An evolving journal page--insects and friends...

Planning ahead isn't really necessary unless you're planning on publishing your journal pages!  I wasn't, I was just delighted to find such a wide variety of insect life all on the door frame of my shed/studio.  So this is an evolving sketch that I played with over days--I started over a week ago!  I did the rough sketch below with a Prismacolor Verithin black colored pencil--almost little more than quick gesture sketches--then took photos to refine them later.

I worked fast...I was standing up, the butterfly might move at any time, and the katydid, DID!  Sort of a slow-motion sloth effect...and of course added more details and more creatures as I went along!

 

slow-moving but definitely MOVING bush katydid...the leaf-like designs on his back were much more visible in this macro shot--I couldn't really see them with the naked eye.

My reference photos were really helpful in getting at the details I'd missed, although I never COULD get my camera to focus properly on the walking stick. 

I used my magnifying glass to get the details of the chrysalis--it was thin as tissue paper, delicate and almost translucent.  I thought I was done when I did the version below, with a headline, border, and color...

I waited a few days to add the color, until my new open-stock Verithin pencils arrived from Dick Blick--and then decided to add some watercolor after all! 

A day or so later still, I went back in and strengthened the darks and added a bit of tone to make the chrysalis at upper left stand out...

I couldn't resist adding the daddy longlegs or harvestman, which strolled up later...and before you say "ick, I hate spiders," these aren't spiders at all!  They have their own order, they are non-poisonous, and they eat other small insects.  They're very beautiful, up close, like a jeweled mosaic box.

A wonderful new book really points up the value of field sketches over more mechanical means of nature study.  It's Field Notes on Science and Nature. 


Edited by Michael Canfield and published by Harvard University Press--if you're interested in nature study with your journal, you'll love it too. 

Colored pencil and watercolor.

Day Pretties

Watercolor, Ink and Stamps
3.5 x 8.5 inches
Handbook Watercolor
Sketchbook

Have you ever created a page and it seemed lacking, like something was missing? Maybe it didn't have the oomph you thought it would have or it just looked unfinished?

This page was suppose to sizzle with all that fun, bold yellow pigment, but when I finished (before I added any background) it just didn't have it.

The most obvious fix seemed to be to add a background, but what? I had just created a page with amaryllis (here) and used text as the background and I didn't want to repeat myself. I let the sketchbook sit open on my desk so that I could see it each time I walked by.

Finally, I decided to go with stripes to help emphasis the long stems. As Kate says, "meh." I didn't much like the stripes. So out came the black pen and then I added black stripes. Still didn't like it.

Leaving the book open and continuing to study it, I had about decided it was going to have to live as it was. A little later, I was prowling around in my study on the hunt for an unrelated item when I stumbled across some stamps......and a light bulb came on.

I retrieved my sketchbook and went to work. I used tracing paper as a "shield" and stamped the background. In a few places, I drew in the stamp shape rather than try to cut a shield.

There are things I will do differently next time, but I really had fun with the process and evolution of this piece. Sometimes, we have to get outside of "normal" solutions and reach for something new to make a page successful!

Last night's party--evolving page

Last night we went to a birthday party for a friend...the only place we cold find to sit was near where the children were playing, so of course I grabbed my journal for some quick sketching!  They were moving constantly.

This is on tan paper...

You can tell there was no time for anything more than a suggestion of detail...and a few of the sketches were just  a line or two as the girls kept moving, hopping up, leaving, coming back, getting a new toy, changing places...

This morning I decided to add some gouache to the most promising one, of young Annabelle at play.  I added the first layers with flat, simple colors.

 

When those were dry, I started modeling the hair and clothing, and adding details...

I wanted more detail than I was getting with the waterbrush, so I got out my colored pencils and sharpened them, strengthening values and colors as I went along...

Here's how she turned out when I finished.  I may add more to the page, I may not...they DO evolve...

Evolving pages...

Journal pages evolve and take on a new life from what you'd originally envisioned.  This was going to be a very rough, quick sketch of the pods I found in a couple of square yards behind my shed, but I got fascinated by shapes and textures and ended up doing much more detail than I'd planned.  I thought it would be fun to do the shadows, though...and then, of course, some lettering for the date, and the notes and block of color to the right, and a border, and spatters, and.....................

Then I kept looking at that rich maroon of the vinca leaf--it had twined up the tree and made berries for the first time I'd noticed...

And it just seemed to need that touch of color.  So...I added the maroon leaves and raw sienna berry husks, and then a little warm spatter to pick up the maroon, and punched up the lettering, and....

I THINK I'm done, but who knows.  Yesterday I went back and tweaked a page I did weeks ago!