20 MINUTE CHALLENGE REVISITED

In class we did three 20-minute paintings. We used common objects to create simple studies. (painting from life instead of pictures is important) Use a small piece of paper, 5 x 7 or 7 x 10 unless you are using a very large brush. Here are the rules:

1. Get all of your supplies together and get your paints wet and ready to paint before timing yourself.
2. Arrange objects to paint.
3. You have 20 minutes to paint, including your drawing time.
4. Self-critique. What could you have done differently? What would you like to try?

I think of this as PLAN, PAINT, EVALUATE

Tips: Focus on the most important shapes first. You won't have time for a lot of detail.
         Try looking at the negative instead of the positive shape.
          Try to have your drawing touch on 3 sides of the paper.
          Leave tiny white spaces between colors unless you want them to bleed together.

On your next painting CHANGE something. You can choose to paint something else or paint the same object, but change either your color scheme (or just use 2 colors), your paint brush (from round to flat, from small to large, etc), use different paper, or paint the negative instead of the positive.

Again:Plan, Paint 20 minutes, evaluate what you like, what you might change.

So, what is the point?

First, it's non-threatening. Nobody expects to create a masterpiece in 20 minutes, so you are free to experiment and play. Second, it gets you in the "groove," ready to paint, like an athlete warms up before a game. Third, you have only 20 minutes to make major decisions about shapes, colors, etc. That is great training for your brain. And fourth, you can pretty much squeeze 20 minutes into almost any day. The more you pick up that brush, the better you will get.

To see some of my 20-minute paintings, look at the Feb 5, 2010 post. Some are pretty unimpressive. Except for the one the dog ate.

a loose flower done in 20 minutes.

Comments from the class: "I started looking more than painting." "Looking at negative shapes helps with perspective." 

Christmas Gift Ideas

As promised, I am attaching a link to Steve Mitchell's Mind of Watercolor youtube. He talks about some interesting, and mostly not expensive, artsy Christmas gift ideas. He tells where to get them and how much they cost. Toward the end, he suggests four books. There are two by Claudia Nice, giving advice on line and wash (pen and ink).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg1BiV3MPbs

I think you'll enjoy some of his suggestions.

Christmas Cards with Vodka transfers

USING ALCOHOL TO MAKE A TRANSFER

SUPPLIES YOU NEED:

pictures printed on INK JET printer (not lazer)

smooth or hot press watercolor paper

(I used Bee paper cut to 6 x 9)

Vodka, gin, or whiskey (rubbing alcohol doesn't work)

stiff brush

ink pen

watercolors

I got this idea from this book by Karlyn Holman, Watercolor, The Spirit of Spontaneity. It's a collection of methods used by different artists. 

First, lay your pictures upside down on your paper. A little at a time, start applying the alcohol onto the back of the print with stiff brush, rubbing and applying some pressure. Then go to the next area. If you oversoak the paper with alcohol, the ink will just run together.

When you are done, lift off the print, and you will have a reverse image of your print. It is usually not a perfect image. Some have a bit of a dry brush look.

Then dry the card. You can use pen and ink or watercolor to add details. 

On the cards below, I tore tape and taped off areas for the trees, then used a color picture to transfer only inside the taped area. On the right, I painted in sky, inked the outliness of trees, and painted in some birds. Also added soe gouache for snow on the tree and spatters of snow in the background. 

(the one on the left is not finished...I just took the tape off)

This one is the print with some ink added to bring out the ornaments. 

On this one, I made a stencil out of yupo paper, and just transfered inside the stnecil. Then I went over parts with ink.

On the bulbs below the tree I laid the print over the paper and only rubbed it with alcohol in some circular parts. I painted a green background and inked in the ornament shapes and some fir branchees.

In the ones below, I liked the transfer. They are on the Bee paper, and look a little dry brushed. On the left, I left it just as it came out. On the right, I inked the outline; added some yellows to leaves and flower; and added some darker shadows in the leaves with watercolor paint. 

