Roz Wound Up

Hairdos, Noses, Ears—You Know: Everything about Sketching

Above: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch with gouache layers on blue paper (see left side of image for paper color). Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Have you ever noticed how on TV some shows, even shows that you believe must have a large budget EVERYONE has the same hairstyle? Sometimes all the actors, regardless of gender look as if they've walked through the same wind tunnel.

I know some of this is related to what's in style in the broader culture at the time. But part of this phenomenon is also simply "the" style of the leading stylist. Sometimes instead of giving everyone a haircut based on what their character would do a stylist gives the hairdo he or she think is needed. It's not the same thing at all. 

I'm was watching one of those shows the other night and when I started sketching yet another man with the same hairdo I couldn't stop laughing. 

But then I guess it's working because the spiky hairstyle is what got me to stop and want to sketch in the first place—that and noses and ears.

In our final memory drawing class we did a slew of stuff, but one thing we did was play a "parlor game" where you have a folded sheet of paper and someone draws a nose on the first panel and passes it left. That person has 30 seconds to look at the nose, fold over the panel and redraw the nose from memory. Then the sheet of paper gets passed along again. This time the only reference for the next participant is the previous participant's interpretation of that nose. And so it goes. (There were 9 of us each starting a sheet and passing it on.)

Well when asked to draw a nose, any nose, of course I asked, "should there be any context? any part of the face?" It was left up to us.

So when asked to draw a nose of course I drew Adam Goldberg's nose. (At the link scroll down to the final images of him in profile, that's the nose I drew.) After passing through eighteen 30-second interpretations the nose derived from the nose I drew didn't even look like the nose on the park ranger in Yogi Bear!

It's a fun thing to try.

But I'd rather draw real noses—speaking of which Adam Goldberg is on a new cop show "NYC-22" which is on Fridays I believe. I'm not sucked into it yet after only a couple episodes (and too many characters for me to care about) and it's nothing like the fabulous show he was in called "the Unusuals" that was cancelled (where all the characters were immediately interesting), but I will continue to watch. I love opportunities to draw noses with character. Or ears.

Get a long, long sheet of paper and fold it into panels so that all the folds peak on the same side of the sheet (and therefore each panel can just be folded away out of view). Have everyone start a sheet with the leftmost panel and pass it on. After 30 seconds the "reference" has to be folded out of view and a remembered nose is drawn on the next blank panel. Then pass it to the next player. Keep the drawing simple, with bold lines. (A thick pen or the PPBPB would be ideal.) See what happens. 

The Whiskey Painters Standard Palette—A Product Review

If the above video doesn't play see The Whiskey Painters Standard Palette on YouTube.

The other day I was in Wet Paint (my local independent art supply store) and they showed me these new travel palette boxes that replace the former ones I've been using in this size: 3-3/16 x 2-3/8 inches approximately when closed. 

I LOVE it. As you can see from the video, it is still very compact, but it now has half pans that are easily switched out. It's very ingenious and well-made. I'm totally in love with it and had to show you as soon as I could so I didn't even set up lights and a tripod (apologies for the shaky video, but you get to see what is important).

Currently my palette is filled with a selection of M. Graham and Daniel Smith watercolors. But because the little pressure plates are simple to remove I can change my mind in a moment. I can simply take out the pressure plates that lock in the pans, switch out the pans I don't want to use, put in ones I want to use, lock it up and go. 

Note: If you're a fan of Schmincke's Pan Watercolors I tried inserting them in this box. They also fit. (That's the only brand of factory-made pans I use so I can't help you with info about other brands.)

With the old box this size made in China, that wasn't an option. While I have this flexibility with my larger travel palettes sometimes you just don't want to take a full box. This makes it very simple to have just a few pans of color that you really want.

So if you like to travel light you might want to check this palette box out. I am not commercially connected to the makers or sellers of this palette. I'm just a happy customer. I paid $30 for mine.

If you would like to know the gouache colors I have in my old palette, shown in the video, you can see the palette and a diagram of colors in "Project 640 Tubes: Selecting A Gouache Palette."

