ivy newport

Studioworks

Journal

a letter from ivy

Dear creative friends,

Welcome to Issue No. 80 of the Studioworks Journal! I’m so glad you’re here, and I’m especially excited to share this issue with you.

This month, we’re turning our gaze toward the sea. There’s something about the ocean, its rhythms, its vastness, its quiet power—that draws us back to ourselves. Even if you don’t live near the coast, the pull of the ocean is something we all feel. It lives in our memories, our dreams, and our bones. It’s ancient, universal, and deeply human.

Whether it’s the color of salt-washed stones, the sound of waves meeting land, or the feeling of wind on our skin, the coast offers endless inspiration when we slow down and pay attention.

Let’s explore how being near the water—or simply imagining it—can open us up, artistically and emotionally. Let’s sketch the tide, gather color from the sand and sky, and let the horizon remind us how wide the world can be.

xo,

Welcome to issue no.80
By : Ivy Newport
Monthly Theme
Endless Blue: The Ocean’s Place in Art History

We cannot speak of the ocean without evoking a host of images. The enormity of it and the way it mirrors, on a macro scale, the proportion of water in our bodies makes it not only visually evocative but also symbolically, emotionally, and personally representative. These qualities of the ocean have long made it a central feature of art.


Looking at the water, feeling its expansiveness, hearing its turbulent power, being awed by its reflective beauty, and visualizing its depths churning with all manner of life make it an ideal subject for creatives. Images of the ocean will take the viewer on a journey, and artists are aware of this. Great artists can masterfully steer the ship of our emotions to the port of their choosing, engaging and moving us in the process. Join me in exploring the ocean’s place in art history and enjoying a ride upon the endless blue.

The Tides of History

Ideas come and go, trends ebb and flow, but the ocean is enduring. From the petroglyph reed boats of Gobustan, circa 1200 BCE, to the ancient Greek vase paintings of Odysseus and the Sirens, to the maritime paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, the sea has always captured the human imagination.


The earliest works of art depicting the ocean were simplistic and gestural, relying more on the viewer's imaginal capacities than on realism. Still, they never failed to represent something of value to the artist and the culture to which they belonged. With time, the works became more elaborate, depicting diverse qualities of the sea, such as the bounty available amongst the waves, the desolation of the shipwrecked, the destruction of a tempest, or the loveliness of sparkling waters on a clear day. Regardless, images of the ocean have always been evocative, connecting us to a timeless tradition.

‘The Dutch Fleet Assembling Before the Four Days' Battle of 11-14 June 1666’

By Willem van de Velde the Younger

The Rainbow

By Ivan Aivazovsky, 1873

The sea, with its contradictory qualities of providing life-sustaining food, tranquility, and beauty, and also being stormy, unpredictable, and dangerous, made it a natural choice as an abode for gods, and hence a container of the sacred. Diverse and geographically distant cultures worshiped sea deities from the Greek god Poseidon to the Chinese goddess Mazu. Naturally, these beliefs, by imbuing ocean scenes with divinity, poignancy, and meaning, made them a favorite subject for artists.


For example, the Chinese believed that island homes of the gods populated the uncharted waters to the east, and thus became a common theme in their paintings as early as the Song Dynasty (960-1279). This theme continued to retain potency for hundreds of years. A beautiful example of this is the hanging scroll, The Fanghu Isle of the Immortals, by Wang Yun. Dating from 1699, this ink on silk piece captures the mystery, majesty, and magic that were believed to be hidden out there amongst the misty vapors of the sea.


As Western cultures became more avidly seafaring, the genre of maritime art emerged, especially in countries such as the Netherlands, where trade and naval prowess generated great wealth. Some popular subjects from this era were battles, tempests, and shipwrecks. A fine example in the warring category is the Battle of the Spanish and the Dutch Fleet on May 1573, at the Time of the Siege of Haarlem (c. late 1620s) by Andries van Eertvelt. On the theme of gales, the only seafaring painting ever completed by the Dutch master Rembrandt, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (c. 1633), is a shining exemplar.