The only caution is that, if you use words or numbers, you have to tell your printer to print them for transfer so they won't be backwards in the final print.

If you use 90 pound paper, be sure to flatten it after you finish, as it curls much more than 140 pound.

Putting people in your landscapes

As promised, I want to discuss some principles Yuki Hall stressed on putting people in your paintings to give a feeling of depth and perspective.

to start with, here are two video links that talk about perspective drawing in general.

a ten-minute video on beginning perspective, one and two point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn_0wEwZNEU

a 28-minute video by Liron Yanconsky that has good common sense tips on perspective. He begins talking about adding figures around the 10-minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMgBUXfwS0g


So here are some things I learned from Yuki Hall (and from other sources) about adding figures.

1. Keep the head small - just a dot, circle, or oval. (I try for oval)
2. The body can start out as a carrot shape or elongated triangle.
3. Don't paint in feet or hands, generally
4. You usually only see 1 - 1 1/2 legs
5. Allow colors to mingle on the paper
6. Add a shadow underneath to connect to ground

In the picture below, the top row of peoople and the bottom row are done the "blob" method. I put in some blobs of paint for shirts, added skirt, shorts, or pants, then added legs, face, hair. The middle row is done in perspective with "triangle" people. I used pictures from magazines to practice different poses.



The number one thing has to do with perspective. In general, on a level plane, adult heads will begin at eye level, or the horizon line. Only if the person is taller or shorter or bending over is this different.

So the first order of business is to find your eye level.
In the picture below, the horizon line, or eye level will be about the level of the bottom of the windows. Lightly draw that in. ( a straight horizontal line across the paper)

Then find the correct angle for the sidewalk. (You could extend the horizon line to the left, then follow the angle of the side of the church to the left, and where the two lines converge is the vanishing point)

Lightly sketch in heads on the horizon line, then an elongated carrot or triangle to the point where they meet the sidewalk. Then fill in your figures using very simple strokes. Facial details are not needed.

Below is a very useful book on putting figures in paintings. It includes a few going uphill. 

 Here are some videos that explain some of the ways to paint in figures: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMgBUXfwS0g

Bob Burridge's "carrot people" method - 13 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8uT7DvpaCM

Bob Davies triangle people - 7 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRQVrUkkPCk

Arty Julie does blobs people 8 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rs_EyrZ6z0

WHAT I LEARNED FROM YUKI HALL

Southeastern Indiana Art Guild hosted Yuki Hall this past weekend at a watercolor workshop. We all came away with a great experience and a chance to learn a different way of approaching our art.

Before I begin, a disclaimer. All of the paintings here were done from Yuki Hall's reference photos either in her workshop or at my home. They are not to be thought of as "original" paintings by me.  Also, this is a summary, not a complete class. I just wanted to put down my thoughts for future reference so I don't forget them.

I can't say enough about Yuki as a teacher. It's inspiring to know that, like many of us, her background is not fine arts....that came later. So that is hopeful for me!

Before I forget, I am attaching an interview with Yuki Hall from January of this year. It includes some of her beautiful paintings. (this is not a video) I especially like what she has to say about painting the feeling of a place, not just unimportant details.

https://ccpvideos.com/blogs/news/interview-with-artist-yuki-hall

I took lots of notes, but I'd like to focus on just a few things she shared that I feel will help me in future paintings. Some may seem simple, but sometimes the simple changes make a big difference.

PAPER

This was my first experience with rough paper, and I was a bit wary of trying it. We used 140 lb Arches Rough. It did make a big difference in creating some sparkle with dry brush.

BRUSHES

I know there is no "magic brush" that will make me a better painter. However, here are her tools:

Yuki used 3 main types of brushes.

*MOP - OK, I thoughtI could get away with my huge quill brushes and an inexpensive "mop." Nope. By mop brush she meant one that comes to a lovely point, holds tons of water, and creates soft edges.
She used Silver Black Velvet Jumbo Round (mop type) for initial washes. My quill did OK.

