|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Artful Field Journaling: Creating Inspiration with Letters & Watercolor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A bevy of eager SDFC members gathered at the San Diego National Bank in Rancho Bernardo Saturday, November 15, 2008: the temperatures outside were being raised by Santa Ana winds to record highs. Unfortunately as we are becoming accustomed to, many just north of San Diego were grappling with raging wild fires! This being a horrible reality so many in the San Diego area have had to sadly deal with, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers went out to them.
However, inside the wonderfully air-conditioned room it did not take long for Janet to get the temperature of the creative juices soaring to record highs as well! After a wonderful Friday evening talk, most realized that Janet definitely has never-ending ideas, journals, and most of all energy. A short overview of the handouts and then we launched into a brief recap of her concept of left vs. right brain activity and the artist. She wrapped up this part of her intro by saying that a finished piece is “a collaboration of the right and left brain activity”.
Quickly, we found that two small rectangular pieces of mat board and five rubber bands translated into a nifty storage and transporter of precious brushes. Although she said this was worth the workshop cost, she was wrong as you will see! She had the first page of our sketchbooks be designated as a test page and suggested we entitle each subsequent page with the statement “I am not a perfectionist” This writer couldn’t resist writing it as “I am not a purrfexshunist”…oh well, ch alk it off to a weird sense of humor and going to public school!
Next, she had us make a reference palette using the watercolors we had brought. This included gradations of the colors done by adding water to thin down to no color. The next thirty minutes had us passing our sketchbooks around the room and having others use fifteen seconds to make marks of their choosing in small penciled rectangles on a two page spread. What fun! Christening someone else’s nice new sketchbook anonymously!
Next, we were immersed in the whole subject of the Nature Journal. Tons of supporting info of famous people and their journals, and before lunch, our she introduced us to the infamous “Sketch and Wash” pencil; her gift, so we could draw leaves in a textured way.
After adding calories and boosting our blood sugars for the journey ahead, we were at it again. Making and embellishing leaf prints, adding glued in pockets to our sketchbooks, and learning a better way to draw a tree. We discovered trees are not just green leaves and brown trunks but lots of colors, mixed right in our books and enhanced with our Micron pen. One thing Janet did was bring an amazing amount of supporting materials with her to demonstrate and backup her teaching points and we were all fortunate to have her walk us through them for about an hour at this point.
Day One wrapped up with an exercise using a list of 10 nouns, 15 verbs and subsequent sentences! Just believe me, you would have to have been there to see how the maestro used this to add “differentness” and color to our copy for our journals.
Day Two opened with our fearless leader reading, not singing, the lyrics of a Harry Chapin song “Flowers are Red” documenting how creativity is killed in a child. Next it was on to developing a value scale study using our pencils. Ten smooth transitioning color blocks from white to black. After a brief talk on the importance of value in depicting three-dimensional things in a two dimensional manner, we drew our first dimensional shape, something on our table. Most, wisely, did a cup after watching Janet do a cup for us. Then we were on our own, actually having to draw something else on our table. WoWeee! We’re flying solo!
Having had our drawing appetite whetted with our solo drawing we were on to line drawing and yes the frightful contour drawing! First open scissors not lifting the Micron and then the “mother of pre-lunch exercises: the staring across at a helpless partner as you attempted to draw their likeness without lifting the tool or looking down at what you were doing. Being great and kind SDFC people, the comments were light and humorous, and no human was visibly injured during the execution of this exercise.
A short talk with backup flip chart examples on design. Janet! You’ve got to be kidding! Where do you come up with these ideas? Do you ever sleep? After lunch, we were drawing again. This time from a handout. A country scene using our new found skills with “values” and our Sketch and Wash pencil. Janet went from student to student-kindly helping and guiding the fledgling artists now in her care.
Then a field trip. No, not far--just to the balcony. After watching the master artist render the traffic light pole and a tree, it was our turn.
The day finished with a talk on the basis of the color wheel. Not an easy subject to present to Sunday afternoon workshopteers--but she did it! Three primary color and six color split primary color concepts were covered. Small well-designed study assignments were given and worked through, one even allowing us to add some colorful copy, which we then shared around the room.
I just knew we were going to run out of time long before Janet would run out of information, and that was just what happened. Loaded with information, our journals, and lofty goals and aspirations, we made the room look as though no one had been there and we headed …for our studios!!
Postscript: I have just done another two pages in my sketchbook. This is addicting. You did fantastic Janet, and we can’t thank you enough. The whole workshop was worth more than we paid.
By Douglas Boyd
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Janet Takahashi, Kingsley Benefield, Marianne Mancini, and Karon Carroll
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Yvonne Perez-Collins and Janet Takahashi
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Susan Richardson and Ginger Johnson
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Janet Takahashi
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photos by Douglas Boyd, Lorraine Brown, and Yvonne Perez-Collins
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Mina Rogers and Diane Reiter
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Britta Brice
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marilyn Carlson
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Sue Rye and Doug Boyd
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ginger Johnson
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth Kenney and Doug Boyd
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Janet talks to Marianne Mancini about adding colors to a leaf drawing
|
|
|
|
|
