Jacqueline’s Blog

It was a Beautiful Day, A Peek inside my Watercolor Journal

It was a Beautiful Day, A Peek inside my Watercolor Journal

My brother, sister-in-law, friend and I were exploring the little hilltop villages of Provence, France last September.  We stopped in the town of Segûret.  The sun was shining, the ochre-colored walls were glowing and the shadows were filled with colorful light.  Every little corner was a painting waiting to happen.  Here is my journal painting of Segûret.  The design on the wall is a note about the ripe, delicious figs that I would find lying on the ground.  We don’t get figs like this in Oregon.  Have you ever had the chance to pick figs ripe off of the tree?
Strolling on a Sunny Day
Mt Hood with Lavender Fields, a Peek inside my Watercolor Journal

Mt Hood with Lavender Fields, a Peek inside my Watercolor Journal

Mt. Hood with Lavender Fields

Here is a page from one of my larger journals.  I use the Arches Field Watercolor book.  It comes in 2 sizes (10×7 inches or 14×10 inches)  I uses both sizes.   Here is a link for the journals at Dick Blick Art Supplies:  Journals.  Other stores carry them too.  I love these journals because they are filled with Arches fabulous 140 lb watercolor paper and hard bound with a spiral wire binding so that they lay flat when painting.

Painting Plein Air, Photos from our Hood River, Oregon Watercolor Trip, 2010

Painting Plein Air, Photos from our Hood River, Oregon Watercolor Trip, 2010

The weather was beautiful and the sunflowers were in full bloom.  We spent the day painting en plein air, which is the French term meaning, in the open air.  The impressionist artists of the late 1800s made this popular because of the invention of tube paint.  They no longer had to grid and mix their own paints with powders and linseed oil.  If you are ever in Paris, France, be sure to visit the Sennelier store where many Impressionist shopped.  It is much the same as it was in the 1800s!

“Oh the places you will go!” A peek inside my Watercolor Journal

“Oh the places you will go!” A peek inside my Watercolor Journal

That is me in that party dress.  Actually it was an Easter dress.  Notice how the Dr. Seuss poem is all blurred because I took my journal on a little boating trip the other day.  The kids were boarding and when my husband did a sharp turn in the boat, a huge wave of many gallons of water came over the bow and landed on my head and in my lap, much to his delight!  Of course, he did not get wet – just me and my journal.

Oh the Places you will go!

******Note to myself and others*******  Protect your journal in a zip-locked baggie when involved with water sports and you feel compelled to take your journal along, even though you know you won’t really have time to work in it.