ROUNDS: She uses Silver Black Velvet round brushes in 16, 12, and 10. For work that requires a harder edge, she uses synthetic rounds 16, 12, and 10. Those seem like large brushes to me, but their sharp points made surprisingly clear lines.

RIGGER: For calligraphic and line work, she uses a rigger and a dagger liner.  (Those who know me, understand my brush envy) pictured below



COLORS

Yuki keeps her palette simple, using 6 to 7 colors per painting. This helps with color unity.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING (AS IN VALUE STUDIES)

When Yuki talked about the importance of a value/tonal study, inside I wash shouting "Yeah!" We've been talking about that in class for months.

Before doing a painting, a value study is important. You work out a lot of your issues. We used 1/8 sheet of paper and any paint color that can achieve a dark value. (I used neutral tint; she used sepia). Draw large shapes first. Keep the drawing down to simple shapes, no details.






CREATING A WASH & THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTING PARTS OF THE PAINTING

I have almost always used wet into wet washes for skies and large areas of the painting. It was interesting to see someone do a wet into dry paper wash. Paper is on a board, tilted to about a 25-45 degree angle. Using the large mop brush, she wets a line along the top of the paper. Then she adds color in horizontal strokes, adding more paint for a darker wash, more water for a lighter wash.

I liked that Yuki keeps a scrap of paper right next to the painting to check her color on before touching the painting.

Below is the color painting of one of the tonal value paintings that I didn't get to do in the workshop. I tried painting the sky in a wash, as suggested, right down to the horizon line, covering what will be the trees, and painting around the top of the barn. (sky using French ultramarine with a bit of burnt sienna to gray it down.)

As the painting was losing its shine, I added some green (made from French and raw sienna) to the horizon line and let it blend upward into the sky wash. This allows the trees to appear DISTANT because of the SOFT EDGES.
Then, leaving a thin line of dry paper, I painted clear water horizontally below the trees and barn. This acts as a barrier. Then I could paint a wash across the bottom of raw sienna.

At this point, it was suggested that background and midground be CONNECTED by making small marks to join the green of the trees to the raw sienna area. This was something of a new idea for me.
Yuki also "connects" parts of the painting with long brush strokes, some criss crossed, later in the painting.

While damp, you can spatter foreground, make brush marks, or otherwise texturize the foreground.




I dried the painting. With cobalt, I put in some direction lines, some shadow by the barn, and darkened the left corner in a diagonal direction. It created some dry brush also, whih is interesting. I painted in my barn and windmill, letting some of the colors run together a little. I mostly left the roof white, but put in a few lines and some shadows.



Below you can see a few final details. I put in the white horse to give a feeling of depth, and I loosely painted a few windmill blades. I also negative painted a few tree trunks.



Below you can see the paintings with their companion value studies:




Super happy with the way this one turned out.

I changed a few things from my value study to painting.

I don't generally consider myself a landscape painter, but the workshop gave me the incentive to maybe try a few. 

OTHER TOPICS COVERED:

USING FIGURES TO IMPLY PERSPECTIVE

USING TONE TO IMPLY PERSPECTIVE

ECONOMY OF STROKES

THE IMPORTANCE OF USING A VARIETY OF EDGES

IF you are interested in learning more, Yuki Hall's website is yukihallfineart.com. She has a Spain trip planned in May of 2020.

More about putting figures in a painting next week when we do Christmas cards. Will also discuss the best way to use tequila.....to make prints from ink jet copies.

THREE THINGS TO TRY WITH SUNSETS

SUNRISE, SUNSET

They should be simple, right? 

But then, someone goes and puts clouds into the mix. And maybe some body of water.

