Art Journal Class

Hello again,

Thought I had better make some progress in my home-made artist journal. Only one week remaining of the class. There has been a great deal to think about. Kate Johnson, the teacher, has given us so many examples of journal pages, possible layouts and more. My entries here are fairly mundane but I enjoy the ocean and its creatures so much, that I thought I might fill this homemade journal with ocean pictures.


Both pages were done with Cretacolor watercolor pencils. The top one, with the friendly looking orca and dolphin, was then washed with with water. The bottom drawing was left alone. One thing that I have learned is that I can't seem to write in a straight line!

Looking forward to more journal pages. And braver designs!

Andorra

While visiting Andorra during my virtual tour, I came across this lovely bridge. Andorra, which is located between Spain and France, is a rugged land with deep valleys and towering mountains. Andorra was isolated for many years but is well-known now for its sports, including snow skiing, mountain hiking, and mountain biking. It is also known for its chapels, Romanesque churches, bridges

Tourism plays an important part in Andorra's economy but many people only visit on day trips from Spain and France. Apparently many take advantage of the duty-free shopping available here.

The country is very beautiful and there is much to see, both in nature and in history. They have several museums that look to be of interest, including the National Automobile Museum, the Miniature Museum, the Romanic Andorra Historical Center, the Farga Rossell Iron Interpretation Center, and the Sant Antoni De La Grella Bridge, which I sketched above.
I wanted to experiment with this sketch and used more color then the scene called for. It was sketched with pencil and watercolor pencils in my travel sketchbook.
If you would like to learn more about Andorra, MSN Encarta has an interesting article available.

Watercolor Pencils

I am experimenting with watercolor pencils. I've never felt successful with them in the past and am now enrolled in a class given by artist Cathy Johnson to overcome this hesitation to use them. The above sketch is of a castle ruin in England, though I forget which one. There was a great deal of green moss covering the stones so I went with the strong green color. Am trying to be bolder with my color as well.

Here I added water in select places. I should use more water to blend better but the paper isn't strong enough to hold more water. Next sketches will be on regular watercolor paper instead of my sketchbook. Plus, the rough watercolor paper would have been better for the texture of the building as well. But it is a start. Stay tuned over the next six weeks to see if I am able to improve!