour outside the city - stately, evocative, truly awesome. If you're going, take the tour we did, which included lunch afterwards with the guides' family - fabulous enchiladas with homemade mole. Too busy eating and having fun to draw it, but here's a pic.

We also toured historic, colorful, kind-of-crazy Xochimilco and the vast world of Mexico City's largest market - amazing. No drawings, but what memories! 

Frida and Diego - of course. Their working studios, their homes together and apart. Every inch a tribute to their unique stories, their love for their country, and art.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go back to Mexico City was the Anthropology Museum, in my mind one of the best museums in the world. The treasure of artifacts telling the story of Mexico's long fascinating history is beyond description. I've often thought (as an art historian and former ceramics teacher) that no artisans in any culture have ever surpassed the imagination and skill of these workers in clay and stone. Again, too busy looking to draw!

A stop at the central Artisan Market was a delight, an overload of handmade goods from all over Mexico. And in the heart of it, a sweet little cafe where, with a painted chair, a glass of lemonade, and a generous platter of guacamole, there was no excuse.

I expect to create finished scenes for my International series from some of my Mexico sketches, so stay tuned. www.macgregor-art.com/international-series.
If you have plans for a trip to Mexico City, look for the tour Teothicuacan With A Local (Brothers Hugo and Gabriel) and the tour of Mercado Merced with
Eat Mexico (ask for Hector!)

Have you been to Mexico City? Are any of these memories your memories too?

December got past me on the Blog front, so apologies.
I hope you, especially those of you who like and use my Holiday cards, understand that it was a busy time!
Now January, now 2023, now some new thoughts. 

I plan to do as much new drawing work this year as possible. I expect my Game Birds series, started in 2021, will continue, though perhaps in a new and different form. That is always the interesting part of making art: you think you will pick up where you left off, but in the meantime your mind has been working quietly behind the scenes, and when you sit down to it something new comes out. I will always love birds; their busyness, their flutter and flight, their calls and songs. Like the cats
I love to draw, they are always interesting, always lurking, ready to go when I want them.

MadCats, also a series begun in 2021, will continue too, though this subject is probably going get wild and crazier. I have to hope so. 

2021 was a good year for drawing. 2022 was as well, with my Paris Cafe drawings - now assembled into a book proposal, out looking for a publisher. Keep your fingers crossed and stay tuned. 2023 is still blank pages but I know it won't be for long.
If you'd like to see more of my drawing work, please visit my portfolio site mmacgregorart.com

I've posted before about the Paris Cafe book I'm working on, but I'd like to share a bit more of the drawings and my process. Almost all my work begins with black & white ink sketches, most from life, but I often use a digital color process. For the Paris Cafe drawings I'm trying something different.

I've always loved drawing with pencils, and I really LOVE these Faber-Castell watercolor pencils. I use them a lot in my works on paper, including my Bird Games and Still Life series. For the Paris Cafe drawings I like the interaction between the sharp black line and the softer pencil coloring. I'm using them here as colored pencils, without the watercolor option. These pencils have the best strength of color I've found, dry or wet.

I want the book to have a casual feeling, an inclusive quality of being on the spot in Paris, exploring neighborhoods, finding new fun places, stopping at all kinds of cafes. For me the style of the illustrations - loose, unforced, spontaneous - helps convey that sense. I'd love to have your feedback - please leave me a comment and tell me what YOU think!

I'm not one of those folks who start hanging lights and decorations as soon as they see the first autumn leaf fall. But even before that leaf, I start thinking HOLIDAY, because a new Philly Holiday card is an annual task - and a great pleasure - to create!

For 2022 I decided to feature Philly's beautiful Rittenhouse Square, with Center City showing just beyond. It's a pretty scene in any season, but with those celebrated lights and some freshly-fallen snow, it's picture-perfect. Two happy shoppers, bundled up for the cold, make tracks across the urban winter wonderland.

Here are two in process images: the initial simple black and white sketch, then a step-along-the-way where you can see the fun of peppering the scene with lights and sprinkles of 'snow' to give a sense of the lovely holiday scene each year in Rittenhouse.

Each year I offer several choices of cards in single design boxed sets and a mixed set, always with one that's brand new! You can also find my cards - Holiday and regular - at Paper on Pine on Sansome Street.

I'm about to send out my October Newsletter, where you'll find details of this year's Philly Holiday cards - what, where and when to order. You can sign up for the Newsletter (about 4 mailings a year) on this website, and you can also find information about the Holiday cards and great gift ideas by following me on Instagram (MacGregorArtDesigns) and FB (MacGregorArt)

I've been sending a lot of cards lately. Right now there seem to be too many friends and acquaintances with health and family problems. I wish I had the power to solve serious issues, but since I don't, the least I can do is send a little cheer.

Even when words don't come easily, flowers speak a language of love and care. I like to think that my FLEURS series is just right for the job of conveying heartfelt hopes and wishes. They work for happy events like marriage and anniversaries, but they strike a nice balance for sadder times too;  fresh and fun, gracious and gentle, colorful and charming.

With these FLEURS I send my best wishes for you and your family, hoping you have lots of reasons for sending happy thoughts, even if you also have some sad ones.

Take a look at my FLEURS - they come in several sets, perfect for keeping close when you want or need some flowers to speak for you. https://www.macgregor-art.com/fleurs

Travel is a concept as much as a much-loved activity. My sketchbooks have always been a record of my travels, inside, outside, far, near, upstairs, downstairs. I love the 'travel' log of my home during the pandemic as much as the many sketchbooks of travels to nice places over the years. There is no better way to get to know a place than by drawing, taking the time to really observe and transfer what you see into your mind and on to paper.

'Lines and Places' is my Etsy shop for fine art prints from my travel sketchbooks. I recently sent out a print of St Peter's Piazza at the Vatican in Rome to someone in England, a nice bounce across time and place. In January 2018 I was lucky enough to have a week to myself in Rome, dedicated to walking, seeing, and drawing. Many of the finished scenes from those sketchbooks are now in the Etsy shop (as well as on my website and on a new shop at INPrint.com). Take a look and watch for new scenes to come - lots of drawings still waiting in  sketchbooks from Rome and elsewhere.

Two of my favorite drawings from that week show my inevitable twist - a bit of a wink and a tug at the seriousness of a grand scene. Here, the august Pantheon, emblem of high Roman belief and public display, surrounded by colorful crowds of modern day humans. And the Dora Pamphili Gallery, magnificent art museum crammed with very important objects. I couldn't resist tweaking the seriousness of those ancient Roman heads.

In contrast, here are a couple of my 'pandemic' At Home drawings, now - hopefully - as much a mark of a past era as memories of a bygone trip. Doing them each day took me up and down and around my house, finding new ways to see and think about what is right in front of me. Much like travel to Rome and other wonderful places.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LinesandPlaces
https://www.inprnt.com/collections/macgregorart/italy-1/
I'm always interested in what you think. Leave a comment!