Bouquet of Watercolors
Mon, July 12, 2010 at 08:00AM "The books in Mo and Meggie's house were stacked under tables, on chairs, in the corners of the rooms. There where books in the kitchen and books in the lavatory. Books on the TV set and in the closet, small piles of books, tall piles of books, books thick and thin, books old and new. They welcomed Meggie down to breakfast with invitingly opened pages; they kept boredom at bay when the weather was bad. And sometimes you fall over them."
— Cornelia Funke, Inkheart
my favorite, i think
the ribbons look like pink leaves
not liking the odd blue-purple flower on the top left
5.5 x 8" Exacompta sketchbook journal, pitt pen (xs), watercolor
I've been playing around in several journals this week. This Exacompta journal has paper thinner than watercolor paper and a touch thicker than the paper in moleskine sketch journals. As you know, I draw on watercolor paper so I decided to paint on drawing paper to see what happened. I found it interesting that the color stays where you put it, I don't know how else to describe it. The white of the paper looks great against the colors I typically use. But I had to work quickly to blend colors - if you don't blend instantly there's really no blending as there is no absorbancy and the color dries quickly. You get used to this with acrylics, because they dry quickly as well.
I liked the challenge and was impressed with the way the paper, not designed for wet paint, handled the paint without warping (unlike Hand journals, ugh). Overnight, I popped parchment paper between the pages and put them under hardbacks. The third painting was inspired by Quinn's watercolor flowers, as it was actually painted in reverse - paint first, pitt pen second.
Getting out of my comfort zone, in terms of size and type of paper, helps me think out of the box. Two business buzzwords in one sentence, do I get bonus points? Lots of fun ways to experiment with your art supplies... check out Creative Experiments (Intro).
More bouquets tomorrow, in the moleskine watercolor journal!
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Reader Comments (3)
Tammy, these are cool watercolor flowers! I'm like you, I would've drawn then colored in. This technique can be used with so many different drawings! Love your colors :)
That method that Alice taught--paint first, pen last--is just so satisfying, isn't it? I loved the Exacompta is great to write in, but my watercolor is a bit wet for it. I now make my own journals, using Arches Text Wove and watercolor paper. I also just tried a sketching journal I bought through Daniel Smith--the paper is 110 lb. and recycled, and it's great with watercolor!
Love the Quote as always - it describes my house well and the author is my daughters favorite!