If you would like to see a selection of my watercolor and gouache travel palettes (including the old Chinese box when it was empty) you can go to Travel Palettes for Watercolor and Gouache. The small kids palettes that you see in that image are palettes that I carry with me every day, regardless of where I'm going or for how long. The larger travel palettes are for when I'm going to a specific destination or on a road trip. The old Chinese palette was something I carried for special trips to the zoo, or day destinations, when I wanted more color. Now I have an even better option.  

More from the Blue-Paper Journal

Left: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch and gouache on blue laid paper. From an approximately 12 inch square journal. Clipped in scanning to save time. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

This paper in the English journal is thick enough that you can paint on it without the paper buckling, even though it isn't a wet media paper. It's fun to paint on even though there is a lot of drag on the brush because of the paper's texture.

THe blue in the eyes and at the very edges and base of the page are all the original blue of the paper. The other blues are added paint.

I was working with Schmincke gouache except that I had M.Graham titanium white already out.

I was using a filbert brush to make flat strokes, turnning it on its side to make more rounded strokes.

Some of my black in lines are still visible (see the outline of the iris in each eye. But other times I'm covering the ink as in the collar where I decided I didn't like the "plaid shading."

Project Friday: Getting Used to the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen—Part 5 of a 5 (at least) Part Series

Left: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch on Gutenberg paper with acrylic paint over the sketch. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Today I wanted to write a little bit about using wet media over your Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (PPBP) sketches.

I've written a ton of posts on this topic because I do this all the time so I have plenty of examples to show you. Some of the images I'm showing today (or giving links to) you've already seen, but I wanted to call your attention to them in the context of the current series of using the PPBP.

Why paint over the brush lines and obscure them once you have gone to the trouble (actually it's no trouble) of working with the brush pen to begin with?

First, some people like to work in pen and ink and I wanted you to know that with the PPBP you can work with wet media over it. You'll want to keep in mind that on various papers the sizing will float any ink for a little bit (and some for a very long time indeed) so if you are going to paint over your PPBP lines, whether or not you want them to still be visible, you need to take the paper you're working on into consideration.

If the concept of how sizing impacts your sketching and use of wet media with ink is new to you please read "It's Not Waterproof until It's Waterproof."

Because papers vary so much I suggested you do your initial PPBP experiments in a Fabriano Venezia journal. I use this brand of journal for my studio journal and it is a great surface to draw on with this pen, but it is also fun to paint on. The ink of the PPBP dries almost immediately on this paper and you're good to go to start painting in watercolor, gouache, or acrylic. I knew you would have the best chance for early experimental success on this paper—and not have to worry about what other factors might be getting in your way.

You can see partially finished gouache paintings that are built up on a base of PPBP lines at this link. My goal there was to use the gouache to completely cover the lines. The lines were only meant to be a "skeleton" or guide for my later painting.

Often when I set out to do this type of work I fall in love with the lines on the paper and don't want to cover them with paint. If this happens to you consider working in transparent watercolor and retaining your lines. Alternately you can simply take a photograph or scan of your original line art before you dive in with the paint.

Over time, I do encourage you to dive in with opaque wet media just because it is so much fun, but also because it's good to let go of our line drawings sometimes. We can always make more! It's a good way to get over being precious about your work.

Painting with opaque media over you brush pen lines will also free your sketching up. You will come to understand that you can "correct" or adjust even the most awkward of bold ink lines you might have placed on your page. You'll sketch more boldly knowing you can go to paint. It gives you more options.

Today's Project 

For this weekend, or week if you can, I'd like you to keep making your sketches, but to keep in mind that you will be painting over the sketch when you are done. Do this with watercolor, gouache, or acrylic—whatever you are comfortable with.

Here are some questions to keep in mind as you work, and some exercises:

1. Think "Which lines can I leave out because I'm going to come back in and add painted areas?" Review my comments about the gargoyle sketch at the bottom of Part 3 in this series. In that image you'll see areas of watercolor which I repeatedly darkened to create shading, areas not enclosed by pen lines. 

