Getting Ready for En Plein Air again

After reading Brenda Swenson's wonderful blog (you can find her link in my favorites) about her favorite bag...I had to get one too. (She says they are called "Brenda's Bag" by her workshop participants!)

I probably have 4 or 5 bags that I use for different purposes now. This one is dedicated to watercolor and is packed for an all-morning (or all-day sketch). As opposed to the quick sketch bag I might use for a the half hour sketch you might get when you are traveling.

(note: I also have a bag for acrylics en plein air).

Since they are heavier to carry I use a backpack for that and using carry an easel.

With both bags I carry a super white artist's umbrella which I think is a must. But if you go to Brenda's blog she has a WONDERFUL long and helpful list of what to bring with you. One thing she does not have that I have found to be amazingly neat...is a folding stool that fits RIGHT into this bag. It is the red object with the metal bars you see behind the little red box in the photo here. (see info and photo of the stool below).

Here is the other side of the bag.

I have my brushes on this side.

I am still fussing about what kind of sketch books to take along. I love my Moleskins but am thinking I might like to try making my OWN sketchbooks like Brenda does. She takes them to Staples or Office Depot and has them spiral bound. I don't have that option located as I am in summer in the middle of no where. So for now I am going to cut the wc paper to size and use a bull dog clip to a piece of stiff mat board. Then I can bind them together later. Brenda's favorite choice of paper for en plein air wc is Bockingford paper (140# rough). I am an Arches girl myself but I thought maybe I'd try a few of her choice too. See if I like it. I have been using cold press for so long...but I do like rough too.

Here is that little stool I showed you in the first photo all folded up in my bag. You just can not believe how sturdy these are and how tiny they fold up!!!

I picked up two of them at a garage sale in Florida in April. The little case they came in said "Don Leitow Chevrolet Inc" on it. So I googled this and found someone with that name. I wanted to share if there was a "source" on these chairs for my blog followers. I got an email back from Don Leitow's grandson who is now a Toyota dealer in Michigan! He says they were factory give aways! And he does not know how to get them...surely out of production now...but there must be a ton of them "floating" around? If they were not tossed! He was so fascinated that these had turned up and in such good shape!!! (Ya gotta love garage sales!) If anyone else out there has seen these, let me know! En Plein Group here in the north woods will be on Thursday mornings and they have already started without me! This week we will be at Lake of the Falls on the Turtle River. Weather looks "passable"...74 and sunny.

Continuing on With Fractured WC on Canvas...

You will remember I started this canvas sometime around Memorial Day weekend. The early photos of it are a few posts back.

I am still doodling away at this.

I add...subtract...lift.

I have decided that the next time I do one...I am not going to extend the lines outside the inside frame UNTIL I am ready to extend something. It is too hard to get those pencil lines to disappear.

The canvas is VERY touchy and unforgiving if you make a wet mark you are committed to doing something with it.

I am toying with the idea of repeating the floral organic colors somewhere in the picture plane. But I just can't decide yet. Another idea is to add more green into the plant and let some of the green "trail" down into the picture plane.

This is a 12 x 12 gallery wrapped format.

New En Plein Air Tote

Besides Robert Genn, the most often quoted artist on my blog and in the news chat is Brenda Swenson.

I think she is better than sliced bread.

A wc artist primarily she has written a wonderful how to book for beginners that I have used and given away as gifts forever!

This is her en plein air bag.

You can go to Harbor Freight Tools website and order the "Rigger Bag". They have been back ordered recently due her blog I am sure!!!

She notes in her explanation that some of the "pockets" were too small so she removed the stitching between some of them to allow for notebooks and multiple brushes. Her idea of "decorating" the bag is fun too...although you could certainly embellish it with permanent marker pens and acrylic paint as well!

Also you can also go to her blog post (click here) and find out how to make your own sketchbooks. Now this is something I never really thought about. She likes Bockingford WC paper which I do not think I've ever tried.

