Poinsettia

I usually stall until my poinsettia flowers are well spent before I draw them.  This year, I decided to be a little more proactive and draw the flowers while they were still nice and fresh.  I received a small (5 ½ x 8 ½) hardcover Strathmore mixed media journal for Christmas and this was my first entry.

June's Sketchbook Challenge: Pathways

May's Sketchbook Challenge

The Sketchbook Challenge for this month is “Can’t Resist.” Well, I can’t resist new spring leaves and splashing around in watercolors! I gathered a few varieties of leaves from the yard, sketched them and cut them out to use as stencils for this fun little exercise from Ann K. Lindsay’s book, WATERCOLOR: A NEW BEGINNING. Starting in the foreground, successive rows of overlapping leaf shapes have watercolor glazes added around them, pushing them further into the background. The stencils act as a kind of “resist” to the paint.

This was done on heavy watercolor paper because the paper has to be wet for the initial wash. I will glue it into my sketchbook.

Shoes!

We had to paint our favorite shoes for lesson five of Jane's journaling class. I think shoes might be my new favorite subject!

Gerbera Daisies

Here are my exercises for lessons three and four of Jane’s Watercolor Sketchbook Journaling class. I bought this Gerbera daisy plant at the Acme a few weeks ago and it has been such a patient little model. Best $4.99 investment I ever made!

Watercolor Journal Class

In an attempt to learn some of her freewheeling journaling techniques, I enrolled in Jane LaFazio’s Sketching & Watercolor; Journal Style class at Joggles. It feels so strange to be working quickly with lots of intense color and water. My usual method for building up color is to lay down lots of glazes using only enough water to soften and diffuse the edges. This is much faster. Here are my exercises for week one and two.

Nature Journal: Swamp Maple (Acer rubrum) Leaves

Most of the maple trees are holding on to their green color (here, in southern NJ) but there are a few leaves that are beginning to change. I wanted to try out my new Pitt sepia pen so I used it to outline the leaves and add a little bit of stippling to my watercolor sketch.

This is the first year I have not mourned the passage of summer – and I’m really looking forward to cooler weather – and more autumn color! It has been ungodly hot here for the last couple of months!

Nature Journal: Canadian Dwarf Cinquefoil

These cheerful wildflowers bloom all over the yard in the spring. I scanned my original watercolor sketch, fiddled with various filters a bit and added some text. I used Photoshop Elements - and I must say, that is one fun little program!

Nature Journal: Laurel?

The temperature rose into the low 60s today. Tomorrow it’s supposed to plunge down into the 30s... But I enjoyed the spring preview while it lasted...

I’m not sure what this plant is, possibly laurel? Just longing for a little color – even if it’s tinged with brown…