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Jean Mackay – Sketching through the Year (Online)

Join Jean Mackay as she opens her watercolor sketchbooks and shares her lively approach to nature journaling throughout the year.
Date recorded: Friday, April 10, 2026

If you enjoy this presentation or make work inspired by it, please leave a comment below.

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Join Jean Mackay as she opens her watercolor sketchbooks and shares her lively approach to nature journaling throughout the year. Come away with ideas, inspiration, and plenty of tips to get you started or keep you motivated to sketch regularly. This presentation will include Q&A and Jean’s downloadable What to Sketch handout.

If you enjoy this presentation or make work inspired by it, please leave a comment below.

About the Instructor:

Jean Mackay is an artist, educator, and naturalist. She has been keeping an artist journal for more than nearly 20 years as a way to study and share the beauty and diversity of nature, as well as to record the art of everyday living. Working in all kinds of settings, from tide pools to farm fields to her own backyard in upstate New York, Jean’s watercolors reflect a keen eye for detail and profound sense of wonder. She is the author/illustrator of The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook (2020). Jean teaches online and in-person classes and offers immersive workshops nationally and internationally. She has been an instructor with Winslow Art Center since 2020.

12 Responses

  1. Jean, thanks so much for an insightful presentation about your process. I appreciate your idea of the ‘long draw’ vs a ‘quick draw’ with a focus on paying attention to the beauty and wonder of the world around us. Your monthly blog posts bring beauty to my days–thank you!

  2. So enchanting, so inspiring Jean. Every time I see your work or take a class I come away with something new. This one was a real treat. Hard to say what my favorite page was, but I especially loved the “freezer clean out day” page, how fun… and then the caterpillar who crawled across the page, what a hoot! THANK you!

    1. Hi Cindy– Thanks so much! I thought the freezer might bring a bit of humor to the presentation. And I’m happy to say that my freezer is still fairly well organized. Hope you’re doing some fun sketches yourself these days!

  3. This was great! I was really looking forward to Jean’s talk and the reveal of her new online class. Very inspiring to see all those beautiful pages. Looking forward to the class, I hope I can use the tips for my own sketchbook and my own environment here in Europe!

  4. Totally inspired, always love to see Jean’s art, her focus on appreciating nature and always learning more about what catches her eye!
    Thanks so much for sharing your work Jean. And thanks so much to you too Martha for arranging these celebrations of artists and their work.

  5. Wow, I am amazed at Jean’s work – beautiful. I am normally an oil painter, but this inspires me to try to do a watercolor and pen sketchbook. Thank you Jean and Winslow Art Center for sharing this!

    1. So nice to hear, Lisa! Pen and watercolor is so quick and portable compared with oils. Both are lovely, of course, but I hope you enjoy giving it a try. Thanks for tuning in!

Leave a Reply

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