With its rich symbolism and gorgeous range of qualities, the ocean was a natural choice of subject for the Romantics. Two paintings that beautifully reflect both the period and the poignant treacherousness of the sea are pieces by the prolific and renowned Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky: The Ninth Wave (c. 1850) and The Rainbow (c. 1873). Each piece evokes terror and wonder, combining the juxtaposed qualities the ocean so compellingly embodies, loveliness and deadliness.

In contemporary times, the ocean continues to arrest our attention. Artists such as Franco Salas Borquez, the self-taught Chilean painter, transformed criticism of his monographic works, with the sea as sole subject, into a platform for an internationally acclaimed career. His large-scale paintings of the ocean, such as the piece Duality (c.2021), put a modern spin on the enduringly compelling image of the mighty sea.

“It’s the sound of the waves that calls us back to ourselves, again and again.”
- Joan Anderson

The Takeaway

The ocean is a potent conjurer. With its literal power, mercurial unpredictability, symbolic and religious significance, and sheer beauty, it is unrivaled in its ability to evoke imagery. It’s no wonder, then, that artists have returned time and again to its tireless motion to stir their own creative prowess to life.


Whether we look to the sea for magic or meaning, or simply to get swept up in its expansive embrace, there is something there for everyone. The universality of the ocean makes it a cherished friend of artists across the ages. Perhaps, as bodies of mostly water ourselves, we find resonance, seeing our own reflections in the endless blue.

Endless Blue: The Ocean’s Place in Art History
By : Ivy Newport
Drawing from the Deep: Channeling Ocean Energy in Your Creative Practice

Though art is, by nature, an aesthetic experience, artists themselves have long been individuals who feel and see beyond the surface. To create beauty entails a profound way of viewing and experiencing the world that enables an invocation calling forth something beyond the image that is created. Tapping into this mastery is something that requires commitment, stillness, and presence on the part of the artist.

Flow isn’t something that is forced. It is a deep well that can be accessed through wading into the sometimes murky waters of our internal sea, or see (if you will). Join me in diving beneath the reflective surface and finding the powerful oceanic channels within, bringing an inspirational tidal surge to your creative practice.

“I wanted freedom, open air, and adventure. I found it on the sea.”
- Alain Gerbault

Dipping a Toe

To conjure ocean energy demands understanding what significance it holds for us individually, as well as what it represents for the collective. The sea is a literal source of life and abundance, teeming with incredibly varied and multi-faceted marine animals and plants. It covers the majority of our planet and is essential to our existence. It is very real, salty, organic, and commands respect. What meaning does it hold for you, and in what ways does it resonate with your life and art?

In addition, the ocean functions on a metaphorical level as one of the most symbolically rich entities we encounter. It can represent absolute serene calm or the most monstrous raging gale. It has a vast surface that often reflects in ways that we cannot peer through, rendering it inscrutable, even as it also contains depths of great profundity, housing unimaginably strange creatures, making it appear almost like a realm out of myths.

In psychological terms, the sea often represents the unconscious or those parts of us that function outside of our awareness. It's a source of psychic material that contains a treasure trove of information about what makes us tick and why. It also serves an analogous function to our emotions, from the glitteringly joyful to the most profoundly sorrowful. What feelings does the ocean evoke in you?

“To me, the sea is a continual miracle… the fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the ships, with men in them. What stranger miracles are there?”
- Walt Whitman

Taking the Plunge

From this cursory universal view, let’s zoom in and make it more personal. Take a moment to ponder what the ocean brings up for you internally in this moment. What tidal pull resonates within you? It may help to close your eyes.


Let’s start with images. What colors are on your palette? Are they the blues, greens, and luminous whites of a clear, calm day? Or, rather, the dark greys, blacks, and angry bursts of white spray on a cloudy, tempestuous one? Perhaps it's the midnight blues, inky blacks, and silvery hues of a full moon reflecting off a gently lapping sea.


