“The Art of Watercolor Journaling”©
Posted: Wednesday, November 03, 2010
by Arlene Wright-Correll
http://www.learn-america.com
I write a weekly column called, "Art Only Spoken Here" for our local newspaper and I get a lot of questions emailed to me.
This week's email question asked me "What is watercolor journaling"?
Watercolor journaling is nothing more than keeping a daily journal with sketches or drawings, or a journal of a trip with sketches and the sketches are usually quick sketches whether one does them right there and then or later from photos one may have taken. The watercolor is usually nothing more than washes which lend it's self to "happy accidents". Since Victorian times, this type of journaling has been a way to capture the world around you and especially to capture nature and I especially like it as a way to capture the amazing things that happen to me in my daily life's adventures.
One does not even need to know how to write or draw as one can see in the painting above since one only needs to put in the suggestion of eyes with the glasses and the basic thing is the clothes colors. Since this type of art work slows you down you realize that writing and drawing comes from the right side of your brain and one tends to lose track of time as one tries to capture some of life's little moments.
When I do one of these, especially when I do a trip, I realize that I am creating something really precious in a visual journal of my life or at least parts of my life that I want to share with others and if one do not want to share it, one simply closes the last page and keeps the book to ones self.
One can see a good example of one of our Spain trip as a watercolor journal called "The 4 Amigos Go to Spain" . An interesting note here is that all the reference photos I have for this journal were taken either by myself or my brother, George and the result was there were only 3 people in each photo instead of 4 as this journal talks about. Taking an artist's liberty I was always able to sketch in the missing person and by coloring their clothes the colors they were wearing everyone always knew who was who.
One of the nice things about watercolor journaling is you need very little supplies. You will need a book of some kind and one can use basically anything. However, any arts and crafts supply store will carry a modestly priced watercolor journaling sketch book where the pages are made for ink, watercolor and pencil. You will need some sketching pencils and a small basic watercolor set which usually includes about 7 basic colors and a brush. You will find both of these are also modestly priced and I do believe you will find them all for under $20.00. The extra thing I always do to my sketches is to add some final lines with a pen and India ink as it makes them stand out and also allows them to fall into the "illustration" category.
So the next time you are in our neck of the woods, stop in for a visit where "Art Only is Spoken Here©" and if you have an arts and crafts questions, just email me at askarlene@scrtc.com
"Tread the Earth Lightly" and in the meantime... may your day be filled with....
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)I remember "The 4 Amigos go to Spain" very well. I thought it was a great way to record a holiday, but actually, it's a great way to record a life!Thank you Jennifer. I also think it is a great way and I like it much better than just having the photos from the trip. Watercolor jounaling makes it extra special.
Arlene Wright-Correll
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