Prep For My Nature/Journaling Trip to Hawaii

Hello! I've been nose-to-the-grindstoning the last two months to get my new book The Southern Swamp Explorer ready for press. Every day, all day, no weekends off. Finally, yesterday, I sent off the last three proof copies to my proofreaders and turned off the computer for the day. Boy, does THAT feel weird!


While it was off, I started, finally, collecting together what I want to take to Hawai'i -- wait. . . .I don't think I've mentioned the trip I am taking for nine days over Christmas to scout out Hawai'i as a possible nature sketching/journaling workshop site! That's a NASA photo of of The Big Island at right. It's about 50 miles across.


One of my recent students has a house on The Big Island in Hawai'i, and I'll be staying there for part of the time. My idea is to take this trip using all of the tips and techniques I use in my Nature Sketching/Journaling class, taking in the wonders of each lovely spot and recording them in my sketchbook. Normally I travel with someone else, and that kind of dictates what you end up doing. I'll miss my traveling buddy Daniel, but by myself. . . well, I'll try new ideas out.

I am traveling l.i.g.h.t. I want to be able to carry everything in my backpack and fannypack -- on the plane, while I travel in my rental car, etc. So I've been paring down everything I can, and the process is amazing.

In this blog I am going to outline my travel kit, and when I get back I'll tell you how it worked. Here's the plan for right now.

All of my drawing supplies need to fit in my fanny pack, so I got a sketchpad that is 6x9, the Robert Bateman Cover Series with 100% recycled paper (which is marvelously heavyweight and smooth) -- I used one like this in Costa Rica last spring (see blog #1). To prepare the sketchbook, I scanned in a roadmap of The Big Island from Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed, by Andrew Doughty (looks excellent, comes highly recommended) which I will also take. With the map on the cover, I'll always have a convenient map handy. I also decorated it a bit with the Hawai'i banner across the end just to pretty it up. I haven't yet covered it with clear package tape, but that's the next step. I'm expecting it to get rained on, and the tape will repell rain for quite some time. It weighs 13 ounces.


Inside the cover I've fastened a light, clear ruler and two business cards in case I lose it.


Next comes my drawing kit. Here's a scan of it. The stuff all fits in my clear plastic "cosmetics" container, which I use as a bug jail for sketching bugs. Actually,all the sharp goodies are put first into a little snack baggie to keep them from scratching the "jail" -- I need it scratch-free so I can draw insects I put inside (only briefly, to draw; this ain't death row!).


Here's what I put inside: magnifying glass on a colorful string so I don't lose it, business cards to give away, mechanical pencil, extra leads, kneaded eraser (that blobby gray thing at top), paintbrush with water in the barrel (it's blue, LOVE it!) , blue wipe cloth. eraser in pink barrel, a pencil sharpener for colored pencils (at bottom), a couple of pencil smudgers (tortillons, at left), safety pin, paper clips and a rubber band. That weighs 5 ounces.

I was going to just take my watercolor pencils in their flat metal box, but then I realized that, weightwise, the box could be replaced with a whole slew of other pencils, so I added a lot of in-between colors from my workshop kit. I've tried several different brands, and they mostly work fine. These are Staedtler (which I haven't used before) and Van Gogh and Faber-Castell, both of which are great. All together, they still don't weigh as much as half the original pencils IN the metal box


I'm taking my gold calligraphy pen (in center) with which I can make lovely initial caps. They really dress up a page.

All these things go in the fanny pack. Also in there is my smallish flashlight (4 ounces). Hawaii is in the tropics, and the sun will be going down around 6pm, so I might get caught out. I'd like to see the lava eruptions at night (if there are any) and it could come in handy. A flashlight is also super for looking into crevices for insects. Next, I have a very thin 9"-12" foam pad which weighs less than an ounce, a 3"x5"x ½" little packet with an emergency poncho in it, and a couple of energy bars. There is a pouch to carry a water bottle which slips on the belt, and I'll get a bottle for it when I'm there.


The whole fannypack, without the water, weighs 3 pounds exactly, and I'll probably stuff some other things in it, too (chapstick, sunscreen, deet, etc.). And maybe my little binoculars, which still will probably total less than four pounds.


Then, in a separate camera bag slung over my shoulder, I'll carry my camera bag, which weighs in at just under a pound. The camera is an iffy thing. I've noticed that when I have the camera sometimes I'll take a picture and skip drawing. So I may have to ration camera use. I probably should clip my cell phone onto my belt, too, in case I fall off a cliff. Well, I may look like a burro with all that gear, but I'll have everything I need to have fun with.


Sometimes I wear a fishing vest instead of using the fanny pack. It distributes weight evenly over the shoulders and is more comfortable than the fanny pack. I'll have to think about it. I don't wear it when I'm with Daniel because he thinks it looks goofy, but hey, I don't care.

