"I often work in pencils. With pencils, I can draw precise lines—thick or thin, depending on how I sharpen them. Pencils are very responsive. I can create soft, delicate blends or lay down rich, saturated colors.

"And pencils are much easier to control than paints out in the field. Pencils don’t run, smear or drip. You never need wait for them to dry! Pencils are also very easy to carry! Artists who travel into rugged lands appreciate a medium as simple and sturdy as pencils. Of course, artists also use watercolors or oil paints for their plein air works.

"Most landscape artists make studies and sketches while traveling. They then return to their studios to create large canvases. Most of my works, however, are for reports and scientific publications. Because I do all of my work from close observation here in the field, my drawings are accurate.

"How close? Look—that’s me down there at the bottom of this illustration. I spend many, many hours on each illustration sitting in the hot desert sun, peering through my binoculars at each strata.

"And that’s my geologist friend Dutton next to me, checking my sketch for accuracy!

"Now it is time for you to go into the field and find a landscape to sketch.

"Good luck!"