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Category: Watercolor Journal

Painting Highlights…..

Painting Highlights…..

My favorite time of 2013 was painting daily in Provence, France with a wonderful group of artists.  Twelve wonderful artist joined me on my 3rd watercolor journaling trip to St. Remy de Provence.  I love this charming town not only for its own charm but because within an hour in all directions, we were in awe inspiring locations painting plein air.  Here are a few highlights from our trip:

One of our favorite times of the day was sharing our paintings in our journals

The red poppies were out in full bloom!

We were lucky to be in St. Remy for the traditional costume parade

There was lots of dancing in the streets of St. Remy

 My next European Watercolor Trip:  ADVENTURES IN ITALY

Houses and Hideaways – a Sketchbook Challenge

Houses and Hideaways – a Sketchbook Challenge

The sketchbook challenge is hosting a very exciting 21 day blog hop event to celebrate this months Houses and Hideaways theme!  
Welcome to my hideaway!  It is of course my studio that is located above our garage.  It is a great big room filled with light and color and was featured in the summer issue of Studios Magazine.

Follow along in this short video as I paint a field of sunflowers in my watercolor art journal.  Here is a list of the paints and supplies I use to paint this scene in my watercolor journal.  All of these supplies are included in my Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolor Jacqueline Newbold Travel Kit available for purchase at Daniel Smith Art Supplies.

  • Arches® Watercolor Book 140lb, 10in x 7in
  • DANIEL SMITH Watercolor New Gamboge 15ml
  • DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Permanent Red 15ml
  • DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Quinacridone Burnt Orange 15ml
  • DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Cerulean Blue 15ml
  • DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Phthalo Turquoise 15ml
  • DANIEL SMITH Platinum Series watercolor brush 24-3 Round 8
A Windy Day to Paint in Roussillon

A Windy Day to Paint in Roussillon

The famous Mistral winds of Provence has followed us to the east as we explore and paint plein air in the little town of Roussillon.  Roussillon is known for its colorful buildings of reds, ocres, and yellows mined from the nearby rocks.  It is also designated as on of France’s Plus Beaux Village de France!  The Mistral has pushed away all the rain and the clouds so that we have a beautiful, sparkling day to paint, if you can stand the gusty wind.  Several of us walk to the outskirts of town to paint the village while others paint in the cute, colorful streets of the village.

I learn that the bell tower of a lot of the hilltop villages are open to allow the mistral to pass through.

 

Colorful red buildings are found throughout the town.

 

We explore.

 

Great view of the town

 

Barbara and Liz find a sunny spot to paint.

 

JoAnn shows her beautiful painting in progress.

 

Ice cream shops are plentiful!
I buy this little ceramic chicken made from the nearby colorful clay.
I visit my favorite store that sells pure pigment in little jars.

 

More colors of pigment.

Would you like to learn the joys of keeping a watercolor journal?  We are now taking reservations for painting in Umbria, Italy, May 10-17, 2019, Painting in Provence with Frenchescape.com

Greetings from France

Greetings from France

It is always a long journey to get here but so wonderful to be back.  Marie and I started out with a 6 a.m. flight out of Oregon and arrived in Paris 18 hours later.   As our jet was flying low and beginning our landing, we were passing endless beautiful checker board fields of bright, lemony yellow, interspersed with green fields.  We decide that the yellow flowers blooming must be fields upon fields of mustard!  Wonderful French mustard!
We gather up one of my students at the train station and all took the same train down to Avignon.  After filling our little car with groceries for the upcoming workshop we headed down to St. Remy de Provence passing fields of red poppies blooming!  Even though it is raining, we take a evening stroll through one of my favorite towns in France.  The streets are deserted from the rain but the lighting is beautiful.   This is Sally’s first time to Europe and it is so wonderful to hear her exclamations of joy about the charm and loveliness that we are surrounded by.  Her awe and delight reaffirms my love of Provence.  We peek in the shop windows, drooling over the colorful stacks of tablecloths and napkins from the region.

They have obviously been having lots of rain here as the rivers are high.  It has been raining hard since we got here.   The rain has brought more flowers this year than in the past and will give us colorful scenes to paint.  We may have to make up the shadows on our paintings if the sun is not out but that is part of fun of being artist!

A Peek inside my Watercolor Journal, Alta Vista, Argentina

A Peek inside my Watercolor Journal, Alta Vista, Argentina

Painting of the Alta Vista Estancia

Fall is coming to Argentina and the colors of the poplar trees are starting to change.  We spent several nights at Alta Vista where we were warmly greeted by the hosts, Tamara and Frederico.  Alta Vista is a 60,000 hectare sheep ranch or estancia, which in Argentina means large farm or ranch.  It was built at the turn of the century and is located 20 miles west of Calafate in the Argentine Patagonia, and on the road to the Perito Moreno glacier.  Our rooms were delightfully decorated and this comfortable Patagonia estancia was a wonderful place for me to hang-out one morning painting the scene in front of me.

