Thursday

June 2012 in Barcelona

View of Barcelona from the top of the Sagrada Familia Basilica.
I hadn't yet returned from Montreal this summer that I had already planned to spend June 2012 in Barcelona, with a side trip of one week to the south of France for a watercolour workshop.

I am an unconditional fan of Antoni Gaudí, the wild architect who designed the Sagrada Familia Basilica, which I visited in 1969 when it was still a shell (though its construction had begun in 1882). Now that it's almost finished -- it was inaugurated about a year ago but construction is expected to continue for several decades -- I want to see what his successors have done with it, though I already like what I've seen in the pictures.

I also look forward to revisiting Gaudí's other buildings and Güell Park, with its mosaic dragon -- all perfect sketching subjects.

Because of my newly-found passion for sketching, this is going to be quite a different trip. Add to this the fact that I now speak Spanish fluently, and you have a different person visiting what must be a different place after forty-some years... no wonder I'm excited about this!

I had tentatively booked a place in a workshop in the South of France for the last part of the month, but after looking into travel insurance I realized that I couldn't make that commitment at this time. They required a large deposit and a final payment a full two months before the workshop, and the refund policy was not generous at all, and travel insurance did not cover the kind of circumstances that had me worried.

There were other things that bothered me about that particular place, such as having to rent a car because they no longer wish to provide transportation to the painting sites. It makes sense from their point of view, since most of their clients drive in from other parts of Europe. As of next year, they're even opening a campground for those who come with their RVs. I'm not sure I'd like to vacation in a trailer park, and the thought of driving in France isn't something that brings a smile to my face.

As for Barcelona, there's a very tempting apartment that I could rent for the whole month of June for 750 euros -- that's about $1,000. Since sketching is my new passion, I could easily spend a month sketching there, with the occasional side trip to other Spanish towns.

But could I resist flying to Paris once I was over there? That's my dilemma right now.

Tuesday

My First Real Journaling Pages

When I got the invitation to a mushroom hunt in the Shediac area (Cocagne, actually), not only was I excited because I'm crazy about wild mushrooms, I also saw it as an opportunity to create my first "real" journaling pages -- real as opposed to the assignments that I carried out last month in Montreal in the sketchbook class, and the ones that are part of Laure Ferlita's excellent online Artful Journaling class that I'm taking right now.

I didn't have any illusions about being able to sketch mushrooms in the woods: I was sure that was out of the question due to the large number of participants. But when our guide began his presentation, I realized that instead of just taking notes, I could make little sketches of the mushrooms in his slide presentation.

Here's a page from that project:

Click to enlarge.
I drew the little mushrooms in permanent ink, then filled in the colours back at the motel, using my guidebook as well as sites I found with my iPad.

Too bad I didn't plan to do this in advance. I could have allowed a bit more space for the drawings, and set each one in its own little frame maybe. Next time I will.


Click to enlarge.

I had brought back some of the enormous mushrooms that had been picked by the group, so I could paint them.

As soon as I got home, I painted this one quickly in my other sketchbook. It was just going to be a draft, but I never got around to doing it again, so I cut it out and pasted it in my Moleskine.

The camera rendered the yellow a bit too yellowy, and I shouldn't have put the red on top, dry-into-dry like this, especially since I used Brown Madder, which is sort of a shiny pigment -- but like I said it was going to be a draft, and if you don't enlarge it it doesn't look too bad.

* * * * *

I had booked the motel room for two days so I could spend the next day at the main pier in Pointe-du-Chêne, and maybe at Parlee Beach as well, filling pages and pages of my Moleskine sketchbook.

That was overly optimistic! I forgot that I had to allow time to drive back home during the daylight hours (I have night blindness), and how long sketching actually takes when you're new at the game.

I never made it to Parlee Beach, but I am thrilled at having produced this page of small sketches.

I was kind of sorry that I hadn't worked more neatly, but then I looked at the journals of some famous artists, and many of them are not neat at all.

I concluded that if you're a neat person, your journals are going to be neat, and if you're more like me, then your journals are going to be neat one day, and sloppy the next!

