Lesson 2–Let’s Go Exploring

Now that you have journal and tools in hand and you’ve splashed around a little, let’s branch outand explore the possibilities together. You’ve looked at whether you want a dedicated journal oran integrated one where anything goes–and I’ve kept both types over the years. Both have theiradvantages; use whichever suits you at the time, and don’t worry if you evolve more than once!

You’ve gotten past the fear of white paper with some basic exercises and concepts. (You have,haven’t you??) And first-page jitters are a thing of the past–you have a whole armory of tools touse to get past that first blank page.

Now let’s quick peek at some of the things you can DO with your journal–and the sky is thelimit, our list just scratches the surface.

• Quick Sketching• Recording/Reporting• Learning or exploring new approaches and techniques• Planning• Seeing, Celebrating, Contemplating• Having fun–playing!

Quick Sketching

We ARE busy people with a lot of distractions these days. Between work and family, obligations and play, our days are oftenpretty full. I don’t know about you, but I don’t recognize myself ifI don’t sketch or journal for a while, so make time if you can!

Soooo...I had to discipline myself to do quick sketches, whennecessary. (It turned out to be so much fun, I ended up doing threemini-classes on working fast to share the enjoyment!)

Don’t feel you have to create a finished piece of art in your journal. A speedy gesture sketch can really capture the essence of yoursubject.

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Or just draw what you can get down, and stop. Don’t worry if it’s only the top of your cat’s headand an ear or two, or the overall shape of that cool muscle car before the owner hops in and roarsoff. Don’t worry about trying to finish from memory–unless you’re trying to train your memory,which is a good exercise too. Fill a page with those partial sketches and you’ll still havesomething to recall the moment.

Make written notes if you need more info, i.e. : “Merlin slept beside me for half an hour, and assoon as I grabbed my journal he felt a burning need to be elsewhere! This is all I got...”

If time is short, or you don’t know howlong you have, use a single, simpletool–a pencil or pen–or at most a fewcolored pencils or markers. You canalways add color later if you feel theneed, as I did on Merlin’s nose, here. (Yes, I DO draw my cats often, why doyou ask!?)

EXERCISE:

Choose a relatively simple subject. Setyourself a time limit–a short one!–andsketch fast. Give yourself 30 seconds, 2minutes, or 5. Set a timer. See what youcan get down of the basic shape or“gestalt” in that time. Some of myfavorite sketches have been of this type,like the one of Merlin at right.

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Obviously these guys couldn’t care less that Iwas sketching them! They were on a mission:FIND SOMEPLACE WARM.

This type of exercise will help when you findyourself sketching in public–where I often amwhen quick sketching is a necessity! I sketch inmy journal while my husband is shopping, as Imentioned; sometimes I’m in the car withrelative privacy, sometimes sitting on a box inthe middle a big hardware store. I often sketch atmeetings or in restaurants while waiting for thefood to arrive.

If that makes you nervous, try sitting in a boothor against a wall. Wear dark glasses to hide youreyes. A big floppy hat can help too. Grab a tablenear a window and sketch what you see outsiderather than staring at your fellow diners. In fact,don’t stare. Take quick glances, fix the image inyour memory, and then back to your page.

If your journal is on the small side, people willusually just assume you’re writing notes in yourjournal and won’t want to disturb you.

And you know what? Most people, if they notice you’re drawing, will either ignore you or saysomething like “I wish I could do that,” or “I used to draw...” It’s the perfect opportunity toencourage someone else in this wonderful obsession of ours!

If someone DOES notice I’m sketching them I generally just smile and perhaps speak to them:“You have such an interesting face.” “I love your hair.” “What a great outfit, hope you don’tmind if I draw it!” “Are you a dancer?” Or whatever occurs to me (and hope it fits!) 98% ofpeople, I’d warrant, will be fine with that; at least I’ve never had a problem, and you might findyou have an enriching conversation.

And truthfully most people are so engrossed in their own lives (or iPads) they never notice.

EXERCISE:

Try to zero in on what caught your eye in the first place and sketch that, rather than the entirescene. If you’re in a crowded marketplace and you notice a quirky detail on a vintage building–afancy cornice, a beautiful door or a gargoyle over an entrance–do a quick sketch of that. If youhave more time, add more...fill the page, if you can.

