Cloud Study

After painting the lake from a canoe (See my post: Nature Journaling from a Canoe), I was taken by the way I could paint fluffy summer clouds decking a brilliant blue sky, and so I made this study using white gouache and phthalo blue watercolor paints.

I sat on my front porch and watched the sky, painting the clouds I saw floating by.  Of course, the clouds were constantly moving and changing, so I let the clouds morph on the paper, too. 

Making studies is a wonderful way to explore a part of the landscape, to practice your painting or drawing skills, and to simply relax.  There's no pressure to make a "pretty" picture, because you  know you're just making a study.  You're not creating a composition, just exploring and playing.

What catches your eye today?  Your cat's ear, a zinnia bloom, a fresh apple in a bowl on the kitchen counter -- make a study of it!  

Studies and sketches are a great way to warm up and get your creativity flowing.

Happy creating!

Nature Journaling from a Canoe

The last lazy days of summer we've been paddling Raccoon Lake in a canoe.  I always bring along my nature journal and a small kit of watercolors, pens & a graphite pencil. 

Here, we stopped for a moment to watch a building storm cloud, and I painted the lake quickly.

We paddled up the tributary of the lake and found sycamore trees with branches leaning over the creek.  I dangled my toes in the water, and could feel the cooling effect of the trees' shade.  The lake water was much warmer than this tributary that feeds it. 

The peaceful backwaters were home to whirligig beetles - smooth, oval, black beetles that spin and zip on the water's surface --  and common sneezeweed with its yellow blooms.

I love the late summer sounds in the forest, and made a list of the bird calls and insects I could hear above me.

This is an ideal time of year to make a nature journal.  I hope you'll grab a sketch book and something you like to draw/write with, then go outdoors and listen, watch, and take notes in whatever way feels appealing to you.

Happy Nature Journaling!

Post Card Art

My best friend, Robin, and I have been writing to each other for over 28 years.  In that time, we've made the weirdest, most creative and inventive stationery from cereal boxes, wallpaper samples, maps, and other everyday ephemera.  We've even made our own paper to write on.

Robin inspires me.  Above is a pair of post cards -- Robin's on the left, and mine on the right.  She sent me her flower card first, and I was so taken by the freshness of her lines, the playfulness of the colors that I tried my own.

We made our cards with watercolor on watercolor paper. Waterproof markers and white paint markers add the finishing touches.

My best friend is a master at writing post cards.  In one 4" x 6" card, she can speak of the rich details of her daily life, news of her family, and the power of mortality to focus her on the bright joy of living.

Robin's post card inspiration got me playing with more ideas.

I have always been thrilled by upcycling interesting looking papers into cards and letters.  When I recently read that the U.S. Postal Service had upped the maximum size of a post card to 6" x 9", I grabbed a political ad from the trash, cut it to size, and slapped two coats of white gesso on one side.

I glued a scrap of 140# watercolor paper to the back of the political ad with Yes! paste, and added some black and white washi tape around the edges to keep them from getting caught in the Postal Service machinery.

When the gesso had dried, I painted and stamped the surface with India ink and a blue water based ink. I wished I had prepared a bunch of cards to create a series with, because when I got started, I didn't want to stop!

Post cards are a wonderful art warm-up, because they're small and invite playfulness & experimentation, especially if you use upcycled materials.

I hope you'll try your hand at making and sending postcards!

Finishing Touches on my Travel Journal

Back at home, I wanted to tell the story of our journey with my travel journal.  I had left several blank pages at the start of the book.  I started with a title page.

I pulled several pages out of a worn & unraveling 1951 Rand McNally World Atlas, and glued them into my journal alongside a timeline of our travels. 

I love the colors in these old maps.

They match the historic and elegant Transatlantic Crossing.

Somehow, studying paper maps feels easier on my eyes than googling.

And, I can see the relationship of the area we traveled to the rest of the UK and Europe.

I like poring over the maps and noticing how the landscape becomes mountainous in Wales, or to study the coastline, thinking of the hiking trail I've read about. 

And it's always delightful to imagine future travels.

Watercolor Classes at Sea

Among the lovely offerings during a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 is an array of speakers and classes.

I took advantage of 3 sessions with a skilled artist and teacher, George Burch. 

In each class, he walked us through basic information on watercolor paints, brushes, papers and techniques.  

In our final class, he set up this still life for us to paint.

One thing I like about still life painting is that you can choose whatever portion of the scene you'd like to paint.  I chose to paint the whole scene, but you could always leave out the wine glass or select just the fruit.

Why not give it a try? You can paint from this photo or set up your own still life!

Happy Creating!

Storm Cloud Painting

Whale and dolphin watching gave us the opportunity to take lots of photos of the ever-changing sea and sky.

Outside on decks, the winds typically were 40 knots or more, so painting in the moment wasn't practical.

Inspired by this photo, I made a monochromatic painting in my journal of the scene.

One important part of creating a landscape with the ocean in it is to make sure the horizon is level and straight.  I used painter's tape to tape off the horizon, and painted the stormy sky wet-in-wet.

I used Payne's Grey and French Ultramarine. Limiting the color palette feels freeing to me, as my focus turns to following the values and shapes I see.

 

This photo would be a great source for a series of paintings -- 

a monochromatic painting of the scene, 

a study of just the clouds, 

a study of just the horizon, 

a texture study of the ocean surface, 

& a variety of compositions selected from within this photo.

What would you like to create from this photo?

I hope you'll take the opportunity to paint, draw or collage with this image and share your art in the comments below.

Happy Creating!

Whale and Dolphin Watching from the Queen Mary 2

As we neared Newfoundland, the visibility cleared and the seas calmed so that the water was free of whitecaps. We had seen dolphins over the past few days, but had heard that whales had also been spotted.

We climbed to the 11th deck, and watched from the outdoor observation area just below the bridge. I scanned the calm sea for the white spray of whales blowing and dolphins leaping out of the water.

We had the thrill of seeing both Humpback Whales and Dolphins soaring out of the water near the ship.

I felt a sense of kinship to the animals, and gratitude for them sharing a glimpse of themselves "flying" free in their ocean home.

My eyes were riveted to these rare scenes as they happened, so I didn't sketch at all until afterwards.  The dolphins were easier to sketch from memory, but the whales had bumps and fins that I was unfamiliar with, so I referred to the photos above.

I hope you will try your hand at creating from these photos!