Watercolor Nature Sketches: Phlox

I love to sit in nature and sketch.  Sometimes, I only have time for a quick hike, so I snap photos of anything I wanted to sketch on the spot, like these wild phlox in bloom.

It's often the tiniest things in nature that draw me in.

I began this sketch with a pencil drawing, then painted in the flower petals in mixtures of permanent blue violet, Phthalo blue, & permanent rose.  I let the first wash of color dry before adding in shadows on the petals.  

I laid in the background by painting in one big wet layer, touching in darker bits and letting the color spread.

With watercolor, you control the flow of the paint by controlling the water.  Watercolor blooms and spreads within a wet area, and won't flow to dry areas of your paper unless it's very runny and dribbles.

To create the little shadowed spots behind the flowers, I let the flowers dry fully, then carefully painted the area beside the flower with clear water and touched in a dark mixture of permanent blue violet and Hooker's green. 

I worked quickly to touch in other green mixtures to give the sense of foliage on a forest floor.  By keeping the background indistinct and more abstract, the phlox flowers pop forward to catch our eye.

I finished the sketch by adding lines with a fine black pen with permanent ink.
 

Would you like to make paintings of tiny things?  

Here are a few photos to practice with!

Happy Creating!

Art for Breakfast!

I found this holey tree trunk on a recent hike and I loved the rich, earthy colors and the many holes and craggly bits.  I snapped a photo to create from later.

Back in the studio, I made an ink sketch on watercolor paper, then washed in loose watercolors.  

After the watercolor dried, I decided to add the final touches with colored pencils, but the piece sat on my art table for a week or more.

I finally brought it to the breakfast table and finished it with Prismacolor colored pencils while I sipped tea.  

Art can be very portable -- you can create as you eat a meal, talk with a friend, or listen to a podcast.  You only need for your hand to follow your eye.

Where would you like to take your art?

Nature Journaling in the August Heat

A hot summer's afternoon was the perfect time to take a short walk and sit on a park bench to sketch.  The very act of sitting in a quiet, shady woods is relaxing and excellent self care. 

I'm practicing simplifying the landscape in my artwork and creating pleasing compositions. 

Sitting for a few minutes on a park bench and mindfully looking is helpful in truly seeing the scene around you.  You can pick out the parts of the landscape you want to focus on.  It helped me to unwind and to compose these two vignettes.

The first scene was right before me -- a broken sapling in a grove of maples.

The second vignette had more contrasts -- late afternoon sunlight streaming through the canopy and deep shadows.

I recommend this technique of sitting still, seemingly doing nothing -- no phone scrolling, no drawing even.  Just noticing nature around you.  Soon, you will begin to see parts of the scene that you want to sketch and paint.  After a little stillness, you might use a viewfinder, a small rectangular frame cut out of cereal box cardboard, to scope through the landscape.  It will help your eye catch on an appealing composition.

Happy Creating!

Florida Travel Journal

The beautiful thing about a travel journal is that it is a place to quickly record your observations and sketches.  There's no expectation that you will create finished or "perfect" artworks.  You are free to experiment.

These are some of my quick sketches and watercolor explorations from our trip to Florida.

This pencil sketch of a sea turtle will always remind me of the magical experience of watching an adult sea turtle swim along the beach with apparent ease in the heavy surf.

A loose gesture of the sea oats brings back the feeling of the wind and sun on my face.

And I can just hear the sound of seashells tinkling in my hand when I collected this gathering of shells to paint.

I was sketching the dunes backing the beach, and a man sat down right in my composition.  So I included him in the scene.

Bird observations remind me of how excited I was to witness Magnificent Frigate Birds soaring over the shoreline.

When I glance at this simple kelp drawing, I can just hear the surf pounding and feel the grit of the sand between my toes.

The salt air caused this watercolor sketch to dry with an interesting texture. The salt attracted the moisture in the paints, creating clumps of color.

I encourage you to take a sketchbook with you on your travels, even if those travels are to a local park. 

The act of making sketches cements the memories of the visit in your mind, and you'll have a hand-made memory book to revisit long after you return home.

Happy Creating!

Alaskan Adventure: My Travel Journal at Sea

I chose a Stillman & Birn watercolor sketch book to serve as my main travel journal in Alaska.  I also used the Hand Book Journal Co. watercolor journal for wider landscape studies.

I like to add the itinerary to remind me of when and where we traveled.  This is the title page of my Stillman & Birn journal.

I clipped the photo from a Cunard advertisement.  Queen Elizabeth is the tiny ship sailing up an Alaskan fjord.  You may recognize it as the picture that I used as a reference for the painting I made before we left in the post here.

On embarkation day, I stood on Deck 10 and took in this view of Vancouver Port.

I made a quick watercolor sketch of the port scene in my watercolor landscape journal.  I was excited, jet-lagged and blown away by the beauty of the mountains & Stanley Park.

On our first morning I awoke to gorgeous, misty island shores right outside our state room.

  Sitting at the little stateroom desk, I looked out beyond the balcony, and painted quickly, writing in observations like:

"The air smells like seaweed & mollusks -- sea air with a land/port smell of nature."

"5:30 AM Awoke to green-gray mountains fading to misty gray in the distance.  The sea air smells alive, invigorating, full of memories for me -- it reaches deep within."

Making fast watercolor sketches as the ship sailed was a wonderful challenge.   It's a great way to begin and loosen up.  When you have very little time, you don't judge your marks as much, making your work freer.

Even the water in the Pacific Ocean was gorgeous, jade-green and frothing up from the ship's propulsion system. 

I invite you to try a quick watercolor sketch of any of these scenes -- or of a scene in your life right now.

  Remind yourself that you're not making a finished painting but a quick study to get the ideas, the shapes, the colors down.  You're not making an exact replica, just an impression.  A gesture.

Encourage yourself to play.

Set yourself a time limit -- you can set a timer for 3-5 minutes per painting if you like.  You pick the time limit and the painting size that suits you.  My paintings are about 5" x 12". Simply allowing yourself to play with no expectations creates the magic that makes it fun.

I hope you give it a try.  I hope you make discoveries and have fun playing!

Happy Creating!