Art Journal Update || Watercolor Backgrounds

My husband has been getting into typography and hand lettering.  He wants to do a collaboration with me... I produce the backgrounds and he produces the text.  We will scan my paintings and then he'll do the text via the computer.  It sounds like a great idea but I don't think I'm really good enough.  I like to paint for fun but I don't consider myself an artist.  In any case, I was experimenting in my art journal and here's what I came up with...

I left some white space on some of the pages so that he'd have a defined area for his text.  Other pages were just painted fully and he can add text however he wants on top with the magic of computer editing.

He said he wanted "clouds" or "clumps" of color... so that's what I tried to give him!

I'll let you know if we ever get around to finishing them.  And who knows - maybe we'll make them available as prints!

What text or quote would you put with each of these pages?  I'd love to know!

Follow

Watercolor Flowers

When I started this blog I had just started a new hobby - watercolor painting.  I wasn't very good at it, nor am I now, but I still enjoy it every once in awhile.  It's relaxing.  I put on some music, have a snack, and splash some colors on the page.  Some of my very first blog posts were about watercolor.  You can see some here, here, and here, but please don't judge.   :)

Today I put on some Ralph Vaughan Williams (one of my favorite composers) and tried to paint.  But I was uninspired.  I kept trying to copy other artists, and it didn't turn out well:

Finally I told myself to paint something that I would want to look at.  And since I love flowers, I painted some flowers.  And that's pretty much what happens every time I try to paint... 

I thought I'd show you the process I went through to get to a painting I was happy with.

I started by putting color all over the page.  I wanted to fill the entire page with color:

I thought about leaving it like that and adding some collage and/or quotes on top, but instead I went in and added some details with a sharpie:

I liked it, but it didn't feel "done," so I went in with some more paint and added some more dimension:

Aaand I like it.  It's not perfect... I'm a musician, not a painter, after all, but I am still proud of my little flowers.

(The lighting isn't great in my apartment, so my arms were casting weird shadows over the photos while I was trying to take the pictures.)

So that's how I spent my Tuesday evening.  What have you been up to lately?

XOXO,

Julie

Feeling Sketchy again

Here are some recent sketches and doodles from my sketchbook.  More flowers (of course) and fruit this time.

I copied the treehouse idea from a different website but I can't remember where :(

What are you sketching about these days?