Anyway, I was looking at a way of unifying this page, and I checked books and websites, and one idea I found was to paint the background, like this:

Watercolour on Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook, 5" x 9". Click to enlarge.
 I like it much better with the Prussian Blue background around the sketches, and the pale yellow on the sign.

I find that this does unify the whole page, and makes the sketches stand out even more.

It also hides some of the flaws.

I'm glad I tried this because it was sort of the ultimate test for the Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. It's amazing how well this rather thin paper withstands just about any amount of water you put on it. It buckles very slightly at first, then it recovers.

At around $25, it seems expensive, but since the paint doesn't bleed through, you can use both sides of the pages -- giving you a total of 72 pages, costing a mere 35 cents each. It's cheaper than making your own, really.

* * * *

Years from now, when I look at this page, I know that I will remember that weekend so much better than if I had taken photos, including how I was so busy trying not to trip in the forest that I never spotted a single mushroom.

On the nicer side, I will remember getting excited at the colourful buoys hanging from that pyramid of lobster traps. I will remember chatting with the lady in the fake pirate ship souvenir shop with the plastic palm trees; she happens to be an "expatriate" from Montreal, like me, so we had a lot to talk about.

Best of all, I will remember watching the fishermen on the pier, and their strange pivoting movement, their bodies gyrating from left to right and right to left, again and again, in an attempt to lure the fish to bite, as I sat there on one of the benches, eating my lunch, and then sketching and painting using my new Cotman watercolour travel set, feeling awfully lucky to have found someone willing to move so little for so long!

Next time, I will try to work more neatly, draw some lines and stay inside them, and leave more space between the sketches! Fortunately, I had drawn in a frame for the title of the Shediac page. I added the lettering when I got home -- I wanted the title to be done with care, and if you see the influence of Cathy Johnson there, it's no coincidence -- I just got her new book, Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures, and have found it a great resource for a beginner like myself.

Friday

Viva México! Happy Independence Day!

Viva México (1995), Watercolour on Arches Paper, 15" x 11" (Click to enlarge.)
I remember painting this in Dennis Pohl's class at Instituto Allende in San Miguel, 16 years ago. I don't know if I'd have the patience today!

How I miss you, México! Happy Independence Day!

Wednesday

Artful Journaling, an Online Course

I had signed up for both of Laure Ferlita's Artful Journaling online courses (Foundations and Explorations), and this week was the first installment.

While in Montreal last month, I had learned how to make a simple, hand-sewn sketchbook, so I decided to make one with what I had on hand: some sheets from a 9" x 12" block of Curry's own 140-lb cotton paper for the inside, and the rough cardboard that they use for shipping for the cover.

Unfortunately, using sheets from a block instead of tearing large sheets into smaller ones means that you don't get the attractive deckle edges.

Here is the cover:

Handmade Sketchbook, 6.5" x 9.5"

The blue part was designed in Photoshop, printed on matte photo paper, then glued. (Now I know better than to use glue from the dollar store -- it shows through the photo paper!)

The type is actually the same shade of brown as the little squares. The font is "Angelina".

For the border, I got inspiration from a new book on Lettering that I just got. I used a flat brush, watercolour and a fine black marker.









Here is the interior:

Interior of Handmade Watercolour Sketchbook, 13" x 9.5"
 I had given my first sketchbook to my niece as a birthday present (she's an art student), and had forgotten the sewing diagram, so I wrote the teacher, Lorna Mulligan, and she very kindly sent me a little sketch.

The sewing doesn't show up very well because I used white thread.

You may notice that my paper doesn't line up perfectly -- something to watch out for next time.

I'm pretty pleased with it anyway.

I will review the course when it's over. Stay tuned!







Thursday

Review of Winsor & Newton Cotman Field Plus Set

Click to enlarge.
This is the Cotman Field Plus Watercolor Set that I ordered for sketching and journaling.

Curry's had it for $40 plus shipping, which was about the same as if I had ordered it from the US.

The problem with ordering from the US is that unless the supplier ships by the US Post Office you're likely to find a delivery guy at your door demanding some outrageous brokerage fee if you want your merchandise.