Is there a coastline? If so, is it rocky and rugged or soft, sandy, and beachlined? Are there people, buildings, animals, or plants?


Suppose there’s no land in sight. Are there boats? Marine life? Clouds? What time of day is it, what’s the weather like, and what, if anything, is happening? Let your imagination run wild and paint a vivid picture in your mind.

Now, let’s get into what the images make you feel. Are you light, bright, relaxed, and sun-kissed, the equivalent of a beach vacation on the emotional scale? Or, maybe you’re marooned on a sailless skiff with a blood-red setting sun and an enormous Kraken ascending towards you from the phantasmagoric depths, the emotional corollary of nightmarish dread.

Take a moment to write down what you’re seeing and feeling. You might also want to do some sketching, exploring form and rhythm on the visual plane. Trust your intuition and follow where it leads. Let your rational mind take a breather while you examine the ebb and flow within, noting your location on the continuum from still calm to violently turbulent. Release yourself into the process, floating upon the knowledge that there is no wrong way to experience this.

Returning to Shore

Now that you have been Captain Nemo aboard your own Nautilus, embracing its motto of Mobilis en Mobili, seizing upon internal movement within a moving element or changing with change, you are ready to emerge back onto dry land and enjoy the treasures you unearthed. Even those bits that are rust-covered, algae-laden, and barnacle-coated beyond recognition can prove to be priceless when brought to the surface.


Through drawing from the deep within, you tap into something unique to you as an artist and a human being. These internal channels will deliver you an ocean of energy, compelling the vessel of your creativity to your chosen shore.

“There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.”
- Victor Hugo
Drawing from the Deep: Channeling Ocean Energy in Your Creative Practice
By : Ivy Newport
WORD OF THE MONTH
Tide

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word tide is defined as:

1. A regular rise and fall in the level of the sea caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun.

2. Also: A powerful surge of feeling, movement, or change

How does the word tide relate to us as artists?

Tide is rhythm. Tide is return. It’s the reminder that everything—our energy, our ideas, our creativity—moves in cycles. Some days flow freely, others pull back. Just like the sea, we move through phases of fullness and retreat.

This month’s theme invites us to consider our own creative tides. Are we in a time of gathering or releasing? Of sketching wildly or resting quietly? Let the tide become a gentle metaphor for what your process is asking of you now.

TIDE AS A CREATIVE PRACTICE

Working with tide means embracing change. It means honoring the ebb as much as the flow. When we acknowledge that our creativity isn’t static—that it pulses, swells, and recedes—we can stop fighting it and start moving with it.

Try tuning in:

• What’s rising in you right now?

• What’s pulling away?

• Can you let the rhythm guide your choices—when to create, when to reflect, when to just be still and listen?Let the tide teach you.

Let it soften your expectations. Let it carry you back to what matters most.

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea."
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Word Of The Month
By : Ivy Newport

Creative Intuition & Writing Prompt

Let’s tap into our creative intuition and do some self-reflective work inspired by our theme. Below you will see our month’s Oracle/Tarot card spread. But fear not, if you are not one drawn to using oracle or tarot cards, no worries, just use the accompanying reflective questions as writing prompts for your journals!

Here’s a three-card oracle card spread designed to tap into your creative intuition and our themes. This spread and its journaling prompts encourage reflection on the artist’s inner wisdom, the magic of inspiration, and the journey of trusting intuition in the creative process.

creative intuition & writing prompt

download creative prompt

Journaling Prompts for Creative Intuition::

1. Ebb:  

  • What feels like it’s slipping away in my creative world?
  • How might letting go be making room for something new?
  • Where am I being invited to rest, reflect, or pause?

2. Tide:

  • What energy or idea is building within me?
  • How can I prepare myself to receive it?
  • What would it look like to move with the momentum instead of against it?

