Out of Sync and Out of Touch

Well, I am not sure how it happened but all of February and March just ran away from me and I did not get anything new posted here. Sorry about that. I cannot say that they were not eventful, because they were. Between being ill, Dentist apps, and then having to catch up at work from all those events... I did not lack for activity. The sad thing about this time frame is that I may have been active, but it was not always fun. I really had no energy for sewing or playing with my Cricut. That would have required much more physical and mental prowess than I felt I had last month. I am glad I had picked up my pen and paints and had begun to play with Zentangles and a Visual Journal during this time.

For today's post I am going to spend a bit of time in my Visual or Artist's Journal. Last summer I found out Strathmoreartiststudio.com was hosting a few online workshops on Art Journals. Each new workshop was taught by a notable artist via video, online discussion boards, flicker galleries and notes. These first workshops were great mixed media ideas. Each video gives new techniques to try as well as some examples of their own finished work using the taught techniques.

Strathmore has a new series of workshops going on right now. The first was a Mixed Media Workshop. Though it is over, you can still register and view the videos, browse the discussions.... Workshop 2 just started 3 weeks ago. I am so excited as this workshop is on Sketching and Watercolor. YEAH! And it is taught by an artist I am familiar with, Cathy Johnson. I love her style and had already been scouring her various books, blogs and online videos, when I saw that she was teaching this session. I have already learned a great deal from Cathy and from the other participants. The first week was just basic washes and how to use them in a sketch. I tried several sketches/paintings last week, and was having difficulty getting the hang of water to paint ratio, as well as getting away from massive need to pay too much attention to detail.

A funny story (or two) about the Disneyland pictures - I painted the castle from my table at the Jolly Holiday Bakery on Main Street. While I was working on it Oscar, the head chef for Main Street and VERY long time employee (something like 55 years), came by to see what I was doing. He is such a joyful gentleman. When I was painting the statue, I was sitting on one of the benches that circle that inner area. A family came up to take pictures in front of it. They did several different groupings... chattering away in a language I knew was European but did not recognize. Two little girls, maybe 6 and 8 years old, crept over from the family group and proceeded to climb up on the bench to observe what I was doing. They were having such a good time watching me that they did not see their family walk away. Grandma had to finally drag them off. Somewhere in the middle of it all I found out they were here from Sweden. I just love hanging out at Disneyland. You see and meet some interesting people.

So I started back through my Visual/Art Journal looking at the pieces I liked and what I thought was successful in each page.

What I discovered was I seem to lose the perspective and detail when I try to fill a whole 7 x 10 page in my journal. I do pretty good when I keep most of the picture within a 3 x 5 to 4 x 6 max. With that in mind, I tried again. - Like this one much better. Here are one of my new journal entries. I will share more later.

I am really enjoying this class. If you are at all interested in sketching and painting in a journal, this would be a great place to start. Strathmore Artist Journal Classes

You might also like some of Cathy Johnson's websites and work.

Cathy Johnson - info

Artists' Journal Workshop

Urban Sketchers of the Midwest

Nature Sketchers