So there's the sketching end.

For the workshop end, I'm taking along my workbooks from both the nature sketching workshop and the nature journaling workshop. I can show these to anyone who is interested, because they really do outline what I teach in the workshops. As well, I can give away my business cards (see inside the sketchbook cover) which have this blog address and my workshop website address on them. (By the way, I got those business cards at vistaprint.com for free -- you just fill in what you want them to say, choose a design, and click. All you do is pay shipping and handling, $3-$4. Don't they look nice? And no, I didn't get paid to say that -- I just think they're a terrific deal!)


Now, as for the clothing, Hawai'i has ALL the climate zones except one, I understand, from sea level to the top of Moana Loa. I'm told that in addition to shorts and T-shirts I will need my fleece jacket and jogging pants. So, since it's December in Oregon, on the plane I will wear the jogging pants with my summer-weight safari pants over them. The safari pants have zip-off legs to make shorts, and lots of pockets, perfect to travel in. And I'll wear several layers of tops including my jacket. . . hey, maybe my change of clothes can consist of a swimsuit, a pair of sandals, a sun hat and some extra underwear! I'll have access to a washing machine if I need it. Cool!


So there it is. I think everything else (paperback, comb, first-aid kit, teeny travel towel, toothbrush, maps, addresses, sunglasses, bird book, cellphone charger, etc.) will fit in my pack which I can skooch under the seat in front of me on the plane.

Now I must clean the house for the house-sitter and make her a list of what to do in emergencies. (and hope Jesse doesn't pounce on her like he did the last house-sitter). Jesse says he will get along just fine without me, and he has already hung his stocking (in progress, at left). Well!


Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays, dear friend! I will blog again when I return, with results of my trip.

My Family Takes My Workshop

I think I could start nearly every blog with "puleeze excuse the long delay between posts!" or "sorry this is so long in coming." So, to avoid such inane beginnings, I'll just, from now on, ignore the eonic lapses between the times I get to the writing.

It's not that nothing is happening to blog about -- too MUCH is going on. F'rinstance, my family just had a big reunion a state away (in Idaho, 500 rangey Oregon sagebrush miles from here, some of it along The Oregon Trail). The trip takes all day to travel, but the fall colors were gorgeous. I always stop in Vale, a tiny Oregon town with wonderful murals painted on most of the buildings, to rest and admire the once-upon-a-time scenes.

The reunion consumed a full week since I stayed with my brother the printer and not only got my family visiting done but also oversaw the printing of some Campsite Critter Guides (a sideline to my book business) and a batch of one-page lead responses which I'll send to the multitude of people who requested more information about the Costa Rica journaling workshop from my ad in The Artists' Magazine. Go take a look!

At any rate, here are my sibs: David, Elsie, Diane, Laura, and myself.

Now, normally, a family reunion is just lots of related people talking and reminiscing and getting reacquainted after a long period of intermittent, fleeting, or nonexistent contact. But this one (in addition to all that good stuff) was pretty scary.

Actually, it's not that I have scary relatives -- it's that my sister Laura talked me into giving my watercolor pencil workshop for all the siblings while we were all together. Now, doing a workshop for strangers has gotten to be a pretty comfortable prospect. But doing the same workshop for the people one holds most dear and who once gave one advice from on high and/or participated heartily in sibling rivalry with one, and for whom one wants to shine (and, I admit it, to impress just the teensiest bit) -- well, that's pretty daunting. But I figured it would be great practice and a quick way to add a bit more polish to my delivery (I don't feel I have a class properly groomed until I've given it ten or twenty times) so I agreed to give the workshop.

In the end, it turned out to be great fun for all of us. We all stayed at my brother David's house, and I gave it twice, because not everyone could make the first class, right there on the kitchen table and using my workbooks which I always bind with watercolorable paper in the back. The table was a little crowded, and we only had three hours for the class each time, but I am pleased to say that either I have a phenomenally talented family (including sis-in-law and a nephew) or I'm hitting the right note with the workshop. Or maybe both.

Here are the results, and since I didn't get around to asking each one if I could put it up on the blog, I won't identify who did what. Aren't they FINE? By the way, the models are an apple from the tree in the back yard, tomatoes and red peppers from Marcia's garden (these are heritage tomatoes, orange and purply-green), one of Marcia's nasturtiums, and a gourd from the grocery store. Actually, that isn't the same apple because the original got put in a salad. But this one was close.

I think they're pretty terrific for three hours work, including the introduction to right-brain drawing, drawing the subjects, then coloring them. Click on them for closer views.

By the way, for the Nature Journaling Workshop, which I talked about in the last post, I still need to make a third workbook. I was going to just use the watercolor pencil workbook from the Nature Sketching Workshop, but I decided there are things I need to condense and add to make it work better for the Nature Journaling Workshop. I now have a journaling workshop scheduled for January in Ashland (Oregon) (the actual date eludes me) which will give me time to tidy up any loose ends before I give it again in Costa Rica.