2. Review the image I painted of the angry woman in the first post of this series. You'll see that I'm not trying to add any shading lines (crosshatching or squiggles) in that sketch at all. I have some pen lines indicating segments of strands of hair, but all the other lines in this image are simply the edges of features I wanted to be hard. I have only the thinest suggestion of a partial ink line of the cheekline to the ear, because I knew I was going to add paint there in shading. I could have scaled back even more in my lines, omitting the lines under her eyes for instance, but I really wanted the hard edge there to accentuate that she was wrinkled. As you sketch, when you know you are going to use transparent washes, plan what you can leave out. One of the bits I think works best in this sketch is the left side (our left) of her nose, where there is no line down to the lip, but only color for shadows.

3. Experiment with simply stroking color over the pen lines as I did in this dog sketch, and then adding some additional shading with light washes. Note the lips on this dog, how I bring the shadow up around the lip. It would be too "strident" to have pen lines shading here, so instead, knowing that I'm going to paint, I omit any lines there and make the paint do the work. I am suggesting you broadly stroke color over your pen lines in random ways because it's fun and you can have the experience just playing with the paint and seeing how the lines stay put. You could of course work with the PPBP on a pre-painted page. The bold lines the pen makes totally hold their own on a variety of backgrounds.

Left: Here's a page in my blue paper journal where I worked in PPBP and then went over the image with some basic gouache layers, just to add a couple more layers of value and to test how white the white would appear (too white with this range of values, but that's why I experiment). The background was painted in to obscure a previous sketch that wasn't working and to isolate the head. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

4. Experiment with toned papers. You can pre-paint your pages first with acrylic inks or diluted acrylic paints (you want your paints diluted enough so that you don't have an acrylic film on your page which will repell the ink of your PPBP). As you've seen in recent posts from the blue-paper journal the PPBP can stand on its own on even a dark surface, but it's also really fun to paint over the lines and have the color cover the ink.

5. Make your line drawing simple and then add only shadows with transparent washes. This is a good way to get familiar with adding paint to your sketches. Do several sketches like this in rapid succession, pausing only to use a different color for shading. At the end of your session look over your pieces and decide which cool temperature color mixes you like for shadow work. From those colors you can work up an entire mini-palette of colors with which to do more finished pieces. You'll find triads and complementary pairs that you enjoy working in; color families you can't live without.

6. Experiment with other media such as watersoluble pastels. I do a lot of sketches with the PPBP which I then cover with StabiloTones or NeoColor IIs. You can find my method by looking under "StabiloTones" and "colored pencils" in the search engine for this blog. There are tons of examples of what I do with these items.

Left: A sketch of a bantam that you've seen on the blog before. I started with a PPBP sketch and then worked up layers of StabiloTone over the ink lines. Very few of the internal ink lines are left visible, but I do allow the black lines to appear at any edges where I need crisp contrast because I typically don't use black pigment. This is in a journal I made with Gutenberg paper. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

7. Experiment with a variety of brushes on a favorite wet media paper. You want to use a paper you enjoy working on with wet media. Then you want to make your sketch with your brain editing back the lines that you put down because you know you are going to add paint. Then when you go in with paint use brushes that you normally don't use. If you always use rounds, use a flat. If you never use a fan, pick one up. The idea is to do broad washes, not fussy ones. Mix your value on your palette and hit it with one line (see the first link example of the lab image in the next exercise). Broad bold brush strokes that define form and provide local color and shadow but don't necessarily "stay within the lines" work great with the boldness of the crisp ink line the PPBP provides.

8. Experiment on a variety of paper types. In this PPBP sketch of a lab on Stonehenge you can see I've added a little bit of color. While I enjoy painting on Stonehenge it is a printmaking paper and not a watercolor paper. It might not be a paper that suits every watercolorist. Gather a selection of papers on which you enjoy working. If you've already done the experiments suggested in Part 4 of this series you've already gathered and tested some papers with your PPBP. Now you'll be testing your favorite wet media on those papers, over the PPBP lines. Make a sketch and immediately go to paint over it. Do the lines bleed at all on the paper? A lot? A little? Only in certain areas? If the ink bleeds at all set the drawing aside for a couple minutes and keep coming back to it to test the lines with a clean wet brush every 2 minutes or so. In that way you'll discover how long it takes for the ink to dry on that paper. Two minutes? Ten minutes? Longer? What is acceptable to you? For me, because I sketch quickly and want to go to watercolor or gouache immediately I need papers that absorb the inks I use quickly. As you read in the "waterproof" post I provided a link to earlier, some of our favorite papers may change from batch to batch. And some may have idiocyncracies with which you can live. You'll only find this out by doing these experiments, working the way you want to work, in the conditions you typically work in (e.g., a dry environment, a humid environment, etc.).

