Watercolor Nature Journal: Violets

I love Johnny Jump-Up Violets and the way they create a carpet of violet and green in the lawn in early spring.  I've always wanted to take a photo that captures the parade of blossoms, and finally managed it this spring.

Of course I wanted to paint the scene in my new concertina watercolor journal.  I started with a pencil sketch. Then I painted in the various violets -- the closer ones I painted in detail, and as the violets grew farther away, I painted them as flower shapes, and finally as blobs.

When the flowers were dry, I painted around the many violets in shades of green, and created a shadow color by mixing permanent blue violet with Hooker's green.

I created the concertina sketchbook by cutting a 6" x 20" strip from a sheet of 300 pound Stonehenge watercolor paper, then scoring the paper every 5" with a bone folding tool and folding in a zig-zag folding pattern.

Blick sells sheets of 300# Stonehenge Aqua watercolor paper for $12.  The sheets are 22" x 30" so you can make 3 of these accordion-fold journals for $12.  That's reasonable for journals, and the paper is absolutely lovely to work on.

You can paint on both sides of watercolor paper, so when I fill up one side, I'll flip it and paint on the other side, creating a folded record of my spring in nature.

You may recognize the cover of this sketchbook from an earlier post about painting phlox.

I love this little watercolor sketchbook!  It's pocket-sized, and the 300 pound paper is a dream to work on. 

 

The Power of Good Materials

Late autumn's cold nights means bringing in annuals like this pink geranium.  The beauty of that is having a colorful subject to paint right in my studio.

I broke into a package of Stonehenge 300 pound cold press watercolor paper yesterday and made a watercolor sketch of the geranium's bright flowers in the morning light.  

I had been using less expensive watercolor paper and saying to myself, "It's just for practice; it doesn't matter."

But what a difference using high quality paper makes!!!

The paint seemed to flow effortlessly over the paper, and when I made a mistake and wanted to "erase" dry paint, I simply scrubbed the spot with a damp brush and dabbed it out with a paper towel.  The paint lifted with no damage to the paper's surface.

Honestly, I had forgotten how much easier it is to work with good quality materials.  You're not fighting the paper.  It's working with you.

I had felt resistance to using good paper.  What if I messed up?  What if I wasted it?  I told myself I'd just make a practice page and test out the paper.  As soon as I put brush to paper, my resistance vanished.

It felt like the paper wanted to make the painting with me.

Please let this be a reminder to use the best quality supplies -- especially paper-- that you can afford.  

Tips to Economize with High Quality Supplies:

*Choose quality over quantity. Purchase a small array of supplies of the highest quality possible.

*Use both sides of the paper.

*Buy sample packs -- they're often inexpensive.  Though small, you can test out more expensive paper to discern the best one for you.

*Watch for sales.

*Scour secondhand art shops like The Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.  They get a wide array of different supplies.  

*If you have people giving you gifts, ask for gift certificates to your favorite art supply store.

Bottom line:  You can make art with anything from ballpoint pens to chunks of charcoal pulled from a doused campfire, but when you use high quality art supplies, creating is easier because the materials work with you.  It's as if they are just as eager as you are to create.

Happy Creating!

Art for Self-Care Update

I've been enjoying reading Cathy Johnson's book Painting Watercolors, North Light Books 1995. Her playful approach to building skills with watercolor painting makes picking up a brush and experimenting easy. Sunday morning I wanted to do a bit of painting, but didn't want to do anything complex, so I flipped through Cathy's book and found a simple landscape to copy.

Copying another artist might seem like "cheating," but it's a time-honored method used to train art students in the techniques used by more skilled artisans.  Every time you copy another artist's work, you gain insights that don't come simply from looking at the artist's work.  You get to play with your art supplies, to learn, and get a burst of inspiration all at once. 

And, you're left with something lovely to prop on your desk and admire as you pass by in your daily routine.  This little painting will likely become a post-card and get dropped in the mail after I've enjoyed looking at it for a few days.  Small art has the benefit of feeling like less of an undertaking, and more of a game. Isn't playfulness the best type of self-care?  

I used a palette of Prussian blue, Cobalt Green, Indigo, Burnt Sienna, and Chromium Yellow Hue Deep. The feathery snow effect resulted from table salt sprinkled on the snowy Prussian blue hill. I let it dry a bit, then used a blow-dryer on low to make sure it was crisp-dry before sweeping the salt off and adding the cabin and trees. 

I hope you find time this December for some artful self-care!

Here's a link to Cathy's book in case you'd like to explore self-care with a watercolor brush:

 https://cathyjohnson.info/bookpages/paintingwatercolors.html

And, here's a link to her blog:

https://cathyjohnson.info/tips.html

Cathy also has provided her e-book Keeping an Artist's Journal  free for a limited time in response to  Covid-19.  Here's the link:

https://cathyjohnson.info/ebooks/artistsjournal.html