Sketch Book and Working Out Ideas

This is one of several watercolor notebooks I made myself. It's the only way I have found to have a watercolor notebook in various sizes with exactly the type of paper I want and be relatively inexpensive. 

It does take time to bind, but it is worth it! When I began thinking about making my own, I researched online and found this tutorial teaching the coptic stitch for single sheet bookbinding (look up DIY Single Sheet Bookbinding Tutorial by Sea Lemon).  

The book lies flat and can be completed fairly quickly, any size you want or need. 

This notebook is 10 1/2"  x 11 3/4" (paper size is 10" x 10 1/2") and holds 14 sheets of Arches Cold Pressed watercolor paper. I painted a scrap piece of cardboard black then glued a copy of a photo I took of dense birches near my home to the cover, inside front and back covers, and the back using mod podge matte glue.

These notebooks are great for working out ideas for my larger paintings. The third picture is a watercolor of stones - I'm trying out brighter colors and techniques such as using salt to help define moving water. Here's a few more:

I've discovered that I don't even have to bind them as long as they have sturdy covers and I keep a thick elastic holding the book together. This is especially convenient when out doors; the book cover acts as a drawing board and you can put your sketches in any order you like.

The last picture is a quick watercolor sketch I did looking at a pile of branches, sticks and leaves. This is just about shape and color and placement. I didn't worry - as you can see - about making the image look exactly like branches sticks and leaves. I thought about shape, color, tone, shadows, what shapes were in the front and which were receding and where to place those shapes and colors. I need to do many more of these.

These small paintings are so visually interesting or at least I think they have the potential to be very visually exciting. I'd like to practice some more, really exploiting the transparency of the watercolor in a larger image.

Thanks for looking and until next time!

Large Watercolor Progress

I've got the entire surface taped as you can see. The watercolor is 52" x 52", the squares are approximately 6.5". There is no need to be exact but I do like to get the squares fairly close in size so the image is close to what I want. 

Using a utility knife and a 3/4" roll of blue painter's tape (it does not damage the watercolor paper surface and can be removed and replaced easily), I cut a long piece of tape into about 4 pieces (about 1/8"), and keep taping until the surface is completed.

I don't draw every detail at this stage, just the main basic shapes; in this case a lot of different sized branches. I can work on details the further I get into organizing the piece. The second picture shows the bottom right hand corner; lightly drawn branches that are coming toward the viewer. There is a myriad of leaves and darkness behind and underneath these branches but there is no need to detail that now. That can be done in stages.

Once the drawing is completed I will begin working from the back to the front, and from darkest to the lightest. The more the background is detailed the more the foreground will pop out toward the viewer. 

Completing the drawing will take about a week. Then I'll dive into the painting and hope it works out to my satisfaction! Let me know what you think about this process or if you have any questions I'd be happy to talk!

Until next time.