Watercolor Journaling

Many years ago my journey in Watercolor Journaling began in a senior center where I was a guest art instructor. Faced with a senior class with no watercolor experience or materials, I was in a quandary. The director suggested I show them how to make a watercolor journal, something I had never done! However, I gave each “student” a small piece of watercolor paper and a box of paints to share. I set up a little still life (an apple on a tea towel), and each one made a sweet “journal page,” unique to each person.

Since then I have filled many journals and taught many classes. I’ve even written a book, A Guide to Sketch Journaling with Watercolor. I teach private lessons and am an instructor for the Marco Island Center for the Arts in Florida, where classes are both in person and virtual.

Watercolor Journaling is fun. Anyone can do it, because there’s no right or wrong way. If you want, you can show it to others, but it’s the act of creating the pages that provides the rewards for each “artist.” Some will create a memory book, others will record images that become source for larger works. Some will write a lot of text with a few illustrations, others will make mini-paintings. Some will record daily life, others just vacations and trips. There are as many kinds of journals as there are people.

My 90 page ring-bound book, A Guide to Sketch Journaling with Watercolor, is available for $20 each post paid in the continental US. It contains full instructions, lessons and a gallery section with images from my own journals with examples to serve as inspiration.

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