Perpetual Playtime

Today I'm posting something different. This is a picture I painted with watercolor to submit to ' The Sketchbook Challenge '. I came across this blog last week and found it interesting. The theme for June is  Urban Sketching. I don't live in an urban home so I went to the internet and found an image I thought I could work with and gave it my best shot.  I may be my own worst critic, but I also realize I could use a lot of practice with many aspects of this picture. But, none-the-less, here is is beside the image I found on the internet:

I didn't expect to finish another cover so soon, but after the gesso was dried on the smaller journal in yesterday's post I started working on that journal since I already knew in my head what I wanted to put on it. I did part of it last night and finished up this morning. Other than putting a good coat of fixative on it, well, it is done. White gesso and watercolor paints. Free-handed the picture. And I wrote the text with a calligraphy marker, but the gesso was not a smooth finish so it didn't come out as well as I had hoped (gotta try a different gesso). Again, I call these journals, but I'm not sure that they are technically journals. In fact, this one is actually a Strathmore Watercolor Visual Journal that I use to sample my watercolors in so that I can see how they blend and pick up. And this book is almost filled since I have been using it for a while. It wasn't until I started altering the covers of the other journals that I decided to alter this one also.

. . . of sorts. I guess it's okay to call them "journals". They aren't diary journals but rather art journals.   Here are five (current count) pictured here. About a month ago I posted about the one pictured lower left. That one is my Letter Love journal for the online class, Letter Love 101 , by Joanne Sharpe. With the slow migration to electronic communication over the last 20 years or so I found that my penmanship had deteriorated a bit and I wanted to make myself more comfortable and happy with hand lettering, so I signed up for access to the lessons. It is self-paced so you don't have to start at any particular time and, more importantly, you don't have to "stay with the class" as you work through the lessons. I like that because that means I don't have to stress about not getting a lesson finished on a deadline and falling behind. Here is a close up of that journal: Link to the original post featuring this journal:  http://perpetua