3. Deep:

  • What creative truths have I been ignoring or avoiding?
  • When I get quiet, what does my inner artist want to say?
  • How can I honor my intuition more deeply in my practice this week?
“My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Every Wave a Wish Meditation
WITH RACHEL HILLARY

Treat yourself to this wonderful and powerful meditation from one of my favorite meditation creators - Rachel Hillary

Here’s a little more information from Rachel…

This guided practice takes place on a beautiful beach, with the sound of the waves crashing, as we embrace the healing and calming nature of gazing on the waves crashing gently, and being by the sea. It is a brief respite from daily stresses, and a practice I encourage you to take part in regularly. Here we also set our intentions, fill them with love and power, we connect to the frequency of abundance and luck, and allow our wishes to come into being.

I hope you enjoy, sending you love.

lots of love,
Rachel

Every Wave a Wish Meditation
By : rachel hillary

download more meditations and connect with Rachel here...

Monthly
Affirmation

Each month we will have a positive affirmation. I recommend you print out this affirmation and put it in your sketchbook or somewhere in your studio. Recite the affirmation out loud each time you show up to create. Saying words aloud is powerful and can begin to re-write some of our own limiting beliefs or calm our fears. Try it now…

Color Palette of the Month

This month’s palette is shaped by the rhythm of the sea—subtle, shifting, and deeply grounding. Inspired by Winslow Homer’s coastal work and the timeless pull of the ocean, we’re leaning into hues that speak of salt air, weathered stone, and wide open skies.

We’re working with indigo blue, sea glass green, and driftwood grey—tones that feel both expansive and intimate. Slate blue holds the weight of distant clouds. Sand ochre brings warmth and texture, like sunbaked cliffs. Algae green hints at underwater quiet. And soft salt white gives everything space to breathe.

These colors carry the mood of a windswept shoreline—calm, contemplative, and alive with quiet beauty. They’re not meant to dazzle. They’re meant to hold you. To draw you in. To steady your hand as you make space for what you really see and feel.

As we explore the coast as muse, let this palette become part of your process. Use it in washes, in swatches, in scribbled notes and layered marks. Let it speak not just of what the sea looks like—but of what it stirs in you.

"The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination, and brings eternal joy to the soul."
- Robert Wyland
Color Palette of the Month
By : Ivy Newport
Master Artist Study
Winslow Homer: A Life Drawn to Water

There’s something about the ocean that doesn’t need explaining; it’s felt. It calls and quiets, churns and calms. And for Winslow Homer, it was more than a subject. It was a companion. A mirror. A force he returned to again and again, both in life and on canvas. His paintings don’t romanticize the sea, but they do revere it. They carry a kind of hushed awe, a recognition of beauty wrapped in power.


Born in Boston in 1836, Homer began his career as a commercial illustrator. His early assignments for Harper’s Weekly brought him into the center of the Civil War. But Homer didn’t chase the chaos of battle; he turned his eye to the quiet, often overlooked moments: a soldier waiting, a glance exchanged, the stillness after action. These scenes carried emotional weight, not spectacle. He was largely self-taught, but his instinct for composition and clarity was unmistakable.

“The sun will not rise or set without my notice, and thanks.”
- Winslow Homer

After the war, Homer traveled. A brief stint in France exposed him to the crisp realism of Courbet and others. But it was his time in the fishing village of Cullercoats, England, that deeply shaped his voice. There, he painted coastal life, not as quaint or sentimental, but as dignified and enduring. His portraits of women, especially, carried strength. They weren’t muses or symbols. They were workers. Wives. Mothers. Holding vigil on the shore. Their presence was steady, rooted. The sea always close.

When Homer returned to the United States, he settled in Prouts Neck, Maine. His studio overlooked the Atlantic, and the rhythms of the sea became his daily meditation. In this period, his most iconic maritime works took shape. Paintings like The Life Line, Weatherbeaten, and The Fog Warning pulse with tension. You feel the wind. You feel the stakes. And yet, there’s restraint in the way he paints it, no melodrama, only truth. Homer captures the moment before the outcome, where anything is possible.

