Fruit, Flower & Berry Update

Fruit, Flower & Berry Update, a photo by PJBee on Flickr.

For a bit more story please visit Sketching in Nature blog.

Ut oh, what to do?

Here I was happily journaling along when I found out that March's full moon was extra special. Ut oh, no room left on the moon's page and I already had a start on the next page.  What to do?

Laure and Kate had great suggestions but I read those too late, also :)  Do we see a pattern here?  Ha!

Here's what transpired in journal land:

Please click images for a large view

Another Lettering Book!

Cheryl Gebhart, one of our regular readers, commented on THIS POST--she also suggests The Scrapbooker's Handwriting Workshop: 20 Unique Fonts to Practice and Play With (oops, out of print**) and it DOES look like fun!

**NOTE: I had the wrong link--this edition is NOT out of print: The Scrapbooker's Handwriting Workshop: 20 Unique Fonts to Practice and Play With


It's on Amazon, with the "Click to Look Inside" option, so I did.  (Don't forget to hit "Surprise me," you can see a lot more.)

Has anyone else used it?  Cheryl, can you tell us more about why you like it?

I can see I'm facing temptation again...

The Sketchbook Project - Final Update

Here are the final pages. I had to clean these up quite a bit from the original scans. The wrinkled paper and the difficulty I had getting the book to lay flat on the scan bed was a real treat.... Especially at 2 am in the morning :)

click all images to enlarge

It was late on January 17th when I finished painting/writing. I then had to scan the last pages so that come daylight and a little sleep, I could bind the book into it's pink cover and send it on it's way.... deadline met.

My last words are from the heart after a very long journey.......

 

And, in it's entirety.......

Sketchbook Project Update III - Trees

Please click all images to enlarge.

It's time to celebrate trees :)

Walk with us to the 10th hole. It's
423 yards from the back tee to the green. The cart path runs along the edge of the woods.

Now that it's winter and much of the greenery has died back, I can see standing water not too far into the woods. This, along with the variety of trees found in a mere 423 yard stretch of land is a clear sign that this section of the neighborhood can be classified as a Bottomland Hardwood forest.

This type of forest usually borders a swamp and may be temporarily flooded should we get a whopper of a hurricane and the river reaches flood stage (not a warm and fuzzy thought!)

Here are all the trees I've identified so far. The illustrations are of two 'new-to-me' trees. I feel like such an explorer when I find a new flower, shrub, vine or tree. I don't care that Carl Linnaeus, or another botanist, may have named named it long ago - it's my discovery :) That's what I sooooo love about nature journaling! Even better is now that I've drawn it, it's mine.... forever in my heart :)

I never would have guessed Witchhazel comes from a tree! I always imagined witchhazel to be an herbaceous plant. A student of nature, that's what I am :)

These trees live on or near the 10th hole.

So many trees, not enough pages :) There are only two more spreads left in the sketchbook and I have other goodies to share. So, to all the trees that didn't make it into this book..... Patience, I'm working on it :)

The Sketchbook Project - Update II - Birds

Click on all images to enlarge

Here is why I love the 17th hole at our golf course :)

The Wood Storks in foreground weren't listing to the left.....  I must have been holding the sketchbook at too much of an angle :)

 

I love the crows in this spread :)

I had no idea that crows would hang with Ibis.  I see this all the time - in trees, feeding on the fairway..... never fighting over territory.

Certainly can bring a smile!

Lettering for your journal?

How important is this to you?

Does anyone have a favorite book on hand lettering?  We've seen some wonderful examples already, and that was one of the big winners in our poll at right., on what our readers would like to see on this blog (by the way it will be open for a year, so vote any time you like!)

I'm practicing my own brush lettering because I like the contrast between words and images, and how they can complement one another.  Sometimes I had a colorful or harmonizing header, sometimes not...

It can be a lovely design element, providing balance as well as adding information--several of our correspondents use it to wonderful--and varied!--effect.  Color, style, position, of your letters can all work when designing a pleasing page.

We featured this one in THIS POST, along with a few suggestions for further reading in the comments, but what's YOUR favorite?

This one looks interesting--has anyone used it?  (You can click on the image to get at the "look inside" feature on this one.  It's got a lovely cover, but it's fun to poke around, too!)







Do you use lettering on your pages?  Do you want to?  Do you feel it adds to a page or detracts? Do you care about what your letters look like, or are you just interested in making notes on what you see, think, feel?

Let's open this for discussion!

* NOTE: I've added Roz's link from her comment below so you can click on it directly...don't know if you can make live liniks in comments, but here it is:  http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/roz_wound_up/2008/11/calligraphy-from-traditional-to-funky.html?cid=139517498

Sketchbook Project Update 1

I was 3 spreads from finished on the 13th and knew an all-nighter would be in order. On the 14th, Art House Coop sent an email out changing the deadline from January 15th to the18th. Trust me, I was dancing around the studio after I read that email :) It seems bad weather everywhere was interfering with participants getting to the post office/delivery services and those companies getting packages delivered!

On the 18th, book in hand, I made it to the post office by 3 pm and sent my child off to Brooklyn, NY. My finished pieces of art become my children. They certainly carry a chunk of my soul.  Anyone else feel this way about your creations?

 The text around the edges of this spread reads:

We have lived in this neighborhood since May 2010. It borders a tidal creek and there is a golf course. It's such a treat to walk the cart path on holes 17 & 18 as the marsh borders these holes. Every day brings something wonderful to see and experience.

Please walk with us. I want to show you my favorite sights. I want to show you the things that fill me with wonder - it's like being a child all over again for me.

Nature. There is nothing like it!

Please click on image to enlarge

More to come :)

Designing Pages

Here's a page that kind of designed itself...I had a tan page bound next to a page of white watercolor in this journal, and I didn't want to run the image across the spread as I often do...but in order to get the size I wanted for this old china panther my dad always had on his dresser, I put it diagonal on the page.

It was a tricky image to capture...it's very shiny black ceramic, so every time I moved or the light changed, the highlights and shadows were all different.  (No WONDER people work from photos...the shapes stay put!)  I mapped out the lights and darks, used a little liquid mask on some, then painted in varied, reflected colors as an underwash.  When that was dry, I added two more coats, one of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for mid darks, and then one that actually incorporated some of Dr. Ph Martin's black liquid watercolor. 

Finally, I resorted to gouache for the highlights and called it done enough!

The diagonal shape inspired me...no need to keep the letters parallel to the sides of the page, why not follow that strong diagonal?

And so, I did...and told the story of the panther, and my dad, and the things I chose to keep when he passed away.  (No one ELSE wanted this crazy old thing!)

Hence, my dad's Legacy.

(I've been complaining about my lettering and decided it wasn't going to get any better without PRACTICE, so I added "legacy" in quinacridone gold.)

Beautiful writing...

...and of course far beyond what most of us aspire to in our journals, but I know you'll love world-renowned Irish calligrapher Denis Brown's work...check his website at http://quillskill.com/--complete with a movie.


Wow...such control and confidence...

Responding to your requests!

Several have asked for information on lettering...so far that's the second-most frequent request in our poll at right.  Until we have some input from our correspondents--and there are some WONDERFUL calligraphy artists here!--I've added a few books on calligraphy and hand lettering in the Bookshelf category at right.

Many of these have the "look inside" capability on Amazon, to take advantage and poke around!  (If you hit "surprise me" you can see much more...

This one's one of my favorites...it's fun and inspiring!  If you click on the image, it will take you to the book--wish this one had a "look within" feature, sorry!

And if you have a favorite lettering resource, please let us know...I couldn't find my favorite books, they must be too old!