Artist Journal Workshop
I’ve love sketch books — textured-filled experimentation books, books of drawings, text and picture filled journals, and so on — they all get my attention. While at Blick Art Supply in San Francisco, I came across the Artist’s Journal Workshop, Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures, by Cathy Johnson (with insights from 27 artists). After picking it up and doing a quick perusal of the pages, within moments I got the “ooh … I have to get this” reaction. Every two-page spread in the 145 page full-color book has eye-grabbing illustrations on it. The book covers what you need to get started, testing driving materials, what type of journal is right for you, finding time and making time to develop a habit of journaling, and pulling it all together.
The illustrations are engaging; the text is beyond fluff and is instead filled with solid information. For example, “If you don’t get the Moleskine type (she’s not a fan of thin weight or overly slick paper in journals) specifically made for watercolor, you’ll want to add a bit of soap or detergent to your paint water to make the paint adhere to the slick surface.” Or, “If you really hate an image, you can paint over all or part of it with gouache or acrylic. … Be aware that acrylics can cause pages to stick together. Gouache doesn’t.”
I don’t generally read this type of book from the beginning to the end. Rather I skip around a lot, going from one area to another depending on what grabs my attention. Each time I do so in this book, I find another helpful tidbit, such as the advantages of having a blue-gray watercolor pencil as part of your travel-light kit. This is a good book — lots of helpful information, many gorgeous illustrations, and plenty of fuel to keep your journal pages filled. If you like keeping a sketchbook, or if you’d like to but don’t know where to begin, check out this book. If you don’t get it from your local book store, Amazon sells it for under $16 –worth every cent!
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:50 am
I couldn’t agree more. I picked this up last fall and found her approach to journaling and sketchbooks to be similar to my own. A great resource for anyone’s library.
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:53 am
It really is! And here I thought I didn’t need another on the topic. :)
February 16th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Thanks for pointing this out! It does indeed look like a great resource – can’t wait to get my copy from Amazon. (But why, why, why do they even bother offering a Kindle version? Who wants to read an art book in gray and dark gray with itsy-bitsy images?
February 16th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
With the Kindle Fire and the iPad, maybe it’s in color?