That's quite a lot of experiments for a weekend or a week, so I know this will be something that you can come back to over time. What I would encourage you to do is to try your favorite wet media with the PPBP for several days in a row before switching to a different wet media (or watersoluble media). Spend a good hour or more each day for 5 or more days just focusing on how you can best use the PPBP with that favorite media before you go off to explore another wet media with it. You want to see what you can do with a medium before you move to the next one. 

In this way you will develop a familiarity with your tools and media.

Have fun with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it.

I had hoped several weeks ago to make a video of me sketching with it doing some of the things I have been writing about. It just wasn't possible. But I still have plans to do that and will keep you posted. In the meantime keep working with that pen!

Repetition in Practice: Before and After (Pencil and Gouache)

Above: Pencil and gouache sketch in a journal I made with Nideggen. Before painting over the sketch I took a photo of the pencil sketch. A print of that sketch (shot in poor lighting, but the pencil lines are what was important to me) was printed out the next day and stuck onto the page. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Repetition always helps in practice, but it has to be intelligent repetition, based on observed characteristics and actions that can be adjusted and varied for improvement.

I often scan experiments I'm making at various stages of the process so that I can replicate process steps, or so that I can keep track of where a process goes awry. 

With the fantasy people sketches that I've been making in the past few weeks once I lay that paint on and start smearing it around the underlying pencil sketch also gets smeared. I decided to take a photo of this one to retain so that I could better analyze not only the process, but the results.

I'm not wholly convinced that sketching in pencil is going to work for me long term. I'm pretty much an ink person. But there are some characteristics of pencil and paint that I like, so I'll keep playing with it for now.

This type of before and after helps me assess how much I lose or keep the original sketch through the painting process. It will help me decide if I need as much detail as I've put in here, or if I need more.

In this way I can keep moving towards an approach that I can actually say works or doesn't work for me.

I'm not encouraging you to become obsessive about your process, but I do think that there are times when a few intermediate photos (or scans) of the process as you move through it will help your post process accessment. Give it a try.  Be sure to label any digital files with a simple A, B, C, etc. attached to the title so that you know the exact order—over time you might be confused when things aren't as straightforward as with or without paint in this circumstance.

Pencil and Gouache Not Working on All the Papers I Like

Left: Pencil sketch (low light photo) using 2B pencil in a Fabriano Venezia Journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement. 

Let's start with the pencil sketch. First you know I've been working on Nideggen paper with pencil and then smearing and painting on gouache while doing the "fantasy people" I've been posting lately. Well I love working in Fabriano Venezia journals for my in-studio journals (I use the 9 x 12 inch size which is too large for me to carry around, hence the "in-studio" application) so I decided to try out my experiment on this paper as well.

You may also remember that I'm a huge fan of working in pen on the paper in these journals, and then smearing paint around. (Remember the spatter dog series?)

This paper really takes a lot of beating, but I don't typically use pencil on it. What I found is that when I went to push the paint around with a paper towel the pencil moved all over the place too. The paper just didn't hold the graphite.

So while I started with a pretty loose sketch that I had intended to "correct" in the gouache phase anyway, I ended up with a lot of graphite smeared everywhere and no real visible image. So it was as if I started over from scratch. 

Left: Here's the "finished" experiment and if you click on the image to enlarge it you will see how the first wash of paint on the right side of the face (our right side) pretty much washed all the graphite away—and it didn't help that I was pushing the paint around then with a paper towel and further disturbing the graphite, see neck area. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

In the second image in this post you can see how the graphite got pushed and washed away on the whole face, because I left half of the face unfinished. On the other side of the image you can see how I kept going in with some layers of gouache and built up the drawing again, with the paint. Since I couldn't see much of the drawing any longer I had to essentially redraw things with my brush, but that's OK because that's fun—just not what I was hoping to do.