I had ordered this particular model after checking out everything that was available out there -- in m price range, that is.  I liked all the features, including some that other sets just don't offer:

Click to enlarge.
    ◆    Three separate mixing trays;
    ◆    A small water bottle that fits into its own little space when put away, and can hang from the palette when you're working if you wish (as in the right, on my photo). The bottle holds 1/3 of a cup, enough to fill one of those little cups six times;
    ◆    Two water cups that clip right onto the palette, with four slots to choose from;
    ◆    Thumb rings on both sides (the one on the right is for lefties);
    ◆    A good selection of pigments in half-pans;
    ◆    A small synthetic brush and two different slots for it;
    ◆    A compact design. When closed, the kit measures 5-1/2"x4-1/2"x1-1/2" (14x11x4 cm) and weighs 8.6 oz  (243 g).

Those were the Pros. Now for the Cons.

1. The kit I got had two major flaws: (a) it didn't close properly, so that if you turned it upside-down, everything would fall out; and (b) the bottle leaked.

It turned out that Winsor & Newton had received a defective batch from the manufacturer, and a replacement shipment is on the way. W&N promised to replace my box as soon as the new ones are available. (They offered me the option of receiving another model instead, but it didn't suit me.) In the meantime, they have sent me a replacement bottle, which doesn't leak.

2. Remember, this is a Cotman set. Cotman is Winsor & Newton's "student" line. So that the pigments are not "artist quality", but they're good enough for now, as I learn to sketch on location. When I'm ready to switch to artist quality, the half-pans are the same size, so I can just switch the pigments that matter. Or do what many artists do, just squeeze some tube colour into the empty pans.

Click to enlarge.
One pigment that doesn't work is the Cobalt Hue -- it just looks like a weak Ultramarine, as you can see on this sampler that I made. The idea of having two blues is to have a cold one and a warm one, and so I replaced the Cobalt with Prussian Blue from the Artists line (top, right).

I doubt that I will ever use the Chinese White. Should I want a white paint, I would use gouache, or maybe one of those gel pens which I have yet to try. I'm tempted to just fill that slot with another green pigment.
 
Winsor & Newton were very nice about the whole thing, though they took forever to answer my email. I had to ask Curry's to give them a little push.

I haven't had good luck with Winsor & Newton products lately: a couple of months ago I purchased several tubes of their watercolours and received a mail-in coupon for a free sable brush. The brush -- a No. 3 round from their Artists Water Colour Sable line -- arrived very nicely packaged in a large tube, but unfortunately it was defective. It's very thin, and the point is double and it ends in a curve. It's unusable. I suspect that's how they get rid of their "seconds". I hope I'm wrong, as that would not be worthy of that famous name.

WHERE TO BUY YOUR W&N FIELD PLUS SET

Amazonhas a terrific price on it -- I wish I had looked there first! Check them out!

Monday

Art Classes in Montreal - Conclusion

WHAT DID I TAKE BACK HOME FROM FOUR WEEKS OF ART CLASSES IN MONTREAL?

"Montréal, août 2011", mixed media, 9" x 12"
No. 1 -- As indicated by the photo on the left, I came to the realization that what I can do with my watercolours is Sketching and Journaling. (I know, this is more like a scrapbook, but hey, I'm just a beginner!)

The reason that I had signed up for that Essential Sketchbook class was that I am planning on doing a lot of travelling and, frankly, photography doesn't have the same appeal any more. As much as I used to love films, negatives, contact sheets and fine prints, I find nothing sexy in digital cameras.

And if it comes to recording your trip, nothing stirs up the memories like a little sketch. Add some words, a bit of fancy decorating, and you have an art journal, something that, apparently, the whole world is passionately engaged in, judging by all the books, tutorials, blogs, websites, workshops, etc.

(Click here for my impressions of the Essential Sketchbook course.)

No. 2 -- I discovered watercolour pencils, watercolour travel kits, and, especially, water-soluble pens and waterbrushes. Water-soluble pens are great for sketching on the go, anytime, anywhere. You can carry all you need in one pocket! As for watercolour pencils, I saw a demo by Laure Ferlita I think -- or maybe it was Cathy Johnson? -- about making a tiny palette by creating little squares of colour on watercolour paper, and using that as your colour supply for small sketches on the go. It works! Clever! (Speaking of clever, this girl Laure Ferlita [I keep wanting to combine her two names and call her "Laurita", like we would in Mexico], she runs this business/school/project called "Imaginary Trips". You sign up for a fake trip and make a journal out of it.)

