“Revamped” Magnani Portofino Watercolor Paper Part 2
Today here’s another portrait I painted on a piece of Magnani Portofino Watercolor paper. I’m not one to give up a fight easily. With so many quality art paper mills being bought up by non-paper making conglomerates who evidently don’t understand what watercolor artists want to do with their papers, I have to push […]
Journal Galleries
Sketching
Sketching on Any Old Paper You Have At Hand
Sometimes we can get into our heads. We can spend time telling ourselves all the reasons we can’t take time right now and paint. As a teacher for over 30 years I think I’ve heard every excuse there is: no space to set up, don’t have the materials I want to work with; I don’t […]
Visiting Minnesota—A Drawing Student’s Question
Recently a former Sketchbook Skool Student wrote to me asking me what to see when she was in Minnesota. (Evidently she was traveling here to go up north in Wisconsin for a drawing class at one of the resorts.) Of course whenever you ask someone a question like that you are taking into account their […]
Sketch People From All Angles
It’s important to sketch people from all angles. Actually to sketch the SAME person from all angles. If you can’t get out and about ask your housemates (significant other, children, Aged P, guests, etc.) to let you sketch them while they read a book or watch TV. No one around? Not even a dog, […]
Visual Journaling
Book Arts
Book Arts
Breathing Room on the Page (or Page Spread)
One of the most important compositional tools you have in a visual journal or sketchbook is the breathing space on the page (or page spread). The negative space around an image helps define the image through silhouette, and shape recognition. The space will help you correct angles and proportions when you go off—or— if you […]
Sketching on Any Old Paper You Have At Hand
Sometimes we can get into our heads. We can spend time telling ourselves all the reasons we can’t take time right now and paint. As a teacher for over 30 years I think I’ve heard every excuse there is: no space to set up, don’t have the materials I want to work with; I don’t […]