Vary the size and placement of the elements you choose and your page will develop a naturalcomposition. (See the link for page design ideas later in this lesson.)

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Recording/Reporting

There’s a lot of talk these days aboutreportage drawing and you may not be surewhat that means–it’s really recording whatyou see, what’s going on around you, in theworld and even in your own life. You maysuddenly find yourself in the midst of anewsworthy event–grab that journal! Reporton it for the world, or for yourself or yourfamily.

Court reporters were among the first to sketch in this way, but there are many journals kept byexplorers and naturalists going back hundreds of years. They too are a fascinating report of theartist’s on-the-spot, daily observations.

Report on an event in yourcity, or a bit of “urbanremoval.” Record anamazing performance, abizarre new fashion orhairstyle, a disaster, aparty for someone who’sstill going strong at 100years old.

At left is my report on thefire at our local communitycenter in 2012; it has sincebeen restored and is in useagain. I took my foldingstool and sat as close as Icould to sketch this in myjournal.

Aftermath of the storm

I was on the parks board for many years in my city; we met in thisbuilding. That’s the office, where the worst of the fire damagewas, so I had a very personal feeling for this near-disaster. Sketch something meaningful to YOU and you will alwaysremember it.

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The grain elevators near thedowntown KC area are becominga thing if the past; I had to gosketch the demolition of this onebefore it was completely gone.

If you have an interest in politicsor social issues, you’ll haveplenty to catch your eye–andcapture in your journal.

For a more personal focus, record thegrowth of your baby, your baby chicks,or your garden and what you haveplanted there. (More on that later!)

Record your own progress, in whateverdirection you like. Learning to draw,going back to college, yoga classes,physical therapy, making souffles,mastering the art of French cooking,studying for the ministry, weight loss,diet change, whatever! You will beable to see the linear progression as youwork in your journal–what a learningexperience!

One of my journaling friends recordedfamily gatherings over the years;another, Alissa Duke, sketches familykeepsakes and tells the stories attachedto them for posterity. It’s a treasuredpart of both their lives.

This rather hideous ceramic panther was one of mydad’s prized possessions. I had to paint myinheritance!

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Give it a go!

What do YOU want to record? Ask yourself that question, start making a list, and DO it–eitherin a journal dedicated to that subject or as an ongoing focus in your integrated journal. (We’llcover more on that in Lesson 3.)

That’s my usual approach, by the way...it just feels right to look at the whole of my life.

As noted, this “reportage” drawing can be a kind of reporting to yourself, or to others...to theworld, depending on how comfortable with sharing you are. If you prefer, it can simply be arecord in your own journal, for no one but you, and perhaps your heirs. It can be a way to get ahandle on the sometimes confusing events of the day, a way to process your emotions about thoseevents. Share or not, it’s your journal.

And if you don’t care about thinking ahead about your focus? That’s where an integrated journalcomes in. Go with the flow, draw what happens day by day, wherever you are.

Learning new approaches and techniques–maybe even some of the ones we’realready playing with here!

Your journal is a perfect place to explore newideas, approaches, mediums and techniques. They’re all in one place, under one cover andeasily accessible, while being protected. Youcan refer back to them, over and over. Onething I strongly recommend is annotating theseexercises so you remember what you did andhow–and why, as well as what tool you wereusing.

I often note the kind of paper I’m using, if it’s anew one, the pen I’m drawing with, or the orderI’m working in if it’s a new technique or whatinspired me to try something new. I like to docolor swatches or mixtures right in my journaltoo, as noted, and try to remember to make anote of what they are. (I can’t tell you howfrustrating it is to have pages of lovely colorcombinations and not remember the brand ofwatercolor, or the pigment name, or whether it’sa Lyra Crayon or a Derwent.)

On the page above, I wanted to rememberthe inspiration for including simple peoplein your urban sketches–my friend JamesRichards’ new book, Freehand Drawing &Discovery!

This is another of those times that Josephshopped and I sketched, by the way–worksfor us.