And since they don't make a travel journal...she makes her own finishing it off by taking it to a store like Office Max and having spiral bound. On the other hand....there are wonderful sketch books already out there. For small work I love my Moleskins.

I got some $ for Christmas from my daughter (a Cheap Joe's gift card) and so I may try out her paper to give it try.

The decorated bag is Brenda's all set and ready to go. The plain one is mine that just arrived and has some work yet to be done to it! Brenda says that she "unstitched" some of the outside pockets to make them fit what she wanted to put in them.

Note: I am wearing a turtle neck AND a sweater in the photo! It is only 50 degrees in the north woods of WI today (sunny BUT windy). So there is a wind chill as well.

Transparent watercolor society of America..36th exhibit

Ginny voting for Lakeside Artists by Denny Bond


The exhibit is in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Always a treat if you can see it!
Go to www.watercolors.org For more info.

Here is my hubby's favorite: Rosebud by Fredrick Graff.




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Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wi

This is a second post on this beautiful museum in the north central part of WI. Scroll back one post for the NASA exhibit.


Besides the wonderful traveling exhibits inside, there are amazing sculptures in the garden. One i really found unusual was Steven Siegal's paper sculpture which is sculpting itself with weatherizing! It's now one year old and made of 24,000 # of recycled paper donated by Wausau Paper Company. (Remember this is the heart of forestry country!). Here is my husband standing beside it.


Wow!
Also the next indoor traveling exhibits begin June 23 and run to Aug 26.
Botanicals: Environmental Expression in Art and Rhythm of Life: Watercolors by Richard Bolingbroke. The famous Birds in Art opens Sept 8-Nov 11.


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Here I am at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin yesterday.


This art work is from a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian called NASA:50 years of exploration. It is amazing! I mean it knocked my socks off!

This particular piece is called "Among the Stars and Angels" and it a tribute to the lost shuttle Columbia. The artist is Zigi Ben Haim and it is mixed media on aluminum. There are some 90 pieces in the exhibit with pieces by Norman Rockwell, Calder, Warhol. Jamey Wyeth, etc. The impact of viewing a THEMED exhibition is just such a powerful experience!!!!

At times I was breathless. At time laughing, amazed, bewildered, proud and utterly sad to the point of tears. The exhibit will only be here until June 17 and then is moving on. I am sure you can google it and find out where it is going next. There is an audio for 10 of the pieces. Excellent.

And this exhibit was free.

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Location:The Power of Original Themed Exhibits

Re-doing the fractured wc on canvas

With the planning for a class comes the re-thinking about how to do the demos and how to set up supply lists.

Fracturing wc on canvas with Peg Furlin was a LONG time ago and I won't be teaching the workshop until mid September. But now is a good time to start doing some of these again to "get in the mood" and to remember what I need to re-remember about doing this technique.

I have picked a simple form to incorporate into the painting. You don't need to do this. Peg does a lot of abstracting in her work (you can google her work online). But I like working with some recognizable objects in mine.

We are going to work on 12 x 12 canvas and so I prepared the canvas with a hearty scrub with water...and I mean SCRUB. Losing some of the sizing and thoroughly wetting the canvas before I put on pale wash triad of the color I plan to use in the painting. Remember, this is watercolor and this is not a wc canvas. Just an inexpensive gallery wrapped canvas. So the painting will use a lot of techniques that you use in Yupo painting.

It's good to let is dry thoroughly and then trace on your subject matter. So I'll post my next steps in a few days.

A watercolor ground example of Journal Cover

This a copy of a very interesting article I read today on Daniel Smith's catalog page. As you know I have been doing "journal covers" in collage and mixed media. I think this an alternative to that that really has a nice look to it. This example is by Cindy Briggs and Theresa Goesling. You can see more examples if you google Daniel Smith. Naturally it is partially a sales pitch for watercolor ground. You might alternate this by gluing watercolor paper onto your journal cover and leaving under weights overnight. Then after doing the painting, spray coat it with 4 or 5 coats of clear acrylic spray. Still I have purchased some of this ground and so I plan to experiment with this.