But there was softness, too. In his later watercolors, sun-drenched scenes from the Caribbean, quiet riverbanks in the Adirondacks, his palette lifted. Blues grew lighter, touches of coral and ochre warmed the edges. The weight never vanished, but it gave way to breath, to space. These paintings speak of solitude, yes, but also of peace. Of reverence.

“You will see, in the future I will live by my watercolors.”
- Winslow Homer

His women remained strong presences. Even when distant, their gestures and stances conveyed independence. There’s something deeply modern about Homer’s sensitivity, his ability to honor both vulnerability and resilience, to see people not as subjects but as selves.


Why return to Homer now? Because his work reminds us that art doesn’t need to solve. It can simply stay. It can bear witness. He teaches us that strength isn’t always loud, and that beauty often lives in the tension between clarity and uncertainty. His paintings invite us to pause, to notice the horizon, the light shifting on the water, the quiet bravery of the human spirit.

This month, as we let the sea move through our creative practice, we look to Homer. Not for instruction, but for presence. For the kind of gaze that stays a little longer. For the courage to see what’s really there, and the grace to let it speak.

“Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems.”
- Winslow Homer

Here's a Pinterest board of his work to inspire you

Enjoy a slideshow of his work

Master Artist Study
By : Ivy Newport
Winslow Homer: Watercolor as Practice

Winslow Homer’s watercolors have a quiet power. There’s no drama in his brushstrokes, no overstatement. Yet his scenes hold tension, clarity, and mood that artists still learn from today. If we look closely at his methods—his palette, his composition, his process—we can pull practices into our own sketchbooks that feel both timeless and personal.

Here’s how:

1. Paint from life, when possible

  • Homer worked en plein air—painting directly from the environment. This gave his watercolors a sense of immediacy and presence.
  • His beach scenes, boats, and figures carry the breeze and the moment of the place.
  • Try this: Set up outside with just a small palette and a sketchbook. Paint what you see—not perfectly, but attentively.

2. Simplify your tools

  • Homer didn’t use fancy materials. He worked with basic pigments, often on lightweight paper.
  • He chose his colors deliberately, favoring:
    • Cobalt and ultramarine blues
    • Burnt sienna and raw umber
    • Naples yellow and ochres
    • Alizarin crimson and vermilion
    • Neutral tints for shadow
  • Try this: Limit yourself to 6–8 colors. Mix your neutrals. Let a restrained palette shape your mood

In the Blue Boat

By Winslow Homer, 1892

3. Let the paper breathe

  • Homer’s mastery lies in restraint. He didn’t overwork his washes. He allowed white space, dry brush marks, and texture to remain visible.
  • Try this: Use the paper’s white as part of your composition. Don’t fill every area. Suggest form with gesture, not detail.

4. Use contrast to build drama

  • Even in soft palettes, Homer used contrast—light against dark, warm against cool—to direct the eye.
  • In The Blue Boat (1892), he sets pale figures against deep water. In A Garden in Nassau (1885), bright foliage vibrates against shadows.
  • Try this: Choose one area of contrast as your focal point. Let the rest stay quiet.

Clear Sailing

By Winslow Homer, 1880

5. Compose with movement in mind

  • Homer’s compositions often follow diagonal lines—the tilt of a sail, the arc of a wave, the lean of a figure.
  • These diagonals lead the eye through the image and give life to still scenes.
  • Try this: Sketch thumbnails first. Play with diagonals, horizon lines, and figure placement. Think of the image as a path.

6. Be economical with marks

  • Homer painted with efficiency. A few strong strokes of color suggested a figure, a boat, or a wave.
  • He often worked wet-into-wet to blur edges, or let paint bloom naturally.
  • Try this: Give yourself a time limit. Make fast studies. Let spontaneity teach you more than control.

7. Return to a theme

  • Homer returned to the sea again and again. He didn’t need novelty—he needed depth.
  • His repeated studies of boats, tides, fishermen, and beachgoers created a body of work with emotional range and visual cohesion.
  • Try this: Choose one subject this month. Draw it daily. Vary your approach. Watch how your understanding deepens.

