A Peek inside my Watercolor Journal, Alta Vista, Argentina
Painting of the Alta Vista Estancia |
Tamara gave us a tour of the working part of the ranch where thousands of sheep are sheered every spring. |
Painting of the Alta Vista Estancia |
Tamara gave us a tour of the working part of the ranch where thousands of sheep are sheered every spring. |
The poster outside my classroom |
I have been in Lisle on the outskirts of Chicago for several days “doing art” at CREATE, 2011! My favorite part was making new friends and sharing creative ideas! I am already looking forward to the CREATE retreat in Irvine, California.
I thought I would come home and clean up and organize my studio, but instead, I was so jazzed about the new things I learned and the encouragement I got about my journals, that before my suitcase was even empty my studio became messier than ever! I think that I now have about 4-5 projects going – all in the different stages of completeness. Watercolor, watercolor journaling, book pages, and even painting on fabric! Yes, you CREATE fabric folks made an impression on me!
Is this how you like to create? Or are you more of an organized, neat, finish one project before starting the next type of artist?
More photos from my Flip, Flaps & Fold-out Class at CREATE:
I love traveling through the San Francisco Airport. They always have an interesting artistic display. This month it was a look at old TV shows and board games. Do you remember the Twilight Zone Game? Lost in Space?
Spring in Central Oregon, watercolor by Jacqueline Newbold |
The Assistance League of Bend, Oregon picked my watercolor painting, Spring in Central Oregon as their 2011 Kitchen Kaleidoscope Fund Raiser Event featured painting. This fun event will be June 18, 2011 and will include a tour of seven beautiful homes located in North Rim and Northwest Crossing. The Assistance League of Bend is an all volunteer, nonprofit organization consisting of a dedicated group of women with a passion for supporting the local community. Save the date for this fun event with a such a worthy cause!
I will be teaching Watercolor Journaling in Greece on the island of Syros. This class is offered through the American College of Healthcare Sciences, May 27 – June 2, 2011.
A lot of people enjoy writing in journals, taking field notes, collecting memorabilia and souvenirs of their travels, and drawing little sketches of their journeys. I call this art journaling but I take it a step further and incorporate watercolor with my art journals.
Watercolor journaling is a wonderful way to slow down and savor the moment, recording your journey in a unique and memorable way. With your journal under your arm and a few painting supplies, you will be ready to capture memories of your Greek Island experiences. This dynamic class will motivate artists of all skill levels to record their journeys in a creative and unique way using watercolor and mixed media. Students will explore ways to make their watercolor travel journal interesting and reflective of their experiences through painting the Greek landscape and the essence of the Greek lifestyle. Some of the techniques I will be teaching include watercolor painting, drawing, color theory, incorporating mixed media and how to make quick-on the go-watercolor sketches.
This class is still open for registration, so click here to sign up! As always, I enjoy your comments. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Quick 5 minute study of a landscape |
As I get ready to teach my For Beginners Only Class, I am having fun remember the joy of discovering what your brush can do on the watercolor paper. It is so exciting to watch the colors mingle and combine to create new and unplanned colors. Why not have fun before you sit down to some serious painting.
Pick 3 colors (I used Cerulean Blue, Quinacridone Sienna and Nickel Azo Yellow). Start with the blue at the top for a impressionistic landscape. Switch to sienna and then yellow as you near the bottom. Before the painting starts to dry, mix the yellow and blue for some greenery. As you paint, play with your brush to see how many different types of strokes you can make: soft edges, hard edges, dry brush strokes, flicks, splatters, twirls….. Just play and don’t worry about what the painting will look like.
I would love to hear back from you….Let me know if this was a fun thing to do!
I thought it would be fun to share some of the art from the participants that went to Provence with me, September 2009. Everyday we would go out on location to paint. We would often finish up our paintings at our hotel, le Hotel du Soleil.
This is Mary Anne’s beautiful painting of Daudet’s Windmill near Fontvieille |
The lesson for this day was about how to create volume and how to make something look round. I think that Mary Anne did a wonderful job!
Below is Irene’s interpretation of the women who do the traditional dance of Provence. I love her choice of colors. She really captured the beautiful dresses the women used to wear.
Page from Irene’s journal – Traditional Dance Attire of the Women of Provence |
Ingrid making a beautiful color study |
Kim showing her book with her painted cover |
Comparing books |
More color studies |
It has been a couple busy weeks teaching classes and trying to keep up on the holiday hoopla around the house. Needless to say, my house doesn’t look at all xmas-y yet as my priorities are always with my classes. Friday I finished teaching The Good, the Bad and the Beauty of Color Class and everyone left with a beautiful spiral bound book full of color studies.
Inspired by my blogger friend, Laure and her thoughts on using different formats, I thought I would share this page from my Provence, 2009 Watercolor Journal.
Directions: using artist tape, tape off some shapes on a watercolor page in your journal. Paint a watercolor wash. Here I used an analogous mix of yellows, greens and blues. Draw in some little vignette drawings. Then add some more color to increase the value in certain areas. Pull off the tape and journal in the white areas.
Be sure to check out Laure’s wonderful painting of a Canadian Goose using a long format!