Marin County Sketchbook Session

Several of our Marin Watercolor Journaling Group gathered at my home to learn some of the tips and ideas that I picked up at the Susan Cornelis workshop last weekend. One of her ideas was to create an art board that had every thing handy to use when you do not have a surface upon which to paint. This one is mine.

Portable Art Board
I showed the group some of ways in which you can capture the scene with just a few "vignettes" of what you see, creating a pleasing design on your page with lots of white space.

We used Susan's idea of putting in a geometric shape before we started our pages and then the challenge was to work the shape into the design.


This was a page on which a collage had been placed before I had decided what to add.... the map and fish seemed to tell me that I am charting new waters so this is what I came up with.... USING new ideas....

Page prepared before the sketching with collage materials.

I spent some time reviewing the design ideas and explaining how a Vignette could allow you to capture something really quickly while traveling. Susan had used a brass bell to time our sessions to 15 minutes. So I set my little group out to pretend that they, too, were traveling. I even had a small antique teacher's bell I could use.

Later, we all shared our pages .... it was a very successful morning and it really helped me to remember some of the things I learned at the Travel Sketchbooking Workshop.


Phyllis

Jeanne

Miriam


Elizabeth

This was the page that incorporated a geometric design... I did a quick sketch of a Jade plant and then put in my bell to help me remember the experience of having to capture the scene in just 15 minutes..."Hurry Up, the bus is leaving... you can't spend all day just perfecting your sketchbook!"

Here is my impression of Jeanne and her sketch book, I put two elements together. My budding orchid plant and Jeanne, then I added the window/painting for a little extra interest.