Travel Sketching

badlands, a photo by windwordwriter on Flickr.

I recently hiked and sketched in the Badlands near Dubois, WY. All of the wondrous towers, hoo doos, and sculpted formations were inspiring to capture on paper but far beyond my ability to do so. The vastness of the land, combined with the rich colors, shapes, and textures of sedimentary rock is almost overwhelming on a visual scale, so I eventually settled on a small formation to sketch, where I could sit in the shade of a cottonwood tree, out of the scorching heat of the day. Pen and ink allowed me to get the details of the structure quicker, and then a light watercolor wash implied the many eons of layered rock. The name "Badlands" was originally given to the semiarid area in South Dakota near the Black Hills, and called "les mauvaises terres a traverser" by the French because it was so difficult to cross. The true artists here are wind, rain, and flash floods--the medium is erosion. My sketch in the journal is a meager attempt at capturing its true beauty and mystery, but when I look at it and the entire aroma of the day there comes pouring in.

New Tool For My Sketch Bag

Click to Enlarge

This page started off to feature the new addition to my plein air supplies, but then the page took on a life of its own :)  I pretty much had to squeeze everything else in!

Often, when painting the full moon, I get frustrated with the drying time of watercolors, especially in the summer months when the humidity and mosquitoes are fierce.  I just don't have the luxury of waiting for paint to dry and often have to finish the page upon returning home.

I've been looking for small fans that would fit in my bag, not weigh too much and have some decent reviews written about them.  The size of this little Coleman personal fan is perfect.  It's 4 inches tall, 1 3/8 inches wide and 3/4 deep. It weighs 4 oz. with 2 AA batteries inserted and puts out quite a breeze!  The reviews were mixed and averaged 3 out of 5 - 5 being excellent. I ordered it on Amazon and since there were already enough items in my cart to qualify for free shipping, I took a chance on the this ever so expensive (ha, ha) $5.27 fan!

Now for the opportunity to try it out!!

Montage pages to capture a day

I like to capture a day or special occasion on a spread, like this...things just kind of squeeze onto the page, one by one, tucking things in where there's room or where I have time.  The little yellow Piper Cub came first--I'd found a comfortable place in the shade and out of the way!  Then I added the helicopter in ink, because it was just taking off and that was my only chance.

Lunch beckoned...I knew  they were planning to stop serving at two, and it smelled SO good...so I sketched the lunch patrons in the hangar as I ate.  Then the little triplane, a 3/4 size model built by the owner, showed up and everyone was wowed by it...that's the distance shot with the guys gathered around, and the mom and her little girl watching from the hangar. 

I REALLY needed a closer sketch, so walked out onto the field and did the triplane in the small spot left on that side...using my bent nib pen and splashing in quick color before the plane took off again.

Then since we still had time, I did the more careful sketch of the hangars, office, and air traffic control in upper left, just fitting it in as I could.  Joseph had picked up the sticker from 3EX, people hoping to lease and rehab the airport, so I stuck in in place too!

I don't really design a page ahead of time, to begin with...they just kind of grow, organically.  Sometimes I consciously add a touch of color here or there to unify, like the green you see here...

And oh yes, I added the pencil drawing of the WWI style helmet the triplane's pilot wore later, from the photo I shot of him as he was taking off!

So how do YOU work?  Comments welcome!

The Medium Drives the Result!

I've enjoyed sketching my little laughing Buddha, inspired by this post by the talented Niloufer Wadia in our Artist's Journal Workshop Facebook group, and by talking to a friend about what a difference medium can make in our final results. 

Above, I used a water-soluble graphite pencil, a Pentel Pocketbrush, straight watercolor without any underdrawing, and a plain graphite pencil.  (The graphite one has inspired me to do more of that, I love it!)

Here's my first one, with a 578 Hero pen with a bent nib (thank you, Patrick Ng!) and watercolor.  FUN...and all very different.  I usually choose my medium according to my mood, but also subject and convenience.  If a ballpoint pen is all that's to hand, that's what I use, just so I can sketch!

And by the way, feel free to join our Facebook group, it's very active and you get to see a LOT of wonderful work.

FINALLY, a new mini-class!

Whee, finally finished the self-directed color class and got it up on my website...though I probably should have JUST called it "sketching in color," since I included some exercises and mediums that take a bit longer. It's up to you, and how you define words like "sketch" and "quick."

Of course, there's nothing inherently superior in sketching fast, it's just what many of us need to do in order to have any creative time at all! 

Many of my readers and students express a desire for more time, or a key to working fast, or a wish to work more loosely.  The 4-lesson course offers a LOT of ideas about all of those, in addition to exploring a variety of mediums.

We play with watercolor, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, colored inks, markers, mixed media,  and even kids' crayons!  You'll be able to decide what's your go-to medium for most needs, or find a brand new favorite.

You'll find exercises, demos, tips, videos, links and more...and FUN.

And of course, as you can see, many of  the examples from the class are pages from my own journals...that's where I do most of my quick sketching.

Take a peek!  It joins my other online classes here: http://www.cathyjohnson.info/online.html

Watercolor Journal at Utica Reservoir

I look forward to my annual camping trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains so I can play in my journal. This year I have a journal that has dark paper in it and I wanted to have my sketch go across the page. The granite was lighter than the dark paper, so I used a white opaque Sharpie pen. I tapped it on the paper to get the ink flowing. Because of the elevation (7,000 ft.) I got a blop of white ink. Oops. I sort of blotted it up with a paper towel. I liked the effect, but was afraid if I did it again I might loose all the white ink out of the pen. When the white dried it was not water soluble, so I was able to use watercolor over it.

calendar in sketchbook

calendar in sketchbook, a photo by vickylw on Flickr.

Through the last 3 months of medical stuff, I have tried to keep a record for doctors on when, how often, and how severe. At first I folded the calendar sheets and tucked them in the pocket at the end of my sketchbook.

Then I thought, for convenience, why not tape them flat on the last page, using this removable double-sided tape? There are 4 month pages here, taped on top of each other at the upper edge --- I can easily flip to see other months. And when I fill this sketchbook, the whole thing removes to be placed in the new sketchbook.

I found the blank calendar sheets at Walmart, but they could also be easily printed at home. The tape was found in the scrapbook section of Hobby Lobby.