It’s always good to mix things up and try something new, so, in the middle of finishing up the travel journal from my recent trip to France, I decided to take a detour and play around with a concertina sketchbook I’ve had in my stash for awhile.
While working on the travel journal, I’d been immersing myself in all the photos I had taken when I visited Monet’s garden. They brought back the happiness I felt that day when my lifelong dream to visit Giverny was finally fulfilled.
Here are some of the scenes that inspired me…
The sketchbook I used for this project is a Hahnemühle ZigZag Book – 5.5″ x 5.5″. It has eight square panels and measures 55″ when fully extended.
I wanted to try a technique where you apply a layer of gesso to watercolor paper before beginning to paint, so I applied Liquitex White Acrylic Gesso with a 1-1/2″ paint brush, making swirls, criss-cross marks, and wavy brush strokes in the gesso. I let it dry completely, then it was ready for watercolor.
To give the whole piece a loose, spontaneous look, I wet the paper with clean water then dropped on Color Burst Powdered Watercolors in colors ranging from cerulean blue to magenta and bright yellow. I chose colors that reminded me of the sky, water, trees, and flowers of Giverny.
When the pigments hit the wet paper, they exploded into brilliant streams of color, flowing across the paper and blending here and there to create new, unexpected color combinations.
After the background wash was dry, I began adding vignettes of the memories I had from the garden. First up was Monet’s pink house with green shutters, which I had absolutely fallen in love with when I was there.
I lightly sketched in the main shapes with a pencil held loosely in my hand then dove in with a large brush loaded with watercolor. I painted intuitively and freely, not trying to document reality but simply capturing the feeling of the place.
Since I’m usually all about the details in my sketches, this was a different approach for me, but it was so much fun to surrender control and just play.
Next, I used water-soluble Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils to draw a few of the blue and white tiles that I had drooled over in Monet’s kitchen.
After I drew the geometric designs, I touched some of the lines with a wet brush to soften and drag the pigment, creating a lost-and-found look that gives a vintage feel to the drawings.
Then I decided to try misting the tiles with a fine mist sprayer, so the lines would blur a bit without bleeding too much color.
Next, I used a green watercolor pencil to sketch in Monet’s lily pond and Japanese bridge. I placed the sketch on a section of the paper where I would have blue in the background for the sky and warm yellows in the trees.
The scene was then painted using a large round brush loaded with vibrant colors.
When working on gessoed paper, watercolor paint sits on the surface, so layering must be done gently, with a light touch. I like how the underlying brushstrokes in the gesso add interest and texture to the painting.
The gessoed surface also makes it possible to lift dried watercolor with a damp brush or wet paper towel. That’s the technique I used for parts of the wisteria vines on the Japanese bridge (see above).
I next added a Mexican Shellflower, placing it to the right of the lily pond. These are spectacular flowers that I had never encountered before my visit to the garden, so they were a natural subject to include in my concertina.
I love the background wash around the flower, the way the colors blend on the gessoed surface.
This is what I had so far…
There were still a couple of larger areas that needed a featured image, so I decided to draw a close-up of water lilies in the panel next to the larger view of the pond.
I was making progress! I only had one large open area left. Hmmm, what memory was pushing to the front of my mind and calling to be painted?
Of course! SUNFLOWERS.
They were growing in Monet’s garden, but they are also a poignant reminder of Van Gogh, whose story was such a large part of the experiences of the week I spent in the area around Giverny, so I decided to draw a couple of sunshiney blooms in the section near the house, placing them strategically to avoid the brilliant magenta background, which would have turned the brilliant yellow flowers a muddy brown.
With all of the main sketches in place, all that was left were the finishing touches.
Right next to the pink house, I painted the pattern of the gingham checked curtains that hung in Monet’s kitchen. Then I stenciled a swirly design in the sky area using one of my favorite stencil brushes.
I used a Posca marker to add a few white dots below the sunflowers,
then took a green watercolor pencil for a meandering walk across the page to the dahlia.
Green polka dots were stenciled below and to the right of the water lilies. They help to connect one image to the next as you move across from one page to the next. (And they’re fun!)
A little yellow tissue paper circle was collaged onto the page, just above the trees…just because I felt like it!
Finally, arriving at the final panel, I did a litle spattering then decided to add some more polka dots. This time, I used a dampened Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and swiped across a stencil to lift out pale blue dots from the background wash.
It was finally done! It had taken me most of a day to complete the sketchbook, but I enjoyed every minute of the process.
Over the past two years, I have been spending a lot of time exploring and experimenting. I’ve tried abstract painting and collage, and spent time experimenting with new materials and techniques, opening myself to new ways of working and unlimited possibilities.
I’m feeling a freedom that I didn’t allow myself to feel in the past, and it’s made creating a lot more exciting and fun. I’m learning to follow the joy and do more of what I love.
This little sketchbook makes me so very happy. I love what I’ve done here, because it’s a visualization of my memories of that day in Monet’s garden. It’s a testimony to the fact that painting from the heart, rather than striving for perfection, is what brings true satisfaction and joy.
4 Comments
Nice. I wondered how long before Brusho was created by others 🙂
Color Burst powdered watercolor pigments have been around for years. I’ve had my set for at least ten years.
It’s about when I started painting and Brusho came into the online shops. A wonderful product for getting wild 🙂
This is really lovely, Leslie.