Re-learning to Journal

Alongside the color blending chart is one of the exercises from a class in Watercolor Journaling I took at the Spruill Art Center in Atlanta from Marilynn Brandenburger.  It is one of two journal entries done during the class that were inspired by the art exhibited at the center.   Part of the class included how to manage all the items you need when you are not in your studio, do not have a table to work on and can't go get what you forgot.

For this exercise we were given 45 minutes to create one or two journal entries.  Because this was the first exercise away from the studio, besides our pocket watercolor kits, we were allowed to take a chair to sit on.

The larger than life set of tan ceramic pears captured my interest.  They were artfully arranged, and their shapes captured highlights and shadow nicely.  I spent most of the allowed time working on this painting.  The arrangement of pears created a triangle on the lower right side of the paper.  To balance that I added a double line border and the title of the art work in the upper left corner.

I was walking back to class when a painting caught my eye.  The shapes of individual shells jumped out at me.  The more I looked at it the more shells I could see in the graphical design of the painting.  I quickly sketched two of the graphic interpretations of lines and patterns in the drawing, while balancing the watercolor kit and journal in one hand.   I also added a few notes, and a dab or two of color to help me remember what shades went where.

The two shells stand out as individual items on the page, which is not surprising since I was not actually composing a painting, but had just wanted to capture these interesting images.