I want to talk about three things that might make it simpler. But first, I'm going to show Sterling Edwards method of painting a sunset. Below is a link to his 13 minute video on painting sunsets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8IhOoYNsE4

The main idea is that, when painting a sunset, you need a "buffer zone" to keep the blues and yellows or oranges from creating greens or muddy colors. He makes "puddles" of his colors: yellow, orange, red, violet, and blue. With clean water he wets the paper. Then, starting with the yellow at the horizon line, he paints a strip of yellow. Just above that, a strip of orange, and lets the two colors merge a bit. Then comes the buffer color: red. He paints that red in, then violet, then blue over the violet. All the colors merge, like a sunset, but they don't become muddy. 

Here are a few other things you can do. If you have clouds in the picture that take on a dark cast, you can underpaint those clouds with a bit of neutral tint, davy's gray, or violet. Let them dry.

Then you can paint over that with yellows and oranges to make a very orange sky with darker clouds, like the picture on the top left here. The sun in that picture is pulled out while the paint is wet, using a thirsty round brush. 

On the picture on the right, I first used Gum Arabic to temporarily mask out the sun and some clouds. Gum Arabic can be purchased at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or art supply stores. It is the binder in most traditional watercolor paints, so it is water soluble. You simply paint it on where you want a white, using a regular brush, dry completely, then paint over it. When the painting is dry, you go over that area with a wet brush, and the gum Arabic lifts off, leaving a soft edged white area.

The bottom sunset uses permanent masking fluid to mask out the sun. Use an old brush to apply it. Dry completely, Then paint in your sunset. You do not remove this masking fluid. It leaves a softer shape than regular masking fluid that you remove.

Below I wanted to show how to create a sunset just before it gets really dark outside.

I started with a regular Sterling Edwards method, lifting out the sun with a thirsty brush. To  create clouds, I dropped clean water into paint that was not quite dry, but not shiny wet. It creates some backruns. Then I let it dry.

After drying, I introduced some indanthrene to darken the sky. 

I added a little red and yellow in the reflection and dried it. Then I added some indanthrene in the water. Darkened the horizon line and added some "buildings." The main object was to create a clean underglow of reds and yellows, but make the sky look dark.

IRIS IN GRISAILLES (Ooh, that sounds French!)

As promised, here is the version of Iris portrait done in grisailles, or more accurately, brunailles, since the underpainting is burnt sienna.

I chose to do this on hot press paper because I thought it might hold onto the underpainting better. (meaning that the under-paint would not dissolve too much when I put a wet glaze over it.)

I did an underpainting of the values similar to previous grisailles. In areas that would have a pure color, such as the iris of the eye, the lips, and the pinker, fresher skin tones, I did no underpainting. The finished underpainting looked very similar to the monochrome version, with no color added to those areas I mentioned.

Next, I glazed over the face with skin tone base made from raw sienna and magenta (or permanent rose). I wet the entire face and hair areas first, including the lips, then glazed the skin tones. While it was still wet, I added more rose in the cheeks, nose tip, and side of the face.

I was pretty pleased with the results. This is the first time I've tried a watercolor portrait with this method.

OK, IT LOOKS UGLY.

We started working on making a color version of our portraits.

We needed to determine a basic skin tone for our picture. Below shows a  chart I made once in a workshop. Each block has a mix of two basic colors (such as raw sienna and permanent rose), then shows what it would look like with a third color (sometimes a fourth) charged in. Sorry these really don't show up well.

For example, the first square is raw sienna and permanent rose with Janets Violet charged in. Second in top row is naples yellow + permanent rose with Janets Violelt. Third is coral + green gold. Last in the top row is quin burnt orange and green gold. So experiment with colors - usually one from the yellow family+one from the orange/red family+a surprise, like veridian, hookers green, Janet's Violet, or verditer.

Think of it like this. If you are baking, you can take four ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder, for example. From this BASE you can make a number of things--muffins, bread, cookies, cake, donuts--OK I'm making myself hungry. But you get it. We simply add more or less of one of the ingredients and sometimes other ingredients to make what we want. But the base is pretty much the same.

So make a BASE color that seems close to the skin tones. Then add more of the red family for rosy areas, the addition of a cool for shadowed areas.