Let your imagination soar!

Enrich your travel experience by creating your own artful travel Journal. Our International travel experts, Cindy Briggs and Theresa Goesling share techniques and materials for their Mixed Media Journals. Follow these Step-by-Step instructions to create your own Journal Cover using Watercolor Ground.


Watercolor Ground on Arches Watercolor Book
Tape over canvas edges. Apply Watercolor Ground direct from the container with a brush in either a uniform or random pattern. Random brushstrokes were used here to create texture.


Watercolor Ground—2 to 3 layers
Paint 2 to 3 layers until you have complete coverage with the Water-color Ground. Allow to cure 24 to 72 hours before applying Watercolor or Acrylics.


Sketch & Paint
You can draw in pencil or go for it and draw in ink. A non-permanent Elegant Writer Pen was used for a wet messy look. A pencil was used to plan the design, then painted wet-in-wet with a limited complementary palette of Lunar Earth, Quinacridone Sienna, Naples Yellow, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Teal and Permanent Brown.


Splatter & Typography
Using a mesh screen, put a some wet China White on top and blow through to create splatter. Typography was planned out on a separate sheet of paper with a stencil before deciding on final placement.

Finishing Touches
You can design your own stamp to identify the region, country and year for your journal. Don’t forget to sign your artwork before varnishing with Golden Archival Varnish. Use 2 coats gloss, then one coat matte for a nice finish.

America’s Best of Watercolor Artists, Theresa Goesling and Cindy Briggs take students to Europe to draw, paint, collage as they journal their travels. With a focus on design, they share their passion for painting and encourage an artful journey of discoveries. Goesling will also be featured in the upcoming Splash 13, for her “Layer it up” approach of transparent and opaque watercolors, The dynamic duo team teach Mixed Media—Creative Travel Journaling and Watermedia workshops at Daniel Smith.


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A new view of Lincoln

This a little dark of me standing beside a fairly new portrait of Lincoln at the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois on Saturday. I wanted you to see the scale of the painting.


I am sorry I didn't write down the artist's name but I think when I look through my info later I will probably find it. I even bought a mug with this image on it. The museum is highly modern and includes a lot of fascinating almost Disney-like presentations very well done! We were totally impressed and we recommend a visit here!

Our journey is winding down now as we head for northern Wisconsin and our summer cabin in Lac du Flambeau on Tuesday.

It may be awhile before I get into my studio there because my hubby plans a new ceiling for it and that requires me OUT of it while he works. But it will be nice when it is finally finished.



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A beautiful Day in Omaha

Yesterday in downtown Omaha.
Our friends there hosted a great picnic just outside the Union Pacific Museum at the old Carnegie Library.


Now we are headed to Kansas to visit the Eisenhower Presidential Museum.

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A Poem for Monday....

On Mondays
by Marilyn Donnelly

On Mondays when the museums are closed
and a handful of guards
look the other way
or read their newspapers
all of the figures
step out of golden frames
to stroll the quiet halls
or visit among old friends.
Picasso's twisted ladies
rearrange themselves
to trade secrets
with the languid odalisques of Matisse
while sturdy Rembrandt men
shake the dust
from their velvet tams
and talk shop.
Voluptuous Renoir women
take their rosy children by the hand
to the water fountains
where they gossip
while eating Cezanne's luscious red apples.
Even Van Gogh
in his tattered yellow straw hat
seems almost happy
on Mondays when the museums are closed.

"On Mondays" by Marilyn Donnelly, from Coda. © Autumn House Press, 2010

I couldn't resist sharing the museum poem that came in Garrison Keillor's blog this morning. And also a photo I took before I left Florida this spring.
This is the entry way into a darling little cafe in Mt Dora. I can hardly wait to paint it!

We are continuing our cross country trip and right now are near Amana, Iowa.
We are heading toward Omaha today to spend a few days with friends. More adventures soon. Keep tuned.