Homer once said, “You will see, in the future I will live by my watercolors.” He meant that literally—his late-in-life watercolor sales sustained him—but perhaps he meant it artistically, too. His watercolors became the place he lived in most fully: light, air, motion, and mood.


So let’s follow his lead. Not by copying the sea, but by staying with what moves us. Letting it shift. Letting it clarify. And letting watercolor—this fluid, responsive, unpredictable medium—remind us that expression is in the touch, the gesture, and the courage to leave space.

Winslow Homer: Watercolor as Practice
By : Ivy Newport
Sketchbook Explorations
Exploration 1
Winslow Homer Study

Medium: Watercolor and pencil
Time: 30–45 minutes

Choose one of Winslow Homer’s watercolor seascapes to study. Look closely at the way he composes the scene—how he uses space, where he places the horizon, how he suggests movement with minimal strokes.

Lightly sketch the main forms, then build up soft washes of color. Pay attention to where he leaves the white of the paper untouched, where he adds contrast, and how the brushwork varies.

Try:

  • Limiting your palette to 3–4 transparent colors
  • Letting edges stay loose and open like his
  • Writing a brief note about what you learned from painting alongside him

This is not a copy—it’s a conversation. Let Homer guide your hand, and let the sea speak through both of you.

Breaking Storm, Coast of Maine

By Winslow Homer, 1894

Exploration 2
Sky Meets Sea

Medium: Watercolor and pencil
Time: 20–30 minutes

Sit by the sea or use a photograph you’ve taken near the ocean. Focus on the horizon line where sky and water meet. Let that meeting point guide your composition.

Use soft washes to layer blues, greys, or silvers. Consider where Winslow Homer might have stopped painting—to leave the white of the paper exposed and breathing.

Try:

  • Painting wet-on-wet to allow color to move like waves\
  • Leaving parts of the page unfinished to suggest movement
  • Writing a short phrase or title that captures the sea’s temperament that day
Exploration 3
Saltwater Still Life

Medium: Pen and watercolor
Time: 20–30 minutes

Gather a small collection of ocean-related objects: shells, sea glass, driftwood, dried seaweed, or beach stones. Arrange them simply on a page. Or use photographs if you are not able to access these objects.


Draw the contours carefully, noticing texture and line. Let color be gentle—transparent and layered. Add a few notes about where and when you found each item, or what it reminds you of.

Try:

  • Sketching one object at a time in different parts of the page
  • Letting each item tell its own story
  • Labeling your drawing like a naturalist’s field journal
Featured Art class
Life of the Sea
With Kristy Kensinger

In this expressive mini class, we journey to the rugged coast of Maine—through the lens of mood, memory, and marine life. You’ll start by collecting visual inspiration and crafting your own list of character traits for this place, translating emotion into color and form. We’ll warm up in our journals by sketching sea creatures, exploring composition, and playing with contrast using a limited palette. Then we’ll move into expressive acrylic seascapes that capture the feeling of being near the shore.

Whether you’ve walked Maine’s coastline or are discovering it for the first time, this lesson invites you to connect with the story behind the scene—and to paint from a place of curiosity and heart.

studioworks podcast
issue eighty

You can also listen to this month’s issue of the Studioworks journal. I find I love listening to books, podcasts and music while I draw, paint or go on a long walk. Enjoy.

issue eighty
By : Ivy Newport
inspiration: curated

One of my favorite things to do is to curate inspiration. From Pinterest boards to books, resources, playlists and more - I love to share anything that might facilitate learning, expansion, and sparks of curiosity! Being an artist, we naturally crave these things so here are some of this month’s picks from me to you.

books to discover & Enjoy

music playlist

I had so much fun curating this list. I hope you enjoy!!

pinterest boards

Inspired Studioworks classes

Classes that pair well with this month’s theme in your Studioworks Creative Library