A New Beginning in the Studio

Beginning a new painting by sketching in the concept with a thick graphic pencil.

This week, I finally psyched myself up to begin a brand-new “big” painting.

My plan was to make things easy by projecting my concept mockup directly onto the canvas. But of course—the studio Wi-Fi had other ideas and refused to cooperate. For a moment, I thought about postponing again until I could sort it out. Then I realized what I really needed was progress, not perfection.

So, I went old-school. I picked up a thick graphic pencil and started sketching the composition by hand (not usually my favorite task). To my surprise, it was actually fun. I used a wet sponge to soften or erase lines when things needed to shift, and once the arrangement felt just right, I gave parts of the drawing a light mist of water and smudged the graphite with my finger. Suddenly, the lines deepened, the shapes came alive, and the whole piece began to breathe.

Here’s a little sneak peek of this fresh beginning—plus a short video showing how those delicate pencil lines transformed with just a mist of water.