Winter squash, drawn by @paulawirth.bsky.social in colored pencil on clay toned paper.

Kobe the dog, a portrait drawn in Procreate to raise funds for Oakland Animal Services, by Paula Wirth

I used to teach an adult art class, here are some samples from when I was teaching about drawing hands. #drawing #coloredpencil (My hand, of course!)

“I do not want art for a few, any more than I want education for a few, or freedom for a few.” — William Morris (socialist designer, painter, poet, and social reformer)

One of my favorite drawing subjects is people in coffeeshops. This drawing was made with brush and ink.

Stare deep into my eyes. — Mochi

I’ve never contacted my reps as often as now - nor have I needed cute dog, cat, and other cute animal videos and photos as much to cleanse my mind and reduce my angst. The rage is still there, tho.

This is a tiny scrap of rice paper drawing in mixed media, probably one of my favorite drawing paintings (and the only one the curator at my grad school liked). Illustration © Paula K. Wirth from the "Those Who Wait" series. Brush with gouache, watercolor crayon, and sumi ink, on rice paper.

Beautiful squash blossoms of Spring… #photo ©️ Paula Wirth #foodsky found at the Claremont Farmer’s Market in Oakland.

✒️Join us to sketch houseboats, a vintage ice cream truck, friendly goats, a giant alligator and other Burning Man sculptures.This is a tranquil spot with a lovely Bay view. Bring your lunch or enjoy a bite to eat at the Sailing Goat. (GPS tip: try 1900 Western Dr.) Hope to see you there!

Sketching colorful snap peas in colored pencil. ©️ @paulawirth.bsky.social #art #sketching

Live in the #sfbay #eastbay? Meet the @eastbaysketchers.bsky.social for some sketching amongst the plants Sun. April 27!

Girl playing cards. Sketching in colored pencil at Milka in #Sacramento ©️ @paulawirth.bsky.social _ #urbansketching #coffeeshop #drawing

Sketchers, save the date! April 27, 11am, meetup with the @eastbaysketchers.bsky.social at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery! #urbansketching #eastbay More details at www.facebook.com/events/12075...

Happy Trans Day of Visibility to my friends and their families! #comicbooks #graphicnovels goodcomicsforkids.slj.com/2025/03/31/t...

#urbansketching folks in the #sfbayarea, SF Sketchers has a meetup Sunday, April 6, 2025 at the #Oakland Ferry Terminal. www.meetup.com/sf-sketchers...

Get out your sharpener! Pull out your lead holder! Grab that mechanical #pencil! It’s #nationalpencilday ✏️

The lack of quality of the generative AI “art” in @adobecreativecloud.bsky.social ads adds insult to injury. Maybe we need human artists after all? #humanmade

Drawing of #persimmons in progress. Drawn in colored pencil ©️ Paula Wirth. #pauladraws #drawing #art

This is Mochi. In this photo she is nearly nekkid, and posing in the tub. She loves a lion cut, and behaves like a kitten when her hair is short. Right now, in wintertime, she looks like a mochi ball, or more accurately, a Tribble. #persiancat #rescuecat #rbf

Lost in thought while #knitting… #coloredpencil #drawing in a cafe, ©️ Paula Wirth. #pauladraws

Fruits 🍐 🍅 Yellow pears and red tomatoes drawn in #coloredpencil #Drawing ©️ Paula Wirth. Complementary and Contrasting Colors. #pauladraws

Slow #snail Saturday. #Coloredpencil #drawing ©️ Paula Wirth.

Peculiar pelican. Drawn with vintage Prismacolor #coloredpencil #Drawing ©️ Paula Wirth, 2024. #artforthebirds #art

My pretty. Pilot Capless (AKA Vanishing Point) Black Graphite #FountainPen. Medium 18K solid gold nib coated with rhodium. While I love vintage #fountainpens, the vanishing point Pilots are probably my favorite contemporary pen.