Right: Here's a detail portion of the "finished" side so you can see some of the layers of gouache more clearly. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

So the end result of this experiment was that I finished my lunch and later that evening when I wanted to do more pencil and gouache studies and experiments I got out my regular journal which I'd made with the Nideggen paper.

I was working with some paints I'd put out for another project and didn't want to put out more paint at lunch, so I was working without my PB60 which I use to make my darkest darks most of the time. I used instead a bit of Lukas Cobalt blue which is an inexpensive paint that I typically don't use.

I don't recommend Lukas Gouache at all, even for studies. I used to, and it's one of the better low-grade gouache paints, but I've pulled the plug on it. I'm down to the last little bit in a bunch of tubes and just tossed the rest of it. It smells a bit chemical-ly; it's imitation cobalt in this instance so there's a mix of pigments which are muddying up my color blends. All in all it's just not a satisfactory paint for most of what I want to do and not useful for studies (since I won't be using the paint to create "those" qualities in a final painting).

The problem with being an experimenter is that you end up buying a lot of supplies to test and sometimes they don't "lead" anywhere. The great thing about being an experimenter is that when you use a product you really don't care for it makes the return to the product you love all the sweeter. 

Playing with Paint

Left: Sketch made watching Scott Caan on "Hawaii Five-0." Pencil and gouache on Nideggen. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I don't expect you to recognize the actor from my sketch. Both his nose and neck are too long in the sketch. (In fact several people have pointed out to me that Caan is sort of noted for not having a neck—but it's all those elongated fantasy people I've been sketching.)

I wanted to show the image to you today because it's more playing with paint just like what I've been doing with the fantasy people I've posted over the past couple of weeks or so.

Method: 2B pencil sketch, apply layers of gouache and swipe them off with a paper towel, or blot them. Apply more paint, take it off, and so on. Spatter paint everywhere and finish.

 

Left: Here is a detail section showing the layers of colors that are going down. I'm using my Schmincke gouache in pretty liquid concentration, wanting the pencil lines to still show through in places. Then towards the end I use it in slightly thicker applications (about heavy cream thickness, which is more traditional) for some highlights and for use of spot colors like the red and the blue in this image. Isn't the paper texture lovely! I love Nideggen paper's wavy laid texture. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I wanted you to see this one because I love the color I put in his hair. (I went that way because I'd used Indian yellow and knew I'd use the purple for a complementary color, but wanted to add the light blue first.)

I was having so much fun I "forgot" to go to bed. (And no, I do not feel guilty at all about watching 5-0!)

Fantasy People—Just 'Cause, You Don't Always Need Angst

Above: Another pencil and gouache experiment on Nideggen in a custom made journal. Page spread is approx 12.75 x 9.5 inches. Click on the image to view an enlargment.

While focusing on my fake journal for International Fake Journal Month I have been continuing my experiments with pencil and gouache in my regular daily journal. I am having a lot of fun putting paint on the page and wiping it off. Sometimes I use 19th century photos for facial feature references.

If you would like to read a little more about my fantasy people experiments you can read this post here. And a tubular fantasy person appears in this post about taking a paper vacation.

As this journal fills up something wonderful is happening—there are pages filled with failed experiments (I didn't leave enough space on this page to create an animal body for instance) and there are other pages filled with notes about my life (as usual), but these's also a relaxation that is fun to savor. I have no expectation of doing anything with this series. I think this might be why some people doodle.

I have a vague sense that my eye is trying to decide whether or not I like painting over pencil (which is something I've pretty much not done since the 1990s).

I also have the sense of vast opening space. This is something that the visual journal always does for me, but it is intensified currently, because I am stepping away from methods I usually enjoy.

Shitty pictures or successful pictures it doesn't matter. The movement forward, the paint puckered pages, that's what matters because it's all leading to something—letting me sort things out. The sorting that happens in a visual journal is multifaceted—it can be artistic (which is superfically obvious) and personal and psychological and emotional.