For my BASE I chose new gamboge and coral. For other colors I chose quin burnt orange and cerulean blue. Just experimenting. 

Some are doing darker skin tones. A golden dark skin tone can be achieved using quin burnt orange or quin burnt sienna with raw sienna and cobalt violet to darken. Less golden could use a base of quin burnt scarlet with burnt umber, shadowed with carbazole violet or even turquoise.. You have to experiment and WRITE DOWN the color choices so you don't have to wonder what you did later. 

This is using Fabriana Artistico 140 pound paper. I wet the entire face and hair area and applied the base color to all skin plus a little in the hair line. While wet, I put some blue in the shadowed part of the hair and some on the shadowed side of her face. I did more than I really wanted to, but it's OK. It really will turn out just fine, even though it looks a little weird right now.

After I had skin tone on everything, I could work on the eye. For details in painting the eye, please see the following blog dates: May 2017 and Aug 2018. 

Also, for a good youtube on DRAWING the eye, see: 

(4) How to Draw Hyper Realistic Eyes | Step by Step - YouTube

It is pretty long, but very realistic. 

OH, and the name of the portrait book I showed in class is Painting Watercolor Portraits that Glow by Jan Kunz.

I am still finishing up the hot press version that I am doing grisailles method. Hope to post that soon.

GLASS PEN

So this is the GLASS PEN that my daughter and her husband surprised me with. I was pretty fascinated with it. It's a LongXin glass pen gold ink set.

The nib of the pen is spiraled glass. When you write with it, the ink is very consistent. I experimented to see if I could make it work with watercolor. I thought it would make a great way to sign a painting. I had to make the watercolor the right consistency, but it does work.

Anyway, playing with it got me in trouble doing hair on the last portrait. I got carried away having fun. Oh well. It was worth it.

MONOCHROME PORTRAIT

We worked some more on refining the sketches and monochrome portrait. It's useful to work from your value sketch when painting.

I used burnst sienna on cold press for the original portrait. Burnt sienna lifts, so you can correct mistakes pretty easily on cold press. To darken values with burnt sienna, just add French ultramarine blue, burnt umber, or another dark color to the burnst sienna.

For a second attempt at this portrait, I tried hot press. It is not as forgiving, nor is it easy to lift paint from hot press. However, I wanted to try GLAZING COLOR over it later to see how it turns out. (like we did for the grisailles paintings) Hopefully it will  be ready to show next post.

One of the things I wanted to discuss is hair. I hate hair. I am not very good at it. But, with help, I've learned a few tips about painting hair. If you've been following the blog, you'll see I've changed the hair on the final painting for several reasons. The first is that she has pretty long hair, and I wanted to show it. The second is I didn't like something about the shoulder area and I wanted to cover it.

Below is the finished painting. You can learn from my mistakes here. After I was done, I "played" with a new toy, a glass pen, thinking I could soften any lines. And I inked in a few lines in her hair, only to discover they would not blend like I thought they would.

One thing I ALWAYS do when painting hair is to PAINT THE SKIN COLOR clear into the scalp. Otherwise you run the risk of the hair looking like a painted on wig. 

Then I wet the hair area all over and decide where the highlights are going. I'll paint light values, thinking of it as areas of light, medium, or darker values. I paint in some of the darker values, also while wet, and, with a thirsty brush, keep pulling out those lighter areas. Try to paint shapes and not individual hairs at this point.

The areas of fine hair close to the facial skin need to look like they are truly growing out of the skin, so you have to keep them light and soft where they connect to the skin. At this point, it's done by using a thirsty brush to keep it soft. 

Let this first pass dry. Then you can go back and darken other areas that need to be darker. IF DOING A CHILD especially, be aware of the pattern of light that often shows up on shiny, blonde or dark hair, particularly if it is straight. It will almost be like a halo across the brow. There are patterns of light on the part area also. 

