Doodles + Watercolors
Sun, October 11, 2009 at 07:40PM 
I found a big 11x15" wirebound pad of watercolor paper (...the things I discover in my art supplies) and wondered what it would be like to doodle on a larger piece of paper? Yes... another experiment. Lately, I doodle in a 5x8" moleskine journal. Vivid Rainbow Doodles are in a watercolor moleskine; Mandalas from the road are in an unlined sketch moleskine. 8x10" and 9x11" paper is great too... I did Think Happy on 8x10" drawing paper. So you can experiment by doing something familiar in a new way. So with the idea of extending my doodles to a larger yet looser format, I started drawing circles and lines and boxes, rainbows and lines, on this big paper. Wow! Sometimes you just know that you will love something right from the start. Why didn't I think of this yet?
This morphed into another experiment ~ doing something familiar in a new medium! So with my little travel watercolor set , I painted! It made me so happy, watching the doodles come to life on the page! In watching Geninne's video series documenting her painting a pencil sketch of a bird with watercolors, I realized that I had been using way too small watercolor brushes. So I am working with #6 and #8 pointed round brushes the past few weeks and it really makes a difference. I even ordered a "few" more brushes and watercolor half pans from Blick.
So is this painting or art journaling? What defines art journaling? In my mind, it's art journaling, but perhaps it's mixed media. How on earth do you decide? Or is it a mixed media art journal page... chaotic thoughts.
More, more, more...
- A big art journal page
- Plaid Backgrounds with Acrylics
- Playing with Watercolors + Salt
- Slow Journaling Revisited
- Pages from Altered Books
- Inventing Bed-Time Stories
Next... Doodles + Watercolors (Part 2).
Reader Comments (4)
Love these drawings Tammy! Mmmmm, so beautiful!
Tammy, those are so beautiful! That watercolor paint is so interesting with the degree of saturation.
Do you have any tips for begining watercolor ppl like me as far as 1- Do you use multiple brushes (one per color?) or keep washing off the original and 2- Tips on not making the colors too murky when you do lots of different colors like this.
Eden, Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2, where I'll include some tips (and I'm very much a beginner too). Great questions! ~ Tammy
Oh Tammy these are so inspiring to me. I also love using my watercolors and whenever I go to my art supply store I get some new colors.
I love the vivid color in your art thank you for letting us all enjoy your creativeness.