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I either make these notes right on the image or around it, or make a line of text along the edge–orif it’s a longer technique I want to remember, I dedicate the opposite page for a kind of mini-tutorial. I always used to think I’d remember...but don’t, necessarily. (Funny, when I’msketching something I’m observing or that’s happening aroundme, that I remember, years later–where I was, who I was with,what the weather was like, even snatches of conversation. Colornames? Not a chance.)

Note what you wanted to learn and how you got there, too, andwrite down what you think you gained. Were you happy with theeffect or what you learned? Will you want to duplicate it or avoidit like crazy in the future? You’ll be amazed at how much you’lllearn later, and the “tutorial” will have a charm all its own!

Sometimes I just want to test my fountain pens...so I note whichpen I’m using and the kind of ink in it, for future reference, as atright.

Planning

Your journal can be a great place toplan things....future works of art ofcourse, as artists have done throughthe centuries...but also vacations,trips, gardens, wardrobe changes,redesigning living spaces and more. I’ve used my journals to researchbooks, visiting museums andsketching artifacts that ended up inmy books on living history. I evendesigned my little shed/studio andhow I thought it might work in myjournal!

What might be good for planning ahead under the covers of your journal? As noted, one of myjournal-art friends, Liz Steel, plans what art supplies she’ll take with her on her travels, as well asthe clothes she’ll make! Other friends plan next spring’s garden in the deeps of winter, whencabin fever might otherwise get to them.

This is how I imagined the shed might look inside whenI first built it...then realized I needed more comfortableseating, and I didn’t want to block the window with thedesk...

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Just making sketches of the tools you might need on a trip is a great exercise, helping you tosimplify and clarify what you actually want to pack! It might help ensure you don’t forgetsomething essential, either.

Tradition!

Make quick sketches or thumbnails to plan out futurepaintings. Explore format possibilities...does yoursubject work better as a horizontal or vertical, or maybeeven a square? These sketches can be as simple or ascomplex as you wish! The finished work can be a hugecanvas if you like–or even a mural! But the genesis canlive forever in your journal.

I love seeing the sketches of Rembrandt and Da Vinciand other Old Masters–it gives me a wonderful insightinto their thinking and planning processes.

Seeing, Celebrating

Keeping an artist’s journal helpsus to see, really see the things thatcatch our eye. When we stop longenough to draw–even a quicksketch!–we find that we noticemore. We pay attention. Lifebecomes richer and moreinteresting. Our pencil traces theshape of a teapot we’ve used ahundred times or more, and wesuddenly appreciate the beauty andutility of the design.

We’re delighted to find a favorite wildflower growing in our yard and add it to a page ofsketches, as I did above–the lovely blue dayflower just had to go on this page. (Naturally, rightbeside my cat Pepi, whom I have sketched dozens of times! He’s curled next to my laptop as Iwrite this...)

Zipping through life without stopping to sketch or journal may make us believe our lives areboring. We miss the beauty all around us, we don’t stop to ask the questions. Life may become

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surface, scattered, and pressured–sometimesartificially, by our 21st Century need to stay in constanttouch, checking Facebook and Twitter, cell phoneattached to our ear while we drive, texting whilehaving dinner with friends. And then we may wonderwhy we feel like we’re missing out on our own lives,despite all our technological advantages.

Journaling, drawing, and making notes is a wonderfulantidote to that undifferentiated pressure.

For me, there’s no better way to celebrate than in myjournal...it makes the moment last far beyond thefleeting moment that may soon be forgotten! It may bea special event, an insight, a breakthrough, but in myjournal I preserve it like a fly in amber. Thecelebration can go on for years, every time I look backthrough old journals!

I’ve sketched family birthdaygatherings, visits from friends fromthe other side of the globe,performances that were amazingtriumphs, even the politicalnomination of a dear old friend,though I am NOT a political being.

My husband and I didn’t have theopportunity for an actualhoneymoon, so we continue tocelebrate our marriage in a series ofmini-honeymoons, even now, 7years after the fact (way to extend ahoneymoon!). My journal sketchesfrom these special times reallyrecapture the magic for me.

Celebrate a life, a triumph, a passage, a milestone...it’s up to you. Your journal pages will bringit back as though it were yesterday. It’s a special kind of treasure.

