Goals for Artist Journal course & testing papers

In just a few days Kate Johnson’s Artist Journal class begins. In the past I have been sceptical about “art journalling”  – maybe it’s a language thing. I think that a ‘journal’ (US English)  is a diary, which is why I don’t see the work of many art journallers, wonderful though it is, as journalling, or keeping a visual diary, as I’d put it . Much of the work is so labour intensive, with all the layering, that there is no way there can be an element of a regular entry. I’m sure these artists do work on their ‘art journals’ regularly, perhaps even all day every day, but I do feel that the ‘diary’ element is missing. Maybe I would call them an artist’s book.

My goals in this course are to .. (1) improve the way I treat each double page spread (2) draw or paint, with only minimal relevant collage (3) find a way to speed up my drawing (4) form the habit of drawing more regularly (because faster).

These drawings are preparation. I have a number of handmade books all ready to start, but I wasn’t sure which to use, as I have a Stonehenge one, a BFK Rives one, and an Arches Medium one.  I plan to use the full variety of media in this course, so I wanted to test the papers. I ruled out Stonehenge as my current nearly full sketchbook was of that paper.

First, I tested watercolours on the BFK Rives. I know it takes wet media well, but just wasn’t sure about watercolour. It has a bit of a woolly look, but generally acceptable. Then  I tried watercolour pencils on the Arches Medium. Again, reasonable, but I prefer smoother for a diary, so I’ll put that one aside for when Kate does her watercolour course.

Both these images were from Google Maps street view for http://virtualpaintout.blogspot.com The first one is Belfast (which I missed the date for), and the second is Halifax Nova Scotia which is the November  location.

Chillies in acrylic

Another journalling spread of chillies on black gesso. I’m not finished with this chilli theme. I’ll do some more small ones for studies and then a large painting. It’s far more vibrant in acrylics than the Conte crayons, and quicker too.  In using an altered book, I’m glueing pages together and removing some, so that it doesn’t get too thick when I gesso all the time. This means that the pages have a bit of a ripple sometimes, and that the gutter is very pronounced. This means it always has to be worked around in some way. This is why I have a border down the side of this page, otherwise my gutter would be down the centre of the centre pot.

I’m still not convinced about this ‘art journal’ business. I am just pressing on till the end of September in the hopes that I create some good habits that I’ll use in my sketchbook. My ‘main’ sketchbook is handmade from Stonehenge paper. Nearly all the pages have been prepped in some way – mostly by just sloshing on a wash of whatever is on my palette when I’m painting. So that is not new – I just want to write more, though without turning it into a diary, and to compose the page spreads with more thought.

Cubist painting with Matisse Dry Mediums

I started this painting some time ago. We decided to make a project sheet for doing a cubist painting with Matisse Dry Mediums. I’d painted this cubist painting at the Easter Show, so I had to do another one so that we could photograph it step by step. Here’s how this painting started out. I got sidetracked by all the watercolour pencil drawings I was doing for Kate Johnston’s Watercolour Pencil Class. Finally it got done now, and the project worksheet won’t be long.

Demonstrating on 2nd July – new Dry Mediums

Hi everyone,

On 2nd July (which is not far away at all) I will be demonstrating a semi-abstract landscape done with the new Matisse Dry Mediums at The Art Scene at Ryde (on Victoria Road and not far from the Homebush Bay turnoff (Concord Road)).  I will be putting the dry mediums onto a canvas and explaining them as I go. Then I will magically whip out another canvas where the texture has already dried, and I will proceed to paint it to completion. Full step-by-step project sheets will be available.  The painting I will be doing will be very similar to the one shown in the background of this advertisement.

There are some great demos coming up at the Art Scene in July …. read about more of them here.

Snowgrass

Another drawing for Kate’s watercolour pencil class . Grasses this time. In the background there is another mountain hidden by clouds.This is in the Mackenzie Country in New Zealand, and when I lived up there the clouds did used to come down to the bottom of the mountains like that  and sometimes stay for days. It felt like living in a cave then. I did this from a photograph with was much darker and more low key. However I am using the Strathmore Aquarius paper this time too, and it’s so hard to get that pigment down, so mine is a little lighter.

Yesterday went to Double Bay. I used to live over that way, but I haven’t been there for a long time. For the uninititated – it’s known as ‘Double Pay’. One of my classmates from art school has a solo exhibition there - Pablo Tapia. Have a look at his work. He is so very talented and also a very interesting and thoughtful person.

Dry Mediums – cubist step by step

This is step two of my cubist painting. I’ve collaged ‘La Fiamma’ which is Sydney’s Italian language newspaper, then underpainted with a little yellow oxide mixed with Matisse Matt Gel Medium to strengthen the newsprint. Then I’ve applied the various textural Matisse Dry Mediums onto the shapes within the main objects.  There are also shapes in the background, done with Microspheres and Wollastonite, because they are relatively transparent and I wanted to retain some of the newsprint.