Pages from an Artist's Journal

What better way to be inspired and be creative than to start an artist's journal? To be honest, I've been thinking of starting one for a very. Long. Time. I've bought a ton of sketchbooks and sketch pads just to start an artist's journal because I knew that once I did, I could actually see my creative process and practice some techniques. Usually, I'm averse to creating unfinished artwork or doing technical drawings. If I'm going to practice, I'm going to practice for a finished piece of artwork, not in sketchbook. I mean yes I do draw occasional sketches but it's usually with a finished piece in mind, rarely with the intention to just sketch and practice.

So now you can see my process as I experiment with different kinds of media, different kinds of techniques, and different kinds of subject matter. These are all done with something under it first, an underpainting of sorts. I hate looking at a blank, white piece of paper. I need some kind of ground to give me ideas. So for each one, I either painted over a sketch or painted a light wash first before doing something on the paper. Not all of these are going to be awesome (I'm actually not too fond of the first one) but they'll all help me see what works and what doesn't.

Scary isn't it? It's an orange lily that I did with acrylic paint. You can see the original sketch underneath; it was a portrait that I wasn't too fond of. So I painted over it.

My favorite one so far. I'm not exactly sure why, I just like working in charcoal maybe. But in case you were wondering I did accidentally-on-purpose single out the eye. The circle around the eye is the only one not painted on with water. This was done over another less-than-satisfactory sketch that I did in ink.

I was basically just experimenting with watercolor and pen. I wanted to see how I would do lettering with it. I concluded that the black outline wasn't the best. It would have looked cooler in my opinion had I just done it with watercolor. But I had fun painting it!

So expect more art journal postings later. Maybe I'll do a series or something so I can have a definite idea of what I'm going to do.