But it doesn't have to be "work," in the sense of burdensome or a task to get through. In fact I've found, as you know from reading many posts on this blog, that the process should involve fun, wonder, and experimentation. We can work hard by applying ourselves to discovery (of a technique or an understanding of self) without always straining. The journal and the effort doesn't have to be angst-filled to be successful. We can ask questions and then simply listen for the answers. The work is to have patience—to keep working intensely, but to listen patiently.

The beauty of keeping a visual journal is that it doesn't have to mean anything to anyone else at the same time that it means everything to you. And all the while you can be excited and thrilled by the experience of working in it and yet also relaxed.

So relax a little into your journal today and see what happens.

Spring Break—Time To Play Catch Up

Above: Painted half and quarter sheets of multimedia watercolor paper that I'm going to use for decorative paper for handmade journals. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Spring Break—I haven't had one of those in decades. It was good to have a week off from drawing classes, however a bookbinding class that I was teaching fell into that slot along with a lot of catch up, so it wasn't so much a break as a shift in focus.

And of course whenever I'm really, really busy I find time to make more books. 

But before I can make books I have to make decorative paper for the covers. That's what you see above: 90 lb. watercolor paper painted with acrylic paints in a variety of strokes and layers and of course spatters. The paper is the multimedia watercolor paper I wrote about early this year. Follow the link in the photo caption to my review and information on the paper. It's the second paper reviewed in that post.

When I did my small sample test journal of this paper I found that I didn't like some of its properties for working on in my daily journal. But I had a bunch of it left over and it seemed a sturdy paper so I have been painting it in the abstract fashion you see above for use on my journal covers. It was very economical, so it is great to take time to experiment with it and see how it handles itself for this application.

A new batch of decorative papers is always a fun day for me—all the colorful sheets looking like a mish-mash on the floor as they dry. I get so happy knowing that soon they will be turned into books.

Also during break I made nine books (which I'll share in a separate post as soon as I set them up to photograph). It was definitely a productive break, made more fun because the weather conspired to allow great bike rides!

Tips on doing decorative papers like this:
1. Lightly pencil a series of full length lines in the grain direction on the back of each full sheet before you tear and/or paint them. Spacing them about every 3 to 4 inches will be fine. This will ensure that you always know the grain direction even on scraps.

2. Think about your principles of color theory (mixing complements is going to result in neutrals; analogous colors are going to feel a bit more vibrant) but allow yourself to push and use colors you might not regularly use. For this batch I did a lot of indulging in magenta and PINK, which is not "me" at all. But I have some lovely, lovely books because of these experiments.

3. Don't judge your end result, which may look confused and even garish. Put them aside to dry and then look at them next to the book cloth selection you have. You'll start to see "croppings" within the paper that will make lovely pairings.

4. Have a selection of brushes on hand to make different marks with: a floppy tipped sumi brush; wide 3- and 2-inch brushes; toothbrushes for spatter; sponge brushes; sponges. I also used some scrunched up plastic wrap on one of these sheets.

5. If you have a sheet that doesn't have enough contrast you can always go in with darker or lighter colors to alter that. It's the fun of working with fluid acrylic paints or acrylic inks.

6. If you have a sheet that really doesn't seem to be "happy" at all, spatter it with a bit of gold! That often can salvage even the most "hideous" sheet.

7. Don't worry if you can't salvage a sheet. It's an experiment, it's play, it's discovery. You've learned something. You can always cut the sheet down into small bits that you can use in your collage work, or on cards as backgrounds! Scan the sheets and alter them in Photoshop by inverting the color, or using filters. Then you'll have a great background for your digital work, or you can print that out on paper and use it for your collage work! Be inventive. You'll use it up.

Observing Nature: Pat Beaubien at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective

Above: St. Paul artist Pat Beaubien discusses her nature/travel journals at the March 2012 MCBA Visual Journal Collective. Here she shows a watercolor of a meadow near Grand Marais, MN where she rents a cabin as frequently as possible. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

First, before we go any further, Pat Beaubien doesn't currently have a website so what I was able to snap photos of is what you'll be able to see until she develops a website. You might encourage Pat to do that, she's tired of hearing me say it. If you would like to contact Pat with questions about her artwork you can reach her at patbeaubien@gmail.com.