Again, add whatever bits of ephemera that help bring back the day–a special card or label, aticket, a business card from the hotel where you honeymooned (again!)–whatever reminds you ofyour special day.

Don’t worry about likeness or a formalportrait; quick sketches can capture thememories just well.

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Contemplative Journaling

If you are interested in the contemplative aspects of journaling, if meditation appeals to you, youcan use your journal in that way as well; I do. I slow down, pay closer attention, forget whateverit was that had my neck tense and my temper short. (Much more on this in Lesson 4.)

Exercise:

Draw a flower, a favorite statue, your own foot; takeyour time. Really look at your subject, and take aslong as it takes. If you run out of time, just stopright where you are. What you’ve captured on paperwill be enough, and it will remind you. Slow down. Breathe. Look. Life is good.

The little Hotei statue at left reminds me to smile! Iloved sketching him in a variety of mediums, fromink to graphite to watercolor. (And no, he’s notreally a Buddha figure, I was mistaken...)

Having fun–playing!

This is a stress-free zone! No judgement, no worries,please. There are certainly no rules within the pages ofyour personal journal. (If anyone tells you there are,smile politely, let your eyes glaze a little, and STEPAWAY FROM THE CONVERSATION.)

Remember when you were a kid, and someone gave youa new set of crayons or a box of Prang watercolors? Remember how much fun you had playing with them,trying them out, seeing what they’d do? Guess what?You can still do that!

If you want to use every color in your paint box, DO it. If you prefer to keep it to amonochromatic handling, that works too. A limited palette is fun, too–and a great challenge! Add a little color or a lot.

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Love iridescent color? Cool! Addgold or silver, too, if you like. Wantto add some opaque color to yourdrawing? Get out the gouache!What might not fly in a “serious”show or gallery is fair game in yourjournal, and you’ll grow (anddelight!) in the process.

Cut yourself slack–don’t makejournal-keeping another job. It’s notan obligation, it’s a pleasure.

Again, don’t measure yourselfagainst anyone else’s efforts–it’s nota competition! It’s a place to playand enjoy and learn and grow. Youdon’t have to please anyone butyourself. (And even if you’re notpleased, you’re learning.)

Remember, perfection is impossible! And when you look back on your journal pages over themonths or years, I guarantee you will be able to see your progress, in any number of ways. Weall change and grow, or we give up and stagnate. The latter is not something that sounds likemuch fun, does it? (And I don’t think you’d be here if that description fit you.)

“Mistakes” and how to deal with them

As mentioned, we all have areas we’re not thatpleased with. We don’t draw the line we needed,we fail to observe correctly, we get a proportion off,we drop a brush in the middle of a page, the cat runsacross the palette and then our page. We’ve gotseveral choices–laugh and learn from those images,turn the page and move on, or try a few quick fixes. (Or long ones, for some artists like Tommy Kane,who just keeps working till he IS satisfied!)

You can always glue a new piece of paper or paintover a page you don’t like.

(

This is one of my retrofitted watercolor boxes–this onehas 3 primaries plus two “convenience” colors. Cadmium Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Red, PhthaloBlue, plus Burnt Sienna and Payne’s Grey let me do thequick sketch of fishermen at Bennett Spring in full color.

I re-drew several lines on thesechicks–they were active!

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Redraw the corrected line right next tothe one you didn’t like–it makes aninteresting vibration and shows yourthinking process. My cats are in constantmotion, so I just keep drawing andredrawing and usually get something Ilike. Not perfect, but–essence of catness!

Works with anything in motion–crowds,wildlife, vehicles, whatever.

EXERCISE:

Fill a page with quick sketches. Someyou’ll like, some you won’t, but what acool record!

Check out our little video onfixing “mistakes.”

Spatter

If I’ve gotten my hand in the watercolors (yes, it happens often) or one of my cats have helpedout, I may have a splotch where I didn’t want it. A bit if variegated spatter can turn the flaw intoa feature! Try blotting some of the droplets for interesting variation.

I use a small old oil-painters’ bristle brush for spatter, but some artists prefer atoothbrush or spatter screen...use whatever works for you!

...and our Spatter video here.

Erasers

Some teachers will tell you NEVER to erase. Well, hey, it’s your journal and if you want toerase, erase for Pete’s sake!