HERE IS A TIP FOR PAINTING FINE LINES IN PAINT, INK, OR MISKIT

If you want to make the line look smooth and not have a definite "point" on the beginning where you first set the brush or pen down, you can do this. Set a scrap piece of paper next to the area you are painting a line. Start the line on the scrap paper and continue it where you want to place it. That definite point will not be there.

This is particularly helpful if you are using miskit on fine hairs, whiskers, etc. It saves softening after the miskit is removed.

A Monochromatic Portrait of Iris

Iris, as in my granddaughter, Iris.

I have other blog pages on doing a portrait, individual features, and skin color. This time I wanted to focus on the values and shapes in the face, making gentle transitions in tone to create roundness, and I felt it would be helpful to do it in a monochrome. That way, I can work out many of my problems in drawing and shading first, and not have to also worry about what color to use at the same time.

In order to model a face, it is important to know how to place the features. Even if you are tracing from a photograph, you can make mistakes in the drawing. For example, you might think you are tracing the line of the nose, when you are actually tracing the shadow. Even though you think you have the features correct, once you start painting, you can easily paint the feature to large or too big.

A SUGGESTION IF YOU ARE GOING TO TRACE:

If tracing, I would print a copy on regular paper. Then, using an ultra fine black sharpie, go over the basic shapes on the printed copy. These dark lines will show up much better if using a light box. Also, don't put in too much detail. Suggest places where there is a curve or change in light. But too many lines, especially in  a child's face, can make a picture look over worked and older.

Reference Photo



Rough sketches.

Here are just a few of the sketches I used to get to know the subject. Top left is using a boxed in method to find the placement of features. This view is not only 3/4 view, but I am looking at her from above. So I wanted to be able to picture the PLANES of the face and angles.

Top right I used the Loomis method. She looks like she has a mustache because I was trying to locate the "muzzle" around the mouth. This helps with how it should be shaded.

Bottom left uses the oval method, locating eyes at center. Bottom right also uses the Loomis method.



The purpose of making some rough sketches is to get to know the face better. Just tracing doesn't give you enough information. Also, knowing how a "normal" face is proportioned helps you find the idiosychrosies of the face you are drawing. So when you draw, you look for what is out of the norm. Is the nose longer? Are the eyes more wide set? Is the chin pointed or angled? Things like that.

Normal division of oval method vs. Loomis method. On the left you see the normal way a face that is not angled would be divided up. You make the oval, divide it in half top to bottom and sideways. Pupils of the eyes are right above the center horizontal line. Find the browline.

Then you divide the face into thirds: top third is hairline to brow line; middle third is brow line to bottom of nose; bottom third is bottom of nose to chin. More thirds: in the brow to nose area, the top third is the glabella (keystone shaped bone); middle third is ridge; bottom third is the "ball" of the nose composed of cartiledge.

Bottom third is divided into thirds: First third is the center of the mouth; bottom of second third is top of chin.

The face is divided in other ways. We usually talk about how many "eyes" long something is. The entire front view of a face at the eyes is five eyes wide. There is one eye space between the eyes. The width of the nose is usually one eye, and you can draw a line straight down from the inner eye to the width. Draw a line down from the pupil to the corner of the mouth.

LOOMIS METHOD: I am attaching links to Proko.com videos on this method of drawing the head. It begins with a circle, has elipses drawn to the side, then you draw the chin down from the points where the elipses meet. The videos do a better job than I can.

There are several other methods, but these two are most commonly used.

 

One thing you have to remember when drawing using the oval method, is that as soon as the angle changes, you have to take the egg shape into account. The line for the eyes is no longer a straight line, but a curve that indicates that there is more than one plane. You can see this curve in the four head sketches I did above.

A SUGGESTION FROM JAN KUNZ:  When sketching the head, she uses tracing paper. She'll do the basic oval and placement lines and features. Then she'll put a piece of tracing paper over that and only use the features, and continue working on that. That means less erasing and less confusion from lines she no longer needs.

So here is the sketch I finally came up with. I think the eye on my left is a little too large. In a 3/4 view, that eye is usually smaller because of foreshortening.

