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Fun Ideas for your Watercolor Art Journal

Fun Ideas for your Watercolor Art Journal

Everyone loves a fun art journal!  I thought I would share some of my ideas about how I add to my watercolor art journals to make them interesting, creative and fun.  I started keeping art journals in 1991 and along the way I have accumulated many ways to mix watercolor painting with mixed media.
I encourage you to share your ideas too in the comment section!  Thanks, Jacqueline

· Paint a watercolor painting.
· Give the painting a title.
· Draw a line around the painting following the edges of the painting.
· Ink all the value changes in the painting with a permanent ink pen.
· Write about the time, place, location and people you meet along the bottom and/or edges of the page.
· Paint on another piece of watercolor paper or different type of paper and glue it on the page.
· Make a frame with artist tape.  Paint a colorful wash of watercolors.  When dry, pull it off and use this area to add thoughts.
Art Unraveled 2015, Phoenix, Arizona

Art Unraveled 2015, Phoenix, Arizona

I always loved the words of the Girl Scout song, Friends.  “Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold.”  This is my second year teaching at Art Unraveled and I am making new friends as well as catching up with old friends.  Art retreats rejuvenate my soul!  Everyone is so creative and full of inspiring ideas.  If you need a shot of creativity, this is the place to be.

I met Kristin in my Seattle CREATE art journaling classes.  She shared with me her journal that she put together on a resent trip.  It makes me feel so wonderful to see how she implimented the ideas from the class into a beautiful travel journal.  I wanted to share a few pages of her watercolor art journal with you 🙂

Moving On

Moving On

As of today, three of the caterpillars have gone on to become chrysalises.  I was lucky enough to watch one go from the hanging “J” formation to becoming a chrysalis.  She began to contract and expand, pushing from the inside out.  It looked painful and this part lasted for awhile.  But once the skin parted and began to shed from the bottom up, it took just seconds to transform into a gorgeous lime-green new creation complete with beads of gold.  At this time the caterpillar actually turns into a liquid mass and totally transforms miraculously into a different being.

Hanging in a “J” formation

Skin shedding for the last time
Freshly formed chrysalis
Beautiful gold trim

 The other seven continue to eat, explore their surroundings, disappear for awhile (just to get me into a panic, I am sure) and even climb on the walls of the house before returning to the milkweed.  One of them is giant! 

A big one!
Moving Out

Moving Out

Down to 10 caterpillars 🙁
But they are healthy and big :)!
They are mostly the ones that I raised in my kitchen window on plants.  I cultivated these plants to give away and increase the population of milkweed in the area.  They have eaten most of the leaves off of these young plants so I moved the caterpillars outdoors to the milkweed patch.  They are getting so big!   They move up and down the five foot tall plants with ease.  Any day they should be moving on to the next big adventure in their young lives. 

Monarch Update

Monarch Update

Between the outside caterpillars and the ones that I brought into the house, I have found 20!  Someone mentioned that they were probably hiding and now that they are growing and getting bigger, they are easier to spot.  I put grocery netted bags with a drawstring over a few of the plants that have caterpillars to keep spiders, birds and other harmful prey away.  So far they are working!

Instars Update

Instars Update

There is good news and bad news with my little Monarch caterpillars.  I had many of the eggs hatch over the last week.  Unfortunately, many of the tiny caterpillars have disappeared.  I am not sure why.  I did bring two potted milkweed plants into the house.  There were three instars (that is what they are called between the molting stages that they are now going through) on one plant and two on the other.

 One died the first day but the others continue to eat and grow.
Yesterday I found one crawling around on my stove top!  I was just about to turn on the gas flame when I notice the tiny guy.  He must have been very hungry because the plant was sitting on my stove the day before until I moved it into the window.  So I now know that some just fall off of the plant.  I am happy to report that he is back on a milkweed and eating happily.  

The Third Annual Smith Rock Paint Out

The Third Annual Smith Rock Paint Out

The Smith Rock Paint Out is this weekend, June 20, 2015.  It is our third annual.  I am happy to have helped start this event in collaboration with Smith Rock State Park.  The paintings that are created plein air on this day are amazing!  This is a juried show and the best of the best will be on display at Robert’s Field Airport in Redmond, Oregon.

Tiny New Life

Tiny New Life

Monarch update!  As of today, I have seen four newborn Monarch caterpillars.  They are about as big as a piece of dirt.  They are very vulnerable to some predators such as ants and spiders.  I removed all little critters that I could find and then wrapped a mesh bag around each of these newly hatched caterpillars.  I took a few photos to share with you but since they are so small they are hard to see!  I learned why the female Monarch only deposits one caterpillar per plant – it is because these little guys are cannibalistic and will eat other eggs that are on their leaf.
I am working to get Bend, Oregon on the map!