Joining the Sketchbook Challenge Team!

I am thrilled that I have been asked to join the Sketchbook Challenge Team!  Here is an exert from my first post.  Why not read the whole post at: http://sketchbookchallenge.blogspot.com/

I love taking my watercolor journal with me on my journeys.  Sometimes the unexpected journeys are the best ones.  I had that opportunity just last week when my youngest daughter needed to move back home after graduating from college.  I did not want her driving over 1,000 miles all by herself so I decided to fly to Denver and drive home with her.  

Enjoying the last bits of sunlight as the sun sets, Yellowstone National Park

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Kathleen for winning my Artful Gathering Workshop raffle prize!  All registered students in my The Good, the Bad, and the Beauty of Color Workshop were eligible and I had my daughters use random.org to generate the lucky winner.  She is the winner of this original watercolor painting:

Pear on a Ledge, Watercolor

Creating Drama in Black - Art Journal Tip

Often before I leave on a trip, I often paint several pages in my art journal with black gesso.  I have a few favorite pens that I use that I have tested and the show up beautifully against the dark background.  Here is how I prepare my page and my favorite pens to take along on my journey.
1.  Put a piece of wax paper behind the page you are going to paint to protect the pages beneath from getting black on them.
2.  Coat the page with a light layer of black gesso.  I use watercolor journals with Arches paper and they coat very nicely.
3.  Let this dry.  Your page is ready for art and journaling!

This page was started with just a black background

Adding Texture to Your Paintings

Textured Stone Wall and Red Door

It is fun to play with different ways to add texture to your watercolor paintings.  Sprinkle, Splash and Splatter; Creating Texture with Watercolor, is one of the workshops that I am offering at CREATE, Chicago this Friday, August 23, 2013.  "Texture Stone Wall and Red Door" is just one of the step-by-step examples of one of the exercises that we will be painting in this workshop.

Learning about Color

Here are a few things that we will be learning about in my CREATE class Rainbow Studies

We will do some color mixing making these fun color chickens

Here is how I use the color wheel to pick my colors

We will make some color studies

Using the colors on your palette we will make a color wheel

Pears are a great way to do color studies

Textured backgrounds add life to the paintings

Getting Ready for CREATE, Chicago!

I love collecting artistic tools to put in the goody bags that I give to my students.  I love meeting new artistic friends and catching up with old ones.  I love sharing what I have learned over the years about how to paint beautiful, colorful, glowing paintings and filling art journals with watercolor paintings and mixed media.  I love CREATE!

My little suitcase of supplies

Better clean up my palette

Showing off a colorful background ready for journaling

Dripping with color

Busy creating

Looking forward to catching up with Jenn Mason and Sue Pelletier

Stuffing goody bags

"Playful" Original Watercolor with Mixed Media for Sale

Here is another new mixed media watercolor painting available for purchase.  "Playful"