True, sometimes we learn more when we don’t–perhaps to observe more carefully before we evermake a mark–but it’s no big deal either way. If you do choose to use an eraser, I usuallyrecommend a soft white vinyl one–they’re gentler on your paper and won’t damage it unless youget too enthusiastic or erase too often in the same place! If you rough up your paper, it won’ttake color smoothly or the same. Lots of artists use a kneaded rubber eraser, but I often end upsmearing the graphite back into my paper...

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...and that said, do check to make sure your vinyl eraser is clean before touching your journalpage. I usually rub mine on my pants leg or the arm of my chair, but you can use a clean sheet ofpaper too.

TIP:

If a spill is still extremely wet, you may be able to rescue your page so it doesn’t even show. Give it a quick spritz of clean water from your sprayer and blot quickly. Unless it’s a stainingcolor you may find you’re right back to clean white paper. Let it dry thoroughly and thenproceed with what you were doing.

TIP:

One thing I learned in my brief stint at Hallmark Cards was to keep a tissue in my off hand–mynon-drawing hand–while I work. With it, I can blot a mistake or spill quickly, wipe my brush toremove excess liquid, even make an interesting texture by touching a damp watercolor wash witha wadded tissue. I clean my palette occasionally too, and even lift muddied color from those darnyellow pans of paint–they always seem to get tainted!

Stamping

You may enjoy adding design elements or even text orheadlines with rubber (or wooden, or potato) stamps. There arehundreds of designs out there–or carve your own. Sometimes Ilike the effect of a Chinese chop as you saw in the quick Merlinsketch on page 2, sometimes I use big spirals I’ve carvedmyself, and an old set of printer’s type make great headlines. Ieven found a stamp with ledger-like lines that’s fun to use, as atright. It’s your journal, have fun with it! I’ve even stampedwith vegetables.

Collage

Add collage if you want–either planned from the first or to cover a boo-boo (again, we all haveareas we’re not as fond of.) Then redraw right on top of that. (You’ll see that in our video onfixes.)

Use contrasting paper, like Fred Crowley does, or thin, textured paper so your under-imageshows through a little–that can be very evocative, even symbolic.

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TIP:

I use plain old Elmer’s or similar glue like PVA–most glue sticks I’ve tried let go after a fewyears or may stain your paper. YES! Paste is popular as well as archival–what that means in thisinstance is that it can be undone, so if your collage gets wet, your collage element may let go.

Lettering and text

Some journal keepers are wonderfulwith lettering–Gay Kraeger, PamJohnson Bricknell, HannahHinchman and more–and it does adda lot to your journal page.

Your own handwriting or printing isjust fine, though...it’s yourJOURNAL, it doesn’t have to begood enough for publication. If youcan read it, it’s perfect. This is forour own growth and learning,mostly, so our notes can be aspersonal as our choice of a journal.

There are lots of resources out there to learn lettering, both formal and more playful. Take upcalligraphy, or create your own font. (See our list of handy books.) Like anything else, it’smostly a matter of practice.

Add a headline to your page–and then allowyour other text to be as small as you like. (Some journal keepers write tiny-tiny ifthere’s something they prefer to keep moreprivate!)

At left, I used ink to outline my lettersbefore painting.

I usually like the effect I get with a roundwaterbrush for my headlines or largertext...it’s fun playing with swooping lettersand free shapes. It’s not perfect, but it getsthe job done.

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I didn’t have much time this day, so did a VERY simplecolored pencil under-drawing, and then added splashycolor later–Crown Center, in Kansas City, in thebackground, a sculpture in the restaurant, and a lemon ina gauze bag at right!

Exercise:

Play around with different brushes or pens to create your own “font.” Try out differentstyles.

Use ink, watercolor, brush markers, whatever.

Draw them first in pencil, if you feel more confident, then ink or paint them–or both.

Do these right in your journal or set aside a practice pad, whichever works for you.

What medium works best for your subject/time?

Well, that depends a LOT on how much time you actually have. When I am really pressed fortime and can only do quick sketches, then a pencil–usually that HB mechanical pencil or aPrismacolor colored pencil in a dark neutral–or a pen (ballpoint, fiber-tip, or even a fountain pen)will get it. I can always add color later.

