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Monday, January 21, 2013

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.....



14 comments:

  1. Thank you Pam for this charming insight into your working methods, I've always loved your sketches so it's great to see how it's done!

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    1. Thanks, Valerie! Each pages gets a different treatment... lots of variables as you know :)

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  2. Pam, this is a spectacular blog post. I use watercolors like crayons to fill in my ink sketches, at least in part because I don't know anything of the process you've just explained. Now I know a wee bit more. Thanks.

    Cheers --- Larry

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    1. Hi Larry, glad you enjoyed! My next post will show a slightly different twist :)

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  3. Fantastic to be able to look "over your shoulder" and into your mind!

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    1. Thanks, Mistress! I'm happy when I remember to take photos!

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  4. Thanks for sharing the tutorial it's always nice to know each others process

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    1. Thanks, Mary! I agree. Love the behind the scenes peek :)

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  5. What a wonderful post, Pam, I was right there with you all the way!

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  6. Realizing you're not part of Vicki's Grow Your Blog Party, that is, nonetheless, how I came to visit today. It's been a marvelous visit.
    Thank you, Pam, for your tutorial; it's why I'm now a follower...beautiful work and watercolors have long been a favorite.

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  7. Pam thank you so for this tutorial. For someone whos just learning it truly helps on how you start a page. The page is wonderful and this will be a starting point for me to practice on these wind chill below zero days like today,Hope you have a great day,
    Linda

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  8. Thank you so much for sharing your process with us!

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  9. Love seeing the stages and how you tackle this subject!

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  10. Nice tutorial--I'm just getting started and this helped a lot. I have one of those tins I want to use as a watercolor box--what did you use to keep the pans in place?

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