Inspired by…Simplicity

I like to do occasional posts about what is inspiring me lately.  This month, I have to say, simplicity is key.  Why not pick one medium and focus on it for a month?

As you may know, I am attempting to create at least a tiny bit of art every day this month.  Without really planning it, I fell into studying watercolors.  I don’t think I’m particularly good at watercolors–in fact, I’d say my watercolor skills are poor.  But I feel very drawn to this medium lately.  And I go where the Spark takes me, right?

So, in the above picture is my daily journal kit.  A watercolor Moleskine I picked up at the Detroit airport.  I have found that a Moleskine has a lot more pages than a watercolor sketchbook you’d find at the art store.  And I made an awesome travel set of watercolors after being inspired by Sarah Whitmire’s Jet Set Journaling on 21 Secrets.  I picked up a cheap waterbrush pack at Hobby Lobby (three of them for five dollars) and a few pens at a scrapbooking shop.  I gathered it all kind of randomly over the last month or so, but it all came together to create a simple take-anywhere art kit.  Here are a few of my pages.  You can hop over to my Flickr and see them all (even the bad ones!).

I started with a bit of doodling.  These Indian-style towers are my favorite thing to doodle.  I haven’t decided if I should watercolor these guys or leave them plain.

A bit of watercolor makes my daily notes look snazzy. I started by drawing boxes–and a cloud–with the Souffle pens. Then I filled the boxes in with watercolors, knowing the gel pen lines would create a nice resist. Lastly, I filled in the boxes with notes from the book I’m reading and, of course, some Smith’s lyrics (I really do have Eskimo blood in my veins).

It just so happened that Alisa Burke posted about watercolors and sketching on her blog this week so I had to try out her style. I copied her sea shells (to the best of my ability anyway) and drew a few other things that popped into my head–a thumbtack, a feather, and filled the whole thing in with watercolors.

Sometimes, it’s just fun to soak the whole page with water, then apply thick blobs of color. I have been doing most of my art this month in public, mainly in the breakroom at work. Having a small art kit, and the willingness to create in public ensures that my daily art quota will be met this month–however it also means plenty of people peeking over my shoulder. That is why I learned to write backwards. I think I will have a separate post later on to go into more detail about writing backwards. It is easier to learn than you think. I still have trouble with a few letters–S, J, Y, and sometimes E and A.

So, there you have it.  Watercolors are a simple, fun, and portable way to journal.