Art journal pages for my friend’s book.
Day 198 (Mon July 17) art journal pages. (Don’t look, DJCampbell!)
A 365 day art project… one drawing a day
I want to learn ways to paint a big fuzzy black dog, so googled newfie watercolor art, and found something looking a little like this (only much better) I’ll try it again another time but this DOES capture the spirit of Emmett pretty well, I think. He’s nuts.

This was for a journal entry I’m working on for a friend on Swap-bot, a very fun site I’m a member of, and I included a poem I wrote years ago about another dog I had.
Painted with Daniel Smith watercolor on some type of parchment.
The bravest, dearest, sweetest heart on Earth
Rests within my dog’s big furry chest.
(Well, maybe not the bravest…
But of all the world, he does love me the best.)
In his perception I’m the greatest friend.
I’m always right… of that there’s never doubt.
I’m simply never wrong.
If I say “in”, it’s in… if I say “out”, it’s out.
He loves the way I speak, my voice, my sound.
He loves to hear me say his name out loud.
He tries to make me smile.
He’ll follow my voice even in a crowd.
In his eyes I look just the way I should;
Change my looks, I’m still the perfect me.
He doesn’t think I’m fat.
My face, and hair, exactly as should be.
Never has he gotten mad at me.
Even when I’ve lost my temper first.
He showers me with love.
He loves me at my best and at my worst.
He comes to sit beside me as I work,
And never tells me “no” if I say “play”.
He tries to be my friend.
He loves me still if I push him away.
And when I’m empty, shattered and alone,
And hiding broken pieces from the rest,
When no one else is there,
He moves in close and offers me his best.
Even though I look at him with love,
Never have I given him his due.
And yet he never sways.
I wish I could be that sweet hearted, too.
Using these Caran d’Ache watercolor crayons
for the second time… they are so fun!! Obviously I haven’t quite figured them out yet, but I will keep playing with them.
First I drew an image… they spritzed water over the surface. See how the colors just flowed immediately??
Then I used a brush to move it around a bit, and after it dried I used more crayon (oh my goodness you can crayon white right on top of the colors!!!!) and a little more wet paintbrush and a little more crayon scribbling… well I couldn’t really tell when I was finished and felt like that might go on for a while, so I just stopped. I can imagine some gorgeous simple backgrounds with these things. And I’ve read that both these and their watercolor pencils have great lightfast ratings.
I followed several youtube tutorials to create these dandelions using a toilet paper tube/roll.
you could do some pretty cute fireworks, too, maybe…
This is watercolor on a page of my pentalic journal, a page that I had to remove… when the journal arrive this page was not fully attached. Frankly I really tried to dislike the journal because of that, but it is actually one of my favorites… I REALLY like using it and will order more.
I forgot to post this yesterday!! I played around with my new watercolor crayons and came up with this crazy owl… I need to practice with these, but they are SO ridiculously fun to use!! I like the way you can either leave some crayon lines, or wash them away. I HIGHLY recommend this brand. Smooth, creamy, vibrant, supposedly very lightfast.
caran d’ache watercolor crayons

An actual grouping for a change. Daniel Smith, and my beloved Pentalic 5×8 watercolor journal, along with some of my favorite tea items… my tiny cup, my little stainless tea pot, and a ceramic sugar bowl.

Himalayan pink salt. And a mix of peppercorns. Perspective errors, but I still like them. 🙂

Yep, that’s my little pot rack, over the window.
