2/14/2009

Watercolor Journaling...

The idea is very appealing to me as I have a love affair with journals...mostly a collection of blank ones with wishful thoughts of someday filling them. I have two Pentalic sketch books that have only 60lb cream colored paper in them, but that is where most of my composition ideas go into. I bought them years and years ago on sale from a local art store that was moving to a new location. That same art store no longer carries these, nor any others that I care to like. Most watercolor "journals" contain 20 or less pages to work on. I think that is chintzy. I'd go through that in a weeks time!

So then the next idea I ran across was to make my own journal. Reams of 100lb cold press watercolor paper is only $12 at the same aforementioned art store. I could easily make small journal books from. This art store even carries book binding supplies so I have no excuse not to. I've made a couple before so the know-how is there in me brain.

And then still another idea pops up...what about taking an old unloved book from the second hand store...and doing some watercolor sketching OVER the words? Depending on how the paper feels, it'd have to be lightly watercolored but I think it would look novel. HA! Novel. I figure I would pick out a work on the page & then doodle about that on that page. Seems pretty fun to me. I think I have some books around here I bought years ago for some hobby that involved decorating the pages with something...not sure what it was called now...some sort of book exchange. You would make a couple of pages, then pass them along to a lucky person on a list who would then add a few pages of their style & so forth & so on. Some sort of recycling scrapbooking thing it was. Anyone know what I am talking about? What was that called?

And yet anther idea would be to take a stack of half sheets over to Staples & have then bind it. I don't think that would be as much fun as binding it myself. :)

I've run across "Illustrated Watercolor Journaling", which looks interesting, but I don't feel like buying the DVD. It looks pretty basic anyways & I am beyond that now.

While browsing the wetcanvas forums, I found out that Watercolor painting is considered a dyeing art! I can't imagine how galleries would think watercolor is inferior or a "Junior" art but apparently they do. Watercolor is no easy medium to master!! I thought it funny that yet again I am drawn to do an art form that is considered "dyeing", like tatting.

I am amused to say that the snake in my Brewing Dessert Storm painting was dubbed "Satan" by one gal in the wetcanvas forum. "I like the fact that you have Satan hiding in your tree..." she said...ROFLMAO! How is my poor misunderstood snake hiding anyways...the poor thing is looking for refuge from the impending storm! How funny is it that she automatically assumes that I believe the same way she does? Idiosyncrasy. There's my big fancy word for the week. Snake is a sacred symbol of death, rebirth, creativity, divination & many more meanings that I cannot remember at the moment in traditional, non-book religions. The fact that it is red was purely accidental...or was it? Hummm...

Well...I am still laughing my ass off over that comment anyways!!

Since it is V-Day, Mike & I ran all over the city looking in on different art supply shops to see if I could find myself a decent watercolor journal. I ended up buying a Arches 140# paper sheet to break into smaller pieces. I thought I would try the more expensive stuff. It was only $5 for the 32 x something sheet. If broken down into 8 pieces that came out to around $.68 a piece. Nice! We had fun running all over, which I rarely get to do without worrying about a schedule to keep, & we were pooped when we finally got home after stopping for Sushi for dinner. The owner acted excited to see us! LOL, he's a hoot.



Until next time...

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4 comments:

  1. I love the idea of painting over words in a novel. It's so wonderful that you have a myriad of talents to practice! I always wished I could draw and paint, however, the domestic arts suit me just fine. Now, if I could only master cleaning...

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  2. HA! Master the Art of Cleaning? Never! LOL I hear yea, I feel the same way about cleaning. You can paint & draw, everyone can, everyone has thier own style. It's when we get too critical of our own style trying to match someone else's is when we become discouraged & decide we can't do it. Take a look at wetcanvas.com under Watercolor -> Learning Center. Lots of great tips for noobs interested in getting started. But once you start...you'll have yet another hobbie to pay for...LMAO!!

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  3. Some nice inspirational ideas there; I like the idea of paint over words. There was a thing for "book altering" a few years back - is this the same thing, do you think?

    MrsL

    xx

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  4. Yea-yea that's the it, the book altering movement! The art of book alt? LOL

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