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Traveling through Grand Rapids

The beauty of architecture.
The Meyer May home in Grand Rapids, Michigan really amazed us.


My hubby and I have been to many Frank Lloyd Wright homes and businesses but we have never seen one so painstakingly restored.
The dining room was especially beautiful.

Frankly I could never imagine living in one of these homes.
But is fun to see one so lovingly done. Rugs were woven, tile made, walls painted, and the entire roof removed and steel reinforcement put in! etc. Amazing!

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Journaling along the way

This a quick sketch that I did about a week ago coming from Bloomington, Indiana in the way to Indianapolis. It is a little winery called Oliver Winery.



Currently we are traveling through Iowa on our way to Nebraska.
More soon, I hope.

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Journal Covers Collaged

I showed these two journal book covers a post or so ago and at that time showed you how I made the strange spidery names for them online. You have to be on a computer to use that website (iPad won't open it). Probably a flash player or something involved.

Anyway the two journals were purchased at Office Depot (hard covers) and the covers backgrounds are canvas I cut out in the size to fit the covers. I did not glue it onto the books until the covers were done and I was happy with them. I used watercolors and fluid acrylics for colored places on them. I used injet transfer for Maddy's photo on the right side and I just glued on black and white injet photos on Alex's. I used acrylic medium for the glue. I think if you click on the image it will enlarge.

Both of these will be graduation gifts and their cards and checks will be tucked inside. I am thinking of photocopying a few idea pages from my Journaling book and putting them inside just to give them some ideas of outside-the-box ways that this journal could be used. I am going to suggest that if they want to collage in items like photos or tickets stubs, etc that first they glue two pages together to give the page more stability. Just using a glue stick I think. It would be cool to take yarn and a needle and sewing around the edges of some of the pages too...stuff like that. OR this could simply be a written journal. Alex is 18 and graduating from high school and Maddy is 22 and graduating from college.

Note: on Maddy's there is picture of Miss Piggy. She's my idol! (hahahaha).

I am now in the process of beginning to pack up my studio for the long and circuitous trip back to the north woods (from FL). Sigh. Happens every spring about this time. So my posts will be from my iPad as I travel along after May 3.

Collage/mixed media journal covers

As I mentioned in my previous blog...I am currently kind of "into" reading and trying out various kinds of multi media for journal covers.

This inside pages of this journal are already completed and it is a small landscape moleskin that I've worked on over a period of two years. All travel journal entries...mostly watercolor and ink. The journal cover is (like Julie's before me) done on a piece of artist canvas and finished off with a coat of acrylic medium. The slight figure you see ghosted near the center is actual a black and white photo of Marjorie Rawlins (who I mentioned in the previous post). Then I used maps, tickets, stamps, feathers, and stamping. All the color is fluid acrylic but watercolor could have been used if I had done the color before I put on the acrylic gel medium which resists watercolor.

Now...these are two journals side by side (left for Alex and right for Maddy) two of my grandkids graduating soon. The names I made with a fun website called "scribbler". When I finished the scribble art, I took a "screen shot" of the art and pulled if off onto the desktop. Then pulled it back into a blank Word document, printed it out and watercolored it and cut it out.

Click here for the scribbler site. Follow the simple directions.

The journals are bound journals (from Office Depot). I would have liked to do something hand made but there is not time for that right now. The white is again, canvas...such a nice textured background. I haven't glued anything down yet. I am in the process of going through old photographs and ephemera. Trying to decide what would look fun. Alex is 18 and Maddy is 22. Setting off on the journey of life.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

What a lovely day to visit a "cracker" Florida home. The author of The Yearing and Cross Creek lived just about an hour north of where I spend my winters in central Florida.

Cross Creek Florida is just north of Ocala.

Marjorie (although not a native of FL) became a Floridian in the true sense of the word. She came in 1928. Her home and the grounds of the orchard and farm are now an historic State Park. The tours are interpreted by people who have grown up in this area and authentic stories that have been passed down are shared. It's a wonderful place to visit. Since I had taken the tour before...while my guests toured...I sketched with chickens and roosters scrambling around my feet! Her 1940 Oldsmobile is still parked in the carport.

