Watch for Interview #8--Roz Stendahl is up next!

My friend Roz is a generous, giving, funny, and talented woman, with a thought on just about everything!  An avid painter of birds and dogs and State Fair critters, you know whatever she puts in her journal is going to be terrific!

Buried in snow this winter, what did she do but turn it into a charming little 'zine, and sent me a copy.

Roz is an illustrator, a designer, a consummate bookbinder, and has taught workshops on binding books and then using them.  (I wish I could take one of her classes--John Payne, one of my journaling/sketchcrawl buddies traveled all the way from Kansas to do so.  Envy!)

So watch for her interview, it is chock full of information and inspiration!


Meanwhile, check out her blog at Roz Wound Up  and her regular blog, Rozworks!

time for a new journal . . .from Vicky Williamson

new journal a photo by vickylw on Flickr.

. . . another one I bound myself. It's hard to find sturdy cover papers locally. I used a heavy scrapbook paper on this cover but it still seemed like it would wear out long before I finish sketching within its pages.

Kate told me of a neat trick she uses on some journal covers: Future floor wax! Actually I couldn't find any, but Pledge had one that had the Future logo on the label. And it seems to have worked well. Just a bit of shine but it feels much sturdier.

At first the cover was plain, but since I am picking up my new Scottie puppy this coming weekend, I just had to add a bit of Scots to the journal. I'm sure there will be many sketches of her coming . . .

But true to my own tradition, the first pages were palette sketches.

Spring's Color Song - I

Spring's Color Song - I a photo by PJBee on Flickr.

So many colors popping, so little time....

Join me as I build this journal page. This is the start to my salute to Spring. Journal pages can take many days to complete, especially if you only have to bits and pieces of time. The important thing is to grab any time you get to create, as in the end you will smile with the results :)

A new video on YouTube for quick sketching techniques

I did this for one of my online classes, but decided to share--hope you enjoy it! (I had to shoot it three times, I forgot to turn the camera on the first time...)

Snow Sketching - 2

Feb. 2011: Little Skiing Vacation - 3 a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

I had another great little snow vacation and did some sketching while at it :) This time I used felt-tip pen which did not freeze on me, I did no use waterbrush outdoors at all and added notes for color and value as well as notes about actions and added a bit of water and color action home.

The most interesting discovery was use of snow on my sketches. I am posting a couple below - on icicles it's hard to see as I did not press snow too much but you can see it really create a storm on other one :)









Click on images to see larger versions and some additional comments.

Notice anything different?

Working with the Weather--art tips!

A very quick sketch near the library on a cold winter day...

I added color later, from memory, when I had more time.  I HAVE had the water freeze in my waterbrushes before, but you can warm and thaw them in your hand if need be.  Just don't stay out too long!

One of the things in our poll at right was dealing with the weather.  I find that I sketch in my journal winter and summer, indoors and out, and it's good to be prepared.  There's nothing wrong with working from your car or out a window, of course...the important thing is to keep making those records in our journals, to keep observing and celebrating life.

Do what you can on the spot, make notes, add color later, take a quick photo and paste it in...whatever's necessary!

You may have seen correspondent Nina Khashchina's post on  Snow Sketching--fun and full of great ideas.

I always go out on January 1, no matter what...for this one I worked fast with a colored pencil, and added the color, again, later.  I'd forgotten water or colored pencils, anyway. 

Some of you may know I offer free art tips on my website, and have for years.  (You can find them HERE at upper left--we're up to #112 now, and old ones are archived as PDFs.)   Since I've done a couple on working with the weather, I thought you might like to see them!

The first one covers sun, wind, heat and rain, for those of you in warmer climes:

http://www.cathyjohnson.info/tips/tip44.pdf

And you'll find "Sketching on the Spot in Cold Weather here:  http://www.cathyjohnson.info/tips/tip84.pdf

Sketching in Nature correspondent Elva Paulson wrote a post about write-in-the-rain paper--you can find it HERE.  Looks like fun!


Please, share your OWN favorite tricks for dealing with weather!