On March 19, St. Paul artist Pat Beaubien came to the MCBA Visual Journal Collective to show her nature/travel journals to the members.

Pat is a watercolor artist who also uses pens and pencils of different sorts, "Give me one and I'll try it out," she said laughing, when someone asked if she ever used watersoluble colored pencils. In her hands ordinary tools are given a new life and direction.

Left: a stack of Pat's journals ready for discussion, along with her small leather pencil case which holds all of her supplies—several sizes of Niji Waterbrushes (including a flat), a Staedtler Pigment Liner, a Pentel Pocket Brush pen, and her mini palette filled with Daniel Smith Watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Pat's idea of travel is to go to one destination and spend 2 or three weeks there sketching—not moving about trying to see a travel guide's highlight points. It is more satisfying to get to know one place, and Pat does this through her painting. 

Until her recent retirement Pat taught art to elementary school children. She would use her vacations to travel and paint. She would sell her paintings, made on site, to fund her trips. (When you view the stunning beauty of Pat's work you can understand how this was possible.)

During the school year, however her painting side was dormant. Teaching took her focus and energy. "Then in 2007 I took Roz's nature journaling class in Grand Marais," said Pat, "and took to heart her comment about doing a little sketching and painting everyday. It's amazing how quickly you can improve when you work everyday."

(Note: Pat was already more "improved" than most artists I see when I had her in class. I'm glad I had an effect on her practice.)

Left: Cone flowers and other blooms in a Grand Marais garden, share space with a local artist's garden sculpture. Grand Marais may have more artists per capita than any other town in the U.S. There are things to look at and purchase everywhere. This watercolor sketch is in one of her 9 x 12 inch Fabriano Venezia journals. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Pat still uses the same mini kid's palette she got in class (refilled many times), Niji waterbrushes (also replaced over time), and Staedtler Pigment Liners. She'll experiment with new pens as people suggest them and she has become quite fond of the Pentel Pocket Brush pen. 

The palette contains the following Daniel Smith watercolors: Quin Gold, Azo Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Quin Pink. Napth. Maroon, Cobalt Teal, Phthalo. Turquoise, Indanthrone Blue, and Zinc White. The set originally contained Buff Titanium but Pat says she hasn't replaced that. Also she is thinking about replacing the Cobalt Teal to get a different range in her mixes.

Pat will sometimes do a light pencil sketch before moving to watercolor. Other times Pat will sketch directly with pen and then apply watercolor. Her method, she explained, is just what happens when she is seated and ready to paint.

While she initially continued making books of the type she learned to make in Grand Marais (8 x 10 inch sewn-on the spine journals), the urge to just paint was great, so she moved on to the Fabriano Venezia 9 x 12 inch journals. (Pat loves the large page size in both these books, and you only have to look at the results to see that's a great size for her work.)

Left: Pat sketches lakeside in the North Woods. Often one of her artist friends Nanette Lee will join her—you can see Nan in the bottom left of the image. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

As she spends more time up north exploring, revisiting painting sites she has previously discovered, Pat has considered returning to flat paintings but she was unsure how to store them. The Collective threw out a variety of portfolio options she could use to house the final paintings in "journal" form.

After her presentation and a round of questions the 25 attendees gathered around the table to get a personal look through Pat's journals, and continue the conversation. We all left inspired and ready to jump back into our own journals after our trip into nature with Pat.

Below: A view of a stone bridge on Lake Superior, using Daniel Smith Watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

If you would like to know a little bit more about Grand Marais and some of the artists living and visiting there you can check out this short film on the yearly "Plein Air Brush Off." Tom Winterstein supplied this link after the topic came up in discussion. 

UPDATE 4.13.12: Want to see more photos of Pat's work and the event? Go to Briana Goetzen's blog post at Courageously Creating. (Thank you Briana for capturing so much with your camera.)