Brilliant Students Attend One Hour Journal Page Workshop

Yesterday I taught  The One Hour Journal Page Workshop  and it was a wonderful experience. Twelve very creative and talented students filled the room and shared their talents, ideas and tools of the trade. The students were a wonderful blend of different talents, Urban Sketchers, Calligraphers, Outdoor Painters and Journalers. I demonstrated how to put together a simple journal made out of our recycled packing boxes (boy was I glad to see those things put to another use), bakery string, mailing tape, and an assortment of watercolor and other papers. Then, everyone created their own journals, which you can see them displaying in the pictures above. The dogs in the picture are mine and did not make journals.
After a quick demo of the 5 basic watercolor techniques we broke for lunch to give us the energy to paint our pages in the afternoon. I was really impressed with the pages completed in the afternoon, they were each wonderful and reflective of the student's own styles.
My theme for this workshop was your journal doesn't have to be perfect and precious (thus the recycled materials which make it inexpensive) and the objects you chose to paint and write about in your journal don't have to be fabulous. The idea is to use your journal as a place to practice and develop your skills, record your ideas and thoughts and have a good time in the process. Please try this at home and let me know how it works for you.

Try This Simple Idea in Your Journal

Next time you are stuck for an idea of what to write and draw on a journal page try writing and illustrating new words you hear.  The page you see on the blog today was done in my journal on my last trip to Tuscany. Every day I wrote down a new word I heard that I wanted to remember. I added a simple painted picture to go with the word too. You could either do your drawing from out of your head or you could actually draw by looking at the object. Whatever works for you.
I think it would be fun to keep this idea of recording words going in my daily home journal too. I could either write down new words I hear daily and illustrate them or I could actually go through my dictionary and discover new words. What a good way to improve my vocabulary and keep my brain active.
If you give do this words and picture page in your journal, let me know how it works for you.

Surfing Madonna's Creator Speaks At Mira Costa

Perhaps you heard about the mosaic of a surfing Madonna that appeared on a wall of a freeway underpass in the beach town of Encinitas? No one knew who created it until the artist came forward a few weeks later when they were going to pull down the mosaic and he didn't want it damaged.
Mark Patterson is the creator of the beautiful mosaic and he said he doesn't consider himself an artist. I think whatever he wants to call himself, he is a very talented and thoughtful person.
In his talk at Mira Costa, besides answering questions about the controversy the mosaic caused because it was placed on public property without permission, he spoke about the steps he sees in the creative process. 1. Intuition 2. Expectancy 3. Practice & Play 4. Understanding 5. Reality.
He said the Surfing Madonna appeared in his sketchbook for a few years and he created her face during a 2 week mosaic workshop in Italy. He then completed the mosaic when he returned home and wanted to give it to the city of Encinitas as a gift.
I felt pretty fortunate to hear what prompted the creation of the mosaic from him and I think he can call himself an artist.

One Hour Journal Page Workshop Goodies

Saturday, March 24th, I will be teaching a workshop in my studio called "One Hour Journaling Pages".  In the workshop you will make a journal out of mostly green, recycled materials. You will combine a variety of my favorite watercolor journaling papers in your journal. After you make your journal you'll learn how to quickly and confidently draw, paint and journal on the pages. Each page will be designed to be completed in about an hours time. I will teach you lots of "top secret" artist tricks to make your drawings look realistic and I will give you my new booklet, The Drawing and Painting Helper. I will also show you lots of painting techniques and you'll learn how to illustrate your thoughts, inspirations, ideas and observations. Lunch will be included in the $50.00 workshop fee and the hours will be from 9-3. Email me today if you want to attend. Enrollment will close March 10 and spaces are limited.