I took my drawing and, using pencil, started shading in the features. This is where I really got to know more about the face. I discovered I originally had the left part of her forehead too high and the right eyebrow too thin. It will be a lot easier to paint once I know what values I want these areas to be. Also, I am delaying doing anything with the hair in case I decide to paint it long.

I transfered my sketch onto cold press arches. I decided to use burnt sienna with burnt umber or french ultramarine added to it to create darkest tones. On the first wash, I just wet the entire skin and hair area. (I paint skin tone right into the scalp area to prevent it looking like a wig) Also painted right over the eyes.  I painted in burnt sienna darker on the left side of the face and other darker areas. I dried it, then shaded in more. This is what it looked like after the second wash. 

I kept working in glazes until I was able to get the value changes I wanted. I still have at least one more pass to round out the neck, and that left eye is too large. See how the iris is the same as the one on my right? Too big. 

So here are some references for Stan Prokopenko's videos of the Loomis method of drawing a face from any angle (most are only 5 minutes or so):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPNYWeEf1U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZLkyTuX_w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS6R2l8t8wo

There are several books I really like that are helpful in portraits. One is Painting Watercolor Portraits that Glow by Jan Kunz.
Lee Hammond has a book, Lifelike Portraits from Photographs, that teaches using the graph method for transfering a face from a photo.

Cathy Johnson's hand made journal

I don't normally post a blog before I do it in class but I thought it would be useful for you to see this before class.

I am posting a link to the video in which Cathy Johnson shows how to make a maze journal.

(4) Make a Super-Quick No-Sew Folding Journal - YouTube

This is how mine turned out. For the cover I used a painting that I did with brusho, but wasn't completely happy with. I cut it in half, used the top of the mermaid for the front and the bottom tail for the back.

Front



Back




Pocket made in middle of journal




I sealed it with varnish after adhering it to mat board cut to 5 and 3/4 inches by 7 3/4 inches. I used wax on the back, just to see how it looked. I put the gel in the hair and glued on crushed shells. For the band to hold the journal together, I used a headband and glued a sea shell to it.

This journal is landscape, but you can make it portrait just by cutting it differently. (Instead of cutting lengthwise as Cathy Johnson shows, cut it on the short sides). It is 5 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches. You can also make it completely accordian, if that's your preference.

So now I'm excited to see what you will come up with for covers. Here are some ideas:

Greeting cards you love
Masa paper
Messed up paintings
Pieces cut off yupo paintings
Wall paper
Wrapping paper
Cloth scraps
Collage

Supplies needed:

22 x 30 sheet of wc paper
I used 90 lb saunders Waterford.-- I'll provide that in class

Pieces of mat board
Craft knife and sharp blade
Straight edge
Glue (or Modge Podge, matte medium, etc.)
Embellishments

Combining Water Color and Pastels

I have done a few pictures in which traditional methods of correcting a problem just did not work. So if watercolor pencil, gouache, or fluid acrylic can't fix a problem, try using some pastels.

Here are three examples of rescuing a sinking ship with pastels.

This portrait of my youngest grandson, Noah, was begun on Arches watercolor board. I expected it to have the same qualities as my Arches paper, but it did not lift. So when I went to put in highlights in the hair, and the paint did not lift, I was a bit at a loss.

So if you look closely, the highlights in the hair have been done in pastels. And, because I didn't want a glaring difference in mediums, I added pastel highlights in the yellow chair, on the green shirt, and a bit on his thumb. I was having so much fun with it, I had to stop myself from overdoing it!

The masa paper iris below, Myra's Bouquet, got a 2nd place prize in its category at the 2019 regional show, and surprised the heck out of me. I started out with a masa paper wash that I already had and rejected before because it had a big purple blob in an inconvenient place. When it was finished, I felt like that blob still needed some calming down, and the buds needed to fade also. So I used white pastel to calm down those areas. Then, to bring some blues into some areas, I rubbed blue in the sky on the right, just lightly over the creases, to give a slight batik look. 

