Correcting Lettering Mistakes

A lot of times I'll wait until I get home before adding lettering to a journal page. Mainly because of time and comfort. But on this particular day, I felt quite comfy perched on my camp stool and the 8.5 x 11 journal page in my Stillman and Birn Alpha hardbound journal was such a dream to work on.

However, on the way home, I began to wonder if this really was Harbour Town's Liberty Oak. There were two very large oaks in the heart of Harbour Town.  The magnificence of this tree, with it's sprawling low lying branches surely struck me as the one to bear this name...... Not!

Long ago, a skilled calligrapher taught me how to correct mistakes... Tip: correct your mistake before you lift any unwanted lettering.  Huh? Yes, write over the lettering on the page, then white out or lift off what you don't want.

That way the stroke of the corrected lettering will be smooth and you won't have to contend with the often bumpy texture left by white out or white ink.  I used a Signo Uniball broad tip white pen, available from JetPens.com.

I decided to turn Liberty Oak into Live Oak.  The RTY of Liberty would be taken out.  A good size space would be left between the two words.  I decided to put the tree's Latin name between Live and Oak.... a quirky fix, but it worked for me :)

Since this is a journal page and not a piece of calligraphic art, I was willing to live with a bumpy surface to write the smaller replacement text on.

Family history project Alissa Duke

A few years ago I began a family history project to document some of the objects that some members of my family have, by drawing them from photographs or life. I was honoured  to have this project and drawings included in  Artists Journal Workshop .

I have not spent a lot of time on this project recently, as family history research takes time (and I work full time as a researcher during the day). Last weekend I spent time drawing an envelope that I have. This is an empty envelope addressed to my Great Uncle at an address that he lived at for a short time when first moving from England to Brisbane, Australia in 1928. Even though it is empty, the addressed envelope tells the small part of a larger story, following the addresses they lived in before buying their house in 1943.

I feel a connection to anything when I sit down or stand up to draw it for a short or long time , as I  study its detail and really look at it. So, drawing objects from my own family history has an extra layer of richness for
me.

I had been doing some family history research (both documentary and oral) and hope to document some of these articles with the stories surrounding them and the person that owned them.Click to see my  Family History project drawings The drawings are all scattered through my Moleskine sketchbooks, and usually left as stand alone drawings at the moment. I am not sure that I would have drawn the objects the same if they were in a special book for family history. One day... I shall scan and put these all together into a book. The research is a lifelong project.

I draw with watercolour pencils in a Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook everyday ! Some pages I call sketching and others I call drawings - this is one is a drawing. I love the way the watercolour pencils can create texture as well as fine details. I enjoy trying to achieve the right colour (although my scans do not show this)

last journal pages

last journal pages, a photo by vickylw on Flickr.

Lots of people know I begin each of my artist's journals with some kind of illustration of my palette. Lately, I have used the last page as a place to collect memorable quotes or thoughts. These are usually gathered over a period of time, so they are generally scattered in a hap-hazard fashion.

I've also seen a journal artist using the last page or two as a calendar, drawing in the calendar themselves with a splash of color or tiny motifs. Maybe I might try that in the future, if the journal has lots of pages.

Winter Robins

I love seeing these guys in the winter!

Still around, late January...and look at the jonquils!

Fast, or Slow?

I was at our old cabin for the afternoon, and decided to take my time with an ink sketch of the wood stove as it tried to warm the space...

(Yep, this one again!) And of course, I sketched FAST so my breakfast didn't get cold!

Do you feel comfortable taking however much time you need, or have?  In the sketch at top, I had all afternoon, with nothing pressing, so I decided to put my new/old Esterbrook 9128 through its paces.  It was running out of ink, so I got some very fine lines...which I restated when I refilled it.  It was a contemplative exercise and I very much enjoyed it.  Very peaceful!

I chose not to add color to that one--it stands on its own.

Breakfast was a whole other matter!  I didn't want it to get cold, so just did a very simple outline, with that same pen.  THEN I ate, then added color from memory!  I think the color defines and explains the shapes, pulling everything together, don't you?

I teach quick-sketching techniques in my mini-classes (Quick Sketching 1 and 2, and Quick Sketching in Color), and do truly enjoy that discipline for any number of reasons...but there are times when I just want to take as long as it takes.

I took my time here...

And hurried to capture the action here...

What do YOU enjoy most?

Celebrating the Small Stuff...

...like bangers and eggs!  I had to work fast before it got cold, so added the color from memory.

Our trip to the city the other day included a stop by Sheehan's Irish Imports for real Irish sausage, known as bangers.  They're delicious!

Journal Page Tutorial

Last week, we had some unusually warm weather in the lowcountry of South Carolina.  We took advantage by taking our bikes to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. Our first stop was Nini Chapin Pond. It's roughly two miles from the parking area. There was not much bird activity, but we found some shade and it was a good time to eat our lunch.

This was the view we looked upon.  There was a small group of Buffleheads feeding in the water.  I loved how their dives caused the olive green water to shimmer with the blue of the sky.

Viewing the scene for a few minutes is a great way to narrow down what really catches my eye, helping me to decide  what to record in the journal.

The next page in my Stillman and Birn journal, that I've devoted to water scenes, was the right side of a spread.  I didn't want to fill the entire page with a sketch so decided upon a smaller vertical image.

Click to enlarge

The first thing I did was to secure a piece of foam core to the right side of the back of the journal.  This made a great surface to hold the palette and less of a balancing act for me.

Next, I drew the vertical shape that would hold the watercolor sketch. Then added pertinent information for the day: date, time, temperature, where we were, and around the edge of the box, I started adding notes about any wildlife that crossed our path.

To me, the lightest color in the scene was the blue of the sky and water.
I knew that if I let most of the paper show through on the lower right corner, I'd stand half a chance at keeping the true color to the foreground grasses.

click to enlarge

Hopefully you can see the first layer of blue!

 Now you can see the first layers of green water and the brown of the far shore's bank.  While painting, the Buffleheads were diving away, always changing what the water looked like.

When painting plein air, light and water are ever changing.  Once I've laid down the initial frame work of colors, I take a good look at the direction of the shadows. I will have to paint from memory in order to make the painting read true. 

All that was left to do was to add notes of any other wildlife that we saw after heading over to the other side of the pond.











Final page, scanned.....