I'm constantly amazed at how creative people are, in so many ways.

No. 3 -- I finally realized the importance of value -- the relative lightness or darkness of a certain area in a drawing or a painting -- without which volume simply doesn't exist. Thanks to Lorna Mulligan, who taught the classes -- this concept finally sunk in, and more importantly, I began to apply it.

No. 4 -- I gained a certain hope that if I practice enough, one day I will be able to draw. No matter that I used to have this ability -- I was admitted at Ecole des Beaux-Arts at age 16, after a very difficult test that only the top 200 out of 2000 had passed. I'm sure the ability is still there, buried under mountains of insecurity.

No. 5 -- I became determined more than ever that what I want to do for the next few decades is to travel as much as I can possibly afford. Travel, take art workshops maybe, sketch, make journals... but for now it's nice to be home and make pink apple jelly with the apples that grow wild everywhere in my small windy village.

No. 6 -- I got a trial run on what equipment is essential when travelling by plane (last year, I had gone by car); in fact, did you know that watercolour tubes are considered to be a liquid, and therefore they are subject to the same restrictions as your mouth wash? Luckily, I was in time to have my suitcase pulled back from the check-in so that I could put the watercolours in there. (It was that or the garbage can for those 20 tubes!) In addition, since we were working en plein air, I also got a trial run on what equipment I should take -- or rather, how much I can comfortably carry, and how much I can use once I'm on location.

No. 7 -- One of my favourite parts was learning to make my own simple sketchbook. I can't show it that one, because my niece, who is an art student, celebrated her 22nd birthday while I was in Montreal, and so I gave it to her as a present. But I've made another one, and you can see it here.

What I didn't gain, however, is some experience in handling watercolours. There was very little encouragement to use them, and I avoided every opportunity to make a fool of myself, so I used other mediums almost all the time. Pen and wash became my favourite alternative, and that's fine. I've ordered a bunch of great books, and I will spend the winter following the lessons in them, in preparation for a watercolour workshop in the south of France, next June, that I've just signed up for.

*  Well, not four weeks full-time! Essential Sketchbook was two evenings a week for four weeks, for a total of 24 hours, and Plants and Flowers was four hours for four Sundays, for a total of 16 hours.


Plant and Flower Painting Course in Montreal

Quick Watercolour Sketch Inside the Greenhouse, 8.5" x 5"
Before your make a face like my friend Louise did upon seeing this, let me point out that it was supposed to be a quick sketch done directly in watercolour without a previous pencil drawing -- just an impression of the inside of the greenhouse.

Each class of this Plant and Flower Painting Course (which was given over four Sundays in August by the Visual Arts Centre, and taught by Lorna Mulligan), met at the Westmount greenhouse, which is just a few blocks from the school.

Strangely enough, most of my flower pictures were produced as part of the Essential Sketchbook class, which was also taught by Ms. Mulligan. The two classes just got intertwined in my mind, but that's okay.

The last class took place on the Sunday of Hurricane Irene, so I skipped it. This reduced the course by 25% but that's life. I was already kind of disappointed with it: I expected more of an emphasis on how to paint individual flowers, or "flower portraits", as they are sometimes called. Instead, we were pretty well left on our own to create our own project in the greenhouse, with some demos and critiques in the classroom after the greenhouse visits.

Lorna is an excellent artist and a very good teacher, and I picked up enough good advice from the Sketchbook class to have made the trip worthwhile.

Here are some of my other flower and plant pictures. Click on them to enlarge if you wish.

Anthurium. Watercolour, 8.5" x 5"

Fushchias. Water-soluble pen, 8.5" x 5"
Ground Cherries. Watercolour and gouache, 8.5" x 5"

Very Old Jade Plant. Water-soluble pen, 8.5" x 5"
Watergrass. Water-soluble pen.