This little guy I did as a class demo to show how you can use ultra fine sharpie, in this case brown, on masa paper to create a bit of a pen and wash effect. I lost some of the softness around the neck, so I went over it in white pastel. I used some yellow to highlight the beak and legs. I used some oranges, reds, and greens to add color to the leaves. And there is some red pastel in the neck area, brown to create even more texture over the rocks.

I love how pastel and watercolor look together. 

But be careful when you want to mat and frame your piece. Pastel needs to have a spacer between the mat and the picture to allow stray bits of chalk to slide down and not collect on the mat or frame. 

Some people use a fixative on their pastel pieces, and others do not. But they DO need glass to protect them from the elements. 

FIINISHING THE MASA PAPER ELEPHANTS

My little smiling elephant.

Now that he's done, I have to say that I would do things a little differently if I did it again. I think I have a bit too much space at the top of the painting...I would move it up an inch or more. 

The final part of preserving the masa paper elephant was different from what I used to do when mounting without glass or frame. First of all, because of the crinkles in the paper, using a spray varnish wasn't enough to get into the nooks and crannies. Secondly, I couldn't use beeswax, also because of the texture of the paper. So, here is what I chose to do.

First I put a coat of Krylon Kamar varnish. (it is archival, doesn't yellow, and says it can be used on watercolors) This first spray coat "sets" the paint so that it doesn't smear on further applications of varnish.

If you want to paint in any changes, you can at this point, with fluid acrylic or watercolor pencil. or ink.

Second, I used Golden's Polymer Varnish with UVLS (Satin). It is a clear liquid, doesn't have a strong smell, like sprays do. You mix it 4:1 with water, then brush on the painting to coat it. I dried it overnight, then coated it again. Costs around $16.

Golden's makes a spray varnish also in matte, satin, and gloss. They also make a liquid varnish that is a little less expensive than the UVLS one that I could have used.

If this had been a painting on normal Arches, I would have followed the procedure in the videos: spray varnish first, then coat with beeswax (Dolmar cold wax or Gamblin's cold wax), dry, then buff. The cold wax costs about $9 for 8 oz, which is enough for probably six paintings.

Below you see the products used for varnishing a painting that is mounted without glass or frame.
The painting behind it was varnished with kamar then later buffed with beeswax.




Artist Kim Fjordbotten explains why you might want an alternative without glass or frame, then gives a simple explanation of how she does it. About 11 minutes.

(4) How to Varnish a Watercolour Without Glass - YouTube

Angela Fehr gives a good description of using heavy gel to glue down, Kamar varnish to seal, then wax to give final coat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHeDltkj9_M

A 9-minute video with Dennis Clark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8TEzRfrtWw

Brienne Brown demonstrates mounting on board

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGaDh7lffYk

Elephants: masa paper wrapped on gallery board

I wanted to see if I could 

mount a masa paper version of the elephant on a gallery wrapped board (not canvas). This is how I began:

Before wrinkling or wetting the paper, I drew the picture on with ultra fine sharpie. Then I wrinkled the paper, soaked it in water, and washed over the background with cerulean blue, quin coral, and azo yellow. 

Before mounting the picture, I began darkening some of the areas, specifically the elephants in the background and adding more warms to the foreground elephant; also the dark crevices in the rocks.

When I got as far as I could without mounting, I began to mount the painting on 12 x 16 board.I used YES paste. I smoothed it on over the main surface OF THE BOARD (not the paper) and spread it with a squeegie, making sure it was completely covered. Then,  I placed the painting onto the paste, covered it with wax paper (or parchment paper) and smoothed the painting out from the center to the outside. Use a breyer or rolling pin to work out the wrinkles. 

Then, one side at a time, spread the paste onto a side and smooth down the side, also using the wax paper and breyer.

When all sides are smoothed down, you can cut off the extra edges with an exacto knife.

I have a little more detail that I want to add, but not too much. Then I will show how to varnish the surface so that it can be hung without glass.