What I don’t want to overhear bragged aloud in a normally restful coffeeshop – “I’m gonna use AI to get all the content in there.” #artificialstupidity

Still life with citrus. Drawing in #coloredpencil ©️ Paula Wirth. #drawing #pauladraws

One of my longtime interests has been portraying private moments in public space, often in coffeeshops. Brush and ink portrait #drawings ©️ Paula Wirth. #drawing #pauladraws

Three mandarins drawn in #coloredpencil. #Drawing ©️ Paula Wirth, 2025 #pauladraws

#Coloredpencil drawing in progress. #Drawing ©️Paula Wirth, 2025. Colors used are purple, various pinks and coral and salmon, with some yellow orange. #pauladraws

In the unending struggle between #doomscrolling and #drawing, today, doomscrolling wins.

Read the whole thread for my personal experience on #whyDEI matters. #photography #womenswork

Now that's a superb #owl. And some other superb #birds found around my apartment. #superbowl And cheers to those of you who are watching the related sporting event.

Artichokes, in #coloredpencil ©️Paula Wirth. Work in progress. #drawing #artichokes

Sketch at Firebrand Artisan Bread in #Alameda CA. Drawing ©️Paula Wirth. Colored pencils (Design Spectracolor) on Hahnemühle The Grey Pad toned #sketch paper. #foodillustration

#Drawing of a woman studying at her laptop at The Local in Alameda, CA. _ #Ink combo is Ferris Wheel Press Tanzanite Sky and Storied Blue on Strathmore smooth surface Bristol, with a Kakimori brass nib. #portrait ©️Paula Wirth.

Paint. #Drawing in #coloredpencil ©️Paula Wirth.

Another #digitalpainting kitty #petportrait I did as a volunteer for the Friends of Oakland Animal Services “Bad Art” donation drive. Painting ©️Paula Wirth, 2023.

Friends of Oakland Animal Services does a yearly “Bad Art” donation drive, where volunteer artists do physical or digital portraits based on the donation. This year I drew Castle the dog in #Procreate (over 26 layers of #digitalpainting). friendsofoas.org #petpainting ©️Paula Wirth. #animalrescue

When I was feeling more zen, I did a series of abstracted cats, painted with Peerless #watercolors on paper. I’d typically go to Blue Willow Teaspot in Berkeley, get a pot of tea, and paint kitties with brush… #paintings ©️Paula Wirth.

It’s a struggle to accurately photograph my drawings with an iPhone, even using Lightroom’s camera in raw… because it tends to correct for ranges of color… this sketch is in orange, slate grey, and dark green on grey paper. Make sure to zoom in… #urbansketching

Lately I’ve been #drawing a lot with colored pencil, often vintage Prismacolor & Spectracolor. Here is some of my colorful #mushroomart. Drawings ©️Paula Wirth, 2024. #fungifriends #mushrooms #drawnbyhand

While a lot of my work is on paper, I used to teach digital design, and enjoy creating digital illustrations, and paintings in #Procreate, like this Murder Potato kitty #petportrait in pink. Drawing ©️Paula Wirth, 2024. #digitalpainting #cat

I was teaching #art for an online session for a while, and could choose my topics. Here are some samples I drew for demonstrating how to draw hands. #artteacher #artinstruction #pauladraws #anatomyforartists

I love to draw #portraits (often in coffeeshops) of private moments in public spaces. #Drawing with brush & ink ©️Paula Wirth.

The biggest enabler for creativity is stability. I wish that was made more central to the creative narrative. Figure out what your specific needs are to limit stressors and enable "boring" time and work to achieve that as hard as you're practicing your art.

I draw (often colorful) portraits of animals, and sometimes memorial portraits like this one, of a beloved dog. #Drawing in #coloredpencil and Pan pastel on paper, ©️Paula Wirth, 2024. #pauladraws #petportrait

Portrait paintings of cats, with Finetech metallic paints and #watercolor on paper. Paintings ©️Paula Wirth.