Painting Ideas

Colorful Spring! Spring makes me think of colorful flowers, bright blue skies and birds singing in the yard. What a wonderful time to do some watercolor painting! I have been busy writing magazine articles to inspire you to fill your world with color! Grab your watercolor supplies and join me as I walk you through some fun painting ideas. Watch for my upcoming articles in these magazines:

 Searching for Shapes, April 2014 Issue of  Art Journaling by Somerset Studio

A Day in the Life of - a Photo Story, Summer 2014 Issue of Studios Magazine by Interweave Press

Water-Soluble Pens in Journaling, Summer 2014 issue of Pages Magazine by Interweave Press

Black-and-White Journal Pages, Summer 2014 Issue of Pages Magazine by Interweave Press

The Colorful World of Flora and Fauna, July/August 2014 Issue of Cloth-Paper-Scissors Magazine by Interweave Press

Cover Art for Art Journaling,

I was so surprised and honored to find out that my art was chosen to be the cover art for the spring 2014 issue of ART JOURNALING magazine!

It will be on in stores available for purchase on April 1, 2014.   My article is about using shape to design journal pages.
This photo did not get into the article so I wanted to share it with you here.  Here is what I write about this page in my Patagonia watercolor journal.

One of my favorite journal pages is one where I painted a meadowlark and a vista behind him.  The meadowlarks were plentiful and darted about the brush flashing their red bellies.  I often heard their melody as we hiked.  Instead of just painting a scene with a meadowlark in it, I wanted to try a different point of view.  I painted him much larger than the vista and had him placed off to one side to help frame the page. He is looking back over landscape as if to say he is the guardian of this remote area.  

I hope you enjoy this new issue of Art Journaling!

Here is a Fun Warm-up Exercise

Here is the post that I did for this month's Sketchbook challenge.
Warm and cool colors are something that I think about all the time in my painting and enjoy playing warm colors against cool colors to create vibrate and dynamic watercolors.  Here is a fun exercise that you could do with warm colors or cool colors - your choice!  I did mine with warm colors.  You will need your watercolor paints, watercolor brushes and a Gold Leaf Pen for this exercise.
Start by drawing big shapes in your journal with the gold leaf pen.  I drew my initials JN.  Make sure you go off the page here and there.

 Then add smaller shapes within your large initials.

 Pick a color scheme warm or cool.  I chose a warm palette so I painted all my shapes with yellows, oranges, reds and combinations of these colors. The gold leaf pen lines will act as a resist to the paint.

This is my final page in my watercolor journal

Check out my Daniel Smith Watercolor Kit for great deal on watercolor paints.  If you are just getting started, this is the kit for you!  

A Time to Relax

The thing about the warm southern sun, tropical breeze and bright sand, is that it just makes you slow down, relax and enjoy.  Coming from snow and cold winds, makes it next to impossible to paint out-of-doors in the winter so I love being in this Mexican warmth and painting what is in front of me.  On our whale watching and kayaking trip I enjoyed painting the following scenes in my watercolor journal.....