Tamara gave us a tour of the working part of the ranch where thousands of sheep are sheered every spring.


A Peek Inside my Watercolor Journal, Patagonia, Argentina

A Peek Inside my Watercolor Journal, Patagonia, Argentina

Greetings from Patagonia, Argentina!
I have not been able to blog much about my trip because of the lack of internet, sparse, slow or non-existent down in the Patagonia area of Chile and Argentina.  We have been hiking almost every day.  I like to choose the “easy” day hikes because that gets me more time to paint in the afternoons.  I have absolutely loved seeing all the new birds that I have never seen before.  One of my favorites are the long-tailed Meadowlarks that do not seem afraid of me and hang out in flocks singing their beautiful song back and forth to each other.  Here is my painting of one in my watercolor travel journal.  I wanted to have him help frame the landscape scene of the area.  The males have a vibrant red chest.
The Creative Process, A Peak inside my Empty Watercolor Journal

The Creative Process, A Peak inside my Empty Watercolor Journal

Do you enjoy the anticipation of an upcoming vacation or trip?  Do you practice packing your suitcase with your favorite clothes?  To me the journey begins way before walking out the door, suitcase in hand.  I love preparing my art supplies for my travels.  Planning for my upcoming trip, Painting Poppies in Provence, France, I decided to take two watercolor journals.  (Two spots just opened up on this trip to Provence, so let me know if you want to join us!) One is a 14 x 10 Arches Watercolor Book with 140 pound Arches paper.  The other smaller one is a Strathmore 400 Field Watercolor Sketchbook.  For years I have had a love/hate relationship with the Strathmore field book.  Every other piece of (crappy) watercolor page alternates with a piece of drawing paper.  This drawing paper is where my mixed-media imagination soars and I have probably filled at least 10 of these journals with art from my travels.

Pages in my journal prepared for the trip

First page in my new journal with inspiring quote.

Well, this year I decided to quit complaining about the (crappy) watercolor paper and tore my Strathmore Sketchbook apart.  I kept the metal coil and the black hard covers.  I  filled it with Arches 140 paper alternating with Strathmore 400 series drawing paper.  I prepared the drawing papers with colorful backgrounds and finished the first page with an inspiring quote for my upcoming trip: “To Paint…. to travel…. the combine the two is to celebrate life”  (Jack Brouwer). 

The cover of my new “Strathmore” journal now filled with Arches watercolor paper!

Stay tuned for my upcoming article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine’s special edition, PAGES, on how to prepare these your jouranl pages with mixed-media and watercolor.
How do you prepare for your upcoming journeys?  I would love to hear what special techniques and ideas you have!

Little Color Studies

Little Color Studies

I have been finalizing my palette colors for my trip to Provence, France.  I thought I would use my color wheel and do some quick, small color studies to see if I am loving the watercolors on my travel palette.  Here are two that I worked on today.

I have to record the colors that I use because I will forget what they were.  This is a good way to make a record of your favorite color combination.  Why not start a little notebook to keep your studies in.

Painting the Plants of Greece: Monkshood

Painting the Plants of Greece: Monkshood

Monkshood
Part of what I love about watercolor journaling is that it engages all my senses.  In order to paint a flower, like the Monkshood, I use my sight to tell me colors, shapes and value, but I am also experiencing the sounds and feeling the warm breeze along  the hillside. I also love that it takes me to new, as well as familiar, places.  I look for different ways to represent my life journey.  It a wonderful way to slow down and savor the moment.  I look forward to sharing this experience with you in Greece!  There are lots of techniques that I can show you that even a beginner to watercolor painting will return home an artist.  If you would like more information on how to join me on a Watercolor Journaling in Greece, please contact the American College of Healthcare Sciences.  The class is May 27 – June 2, 2011.

Capturing the Colors of Greece

Capturing the Colors of Greece

Red Roofed Church, Ano Syros, Greece

Part of the joy of painting on location on the island of Syros, Greece is to recreate the reflecting colors of the cobalt blue sky, turquoise ocean and the warmth of the sunshine on the white buildings.  Our watercolor journaling class will learn how to paint colorful whites using the local colors.

An easy way to paint a beautiful white is called Wet into Wet painting.  Wet the area you want to appear white with clear water.  Add enough water for the paper to be wet and shiny but not enough to make a puddle.  Then drop in little amounts of paint and let the water carry the paint around.  In this painting I picked the blue of the sky, the reds from the church roof and a little yellow to create the feeling of the warm sun shining on the white walls of the town.
If you are interested in signing up for this Watercolor Journaling in Greece Class, please visit the American College of Healthcare Science.