Playing with Multi Media

I pulled out an old book of mine on creating artists journals in multi media and just had fun for a whole afternoon reading and paging through the wonderful ideas.

(The nice thing about being old is you forget what you have read and so you get to re-discover it all over again! Hahaha).

The author is Lynne Perrella.

I got to thinking about designing a journal cover on some sort of fabric (WAY WAY out of the box for me.)

I had some left over watercolor canvas from a previous project and so I designed a journal cover for my daughter, Julie (who likes to keep journals).

It is planned for a 9 x 9 inch journal but I haven't actually cut the canvas to that size yet. I had some fun with transferring a photo image to the canvas which came out sort of in "ghostly" way but interesting with the texture. It is a photo of Julie and of me and I am really ghostly in the background and she is recognizable. I like the idea that I may be some influence in her life but am in the background.

I coated the canvas lightly with acrylic polymer medium and then lay a inkjet black and white face down on it and using a credit card I firmly drew the card over the back of the inkjet several time and then peeled it up carefully. Black and white seems to work better . I sprayed the image lightly with acrylic varnish and let dry.

Then I just played around with ribbon, fluid acrylic, watercolor, ink, stamps etc and thinking of her and the things she loves like nature, plants, labyrinths, drawing, etc.

I plan to coat everything with the polymer medium at the end for durability. I am thinking that at a later date, I will use a spray-on glue to attach it to the front of the journal and then lay it under some heavy books overnight.

Florida Sketches

We have been highly "on the go" for the last week while my step daughter has been down here in Florida on a visit from Lodi, WI. On Monday of this week I did two little sketches.

The first one is of Racing's North Turn which is a fun bar/restaurant RIGHT on Daytona Beach. We visited and had cocktails there on the chairs facing the water and took time to go down and sit on the beach awhile (where I did the sketch). The salt air smelled so good. It was nice to say hi to the Atlantic Ocean again.

This cozy building is at DeLeon Springs State Park where you can put your feet into the "Fountain of Youth" and then go inside and make your own pancakes! There was a rather long wait to get in and so I set up a chair and did a little sketch.

Outside they were renting tubes (see 3 by the right side) so you could swim in the 30 foot deep pool made by damming up the spring...clear as a bell but only 72 degrees (uh oh). It costs $6 for a carful to get into the park and they have paddle boats to go out on the St. John's River and also a guided tour boat (pontoon). This is just about half an hour south of Daytona Beach. It's a great place to visit!

Ginny with Elizabeth Nelson

It has long been a dream to take Elizabeth's paper painting workshop.

This was taken Sunday March 11 on the final day of the 3 day workshop.

What a treat to get to work with her for 3 days. I highly recommend her workshops!

Paper Painting Workshop with Elizabeth Nelson

You have seen this little toucan before in Yupo paper. (I have become quite fond of him!). This time he is on 11 x 14 wrapped canvas with an acrylic painted background. He himself is made of hand-acrylic painted torn papers. When I think he is done, he'll be varnished.

This was my day one assignment (apples).

Again the background is acrylic (splattered) although this time on canvas board (11 x 14). If you could look closer you could see we use music paper, hand written notes, newspapers, rice papers, etc.

Most of Day one was spent preparing these papers! Printing, stamping, splattering, and using layer upon layer of analogous colors.

The subject is painted first and then the papers added afterwards.

This is one of Elizabeth's paintings...part of a show called The Ark which will showcase 50 of her paintings in April.

(More on that later.)

Her paintings are on wood and are about 3 x 4' .

Day 3 is on Sunday although I only stay for the morning as the Hawthorne Park Art show will be tomorrow afternoon.

If you are in the Leesburg area be sure to drop in. I'll have 5 pieces in the show...1-4. Hawthorne Park is 3 miles south of Leesburg. We had advertising in the Orlando Sentinel today.