One of my favorite quicksketching combos is that darkPrismacolor pencil with a loosesplash of watercolor over it. Thepencil sketch gives me aframework and I don’t worry asmuch about carefully laying thewatercolor down accurately oreven letting it dry between colors. Where wet touches wet, it oftencreates an exciting explosion ofcolor or lets two areas blend in apleasing way, integrating theshapes.

That combination--Prismacolorand watercolor or an ink drawingwith watercolor–seems to let meget loose and splash as much as Ilike! You may want to stand upwhile doing this...

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TIP:

Use a bulldog clip or other clamp on yoursketch journal pages, to keep them fromblowing around–or falling shut, indoors. Notthat that can’t make an interesting texture,too–that’s what happened in this image of afoggy day at Cooley Lake observation towerthat you saw in our video on basic washes, inLesson 1..

The wind came up and blew my journal off thetower and onto the ground! I was happy withthe new texture, though...talk about a “happy accident”!

The combination of ink and watercolor is truly a favorite, for me and for many; watercolor’sprobably the fastest way to add color, if you don’t count drying time anyway.

In fact my most popular class is on just that! It’s here: http://cathyjohnson.info/online.html andour very busy Flickr group, Ink & Watercolor Wash, is here –join us! There are over 31,000images in that group at this writing...add your own. Dozens and dozens of my own journal pages are ink and watercolor; I create a guideline formyself, and add color as loosely or as carefully as I like, depending on the subject and how muchtime I have. Give it a try!

Colored pencils are wonderful tools, pure color inpencil form. You can use them for loosesketches–my favorite–or carefully built up drawingsas Katherine Tyrrell does, or for wonderfully detaileddrawings that are more like paintings, like SandraAngelo’s.

Obviously, if you’re short of time you’ll want to gothe quick-sketch route with them, either with agraphite or ink underdrawing or alone. You canalways add color later, though...as loosely or ascarefully as you wish.

A limited palette, like I used at left, will help keepthings simple–and if you’re taking to the field tosketch, lighter weight, too.

This was a simple ink sketch for my Quick-sketching in color class–I used only 3-4pencils to suggest the color.

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Watercolor pencils are veryversatile, and a bit moretricky–they often change colorsubstantially when wet as youcan see at right. I preferFaber-Castell’s AlbrechtDürer for most uses, becausethey are soft and buttery andrichly pigmented, but I have tohave a few favorite Derwents,as well! (Always, DerwentBlue Grey 63!) (If you enjoywatercolor pencils, pleasecheck my CD on the subject, Watercolor Pencil Workshop,or the downloadable eBookversion.)

Exercise:

Test your watercolor pencils, wet and dry,right in your journal. Try some of the ways touse them you see at right (and if you took myWatercolor Pencil mini-class you’ve seen thatgraphic! Why reinvent the wheel?)

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Many artists like the convenience and brilliance of markers orbrush pens–the ones with color right in them. You may want tostart with an inexpensive kids’ set from the discount store to trythem out. They ARE very bright and colorful, but fun...

(If you took my Quicksketching in Color mini-class, you sawthat illustration, at right...I gave the markers to a niece who lovescolor, since they weren’t artist-grade, and she loves them too!)

Exercise:

Do a simple ink drawing of something that interests you...stick mostly to outlines, for now. (Trynot to pick something that will bore you with repetition, but not so complex that you’ll wanderoff.)

Now, fill in the color with whichever of these options you prefer–or all of them!

Page Design

Many people ask me about page design–that’s a very personal decision, of course, and what feelsright to you may not to another.

I created a couple of PDFs on page design (THE biggest request on the poll on our Artist’sJournal Workshop site), using simple Photoshop images–they may give you some ideas, too!

http://www.cathyjohnson.info/PDF_library/DesignIdeas1.pdfhttp://www.cathyjohnson.info/PDF_library/DesignIdeas2.pdf

Let me know what you think!

And for lots more inspiration, check out our Artist’s Journal Workshop Flickr group–join us andadd your own! http://www.flickr.com/groups/artists-journal-workshop/

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson, with demos, exercises and videos!

In the next lesson, we’ll discuss types of journals and what feels right to YOU.

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