So. until next post....keep tuned! And if you want to be notified when these infrequent posts happen, click on the little box in the right-hand panel that will notify you when a new post comes up so you can come and read it. It's a handy little gizmo.

Cheers, fellow artists, and adieu!

Report on my Sketching/Journaling Workshop

Thursday night was the third and final session of my new Sketching/Journaling Workshop (I still haven't figured out a good name for it ~ any suggestions?) This is the one I've been chronicling over the last couple of months as I've worked on it.

My workbooks arrived in plenty of time (whew!) and were received by the students with surprised pleasure (you don't usually get a pretty workbook in a workshop ;^)

The workshop went well, and throughout this blog today I am introducing my class and their works, having their permission to post their photos and works here. They were wonderful people, every one. I miss them already. The first two classes were on Saturday and Sunday from 9-2:30.

However, I can't claim it went exactly as expected. Although I've been writing books and teaching art for many years, I'd never taught creative writing, and I set my sights a bit too low. The students jammed through the exercises with great gusto and skill, leaving us finished half an hour early. Falling back on my art experience, I gathered them in a circle and we all sketched each other for the remaining time. It was a great exercise, but not exactly "writing." I sketched this student, and colored it later as a demonstration in the watercolor pencil session.

The class attracted people who wanted to journal and sketch. Some had never journaled, most weren't able to sketch as realistically as they wished. Some had neither drawing nor journaling experience, so the challenge was to keep everyone working at their own pace and level. Suzanne, a very creative artist, had created a gorgeous hand-made journal that she'd never worked up enough nerve to write in -- it was too beautiful! Shirley S. had tried journaling many times, but always gave up in despair over her art. Everyone had different approaches and needs.

SESSION 1: The first day was full to the brim with drawing exercises and projects. I use right-brain techniques to get beginners off the ground and remind intermediate artists about ways to draw more accurately. Beginners were discovering skills they hadn't realized they had. My one intermediate student brushed up on line work and tried out new tools. We did contour and modified contour drawings and other fun things. Evern's cowrie (at right) came out nicely, as did Shirley B.'s abalone shell, below. The assignment for overnight was to journal and sketch a page, and find a related item to glue onto the page to add interest.

SESSION 2: The next morning we critiqued the journaling efforts -- some great entries came back -- Gail sketched a hail-torn leaf, wrote a bit about it, and glued in pieces of her awning which had been holed by the hail. Shirley S. sketched maple leaves and seeds in the park, and glued in maple seeds and a pressed leaf. A student told us about microwave plant presses! I need to get one!

We sailed right into the writing exercises: take a boring sentence and turn it into an interesting paragraph. The biggest problem with journals is that often we don't work to make them interesting -- but if we do, we'll have far more interesting reading in the future. Their efforts were stellar, and each one read their paragraph to the appreciative audience.

Later, we progressed to poetry, haiku, rhyming and free verse, and limericks. Poems really add a personal touch to a page -- both in content and visual effect -- and the students seemed quite pleased with their efforts, inserting poems and haiku into later entries quite skillfully. In general, the writing was MOST excellent, often funny, drawing appreciative laughter, head nods, and applause from the group.

We also experimented with rendering the haiku with felt-tip calligraphy pens, and making calligraphy initial caps. But in retrospect, I think I will try another approach to that. The ink felt-tip tends to soak through onto the reverse side of the page and the tips are too large to render the letters small enough to visually complement the page. The students offered some good ideas to pursue in that area, which I'll probably mention later.

The assignment was for two journal entries and sketches, with glued-in items. While this isn't a scrapbooking class, a journal is a good place to save important flat items, and they do add a tactile and visual boost to a page.

SESSION 3: This was an evening session and lasted from 7-9 (well, 9:40). Class was supposed to let out at nine but went on another forty minutes because people were having such a good time coloring their sketches and enjoying one another.

I introduced the watercolor pencils, and various techniques they could use, then I sat down with them to demonstrate techniques by coloring the sketch I had made in the portrait circle on the first day, showing them tools and rendering techniques as I proceeded and answering questions and helping individuals as needed. Our critique at the end was helpful, with students seeing what others had done and learning those techniques for their own later renderings.

LATER: Since I've taught long versions of the drawing and coloring classes before, those sessions were relatively easy, although without the full length drawing sessions I couldn't take the students as far toward their goals as we wanted. So I did suggest they might want to attend drawing classes I'll do later on in the season.

I was sorry when the class ended. So were the students. They asked for a list of people's email addresses so they can get in touch with each other after the class, and I sent that out yesterday, plus a .pdf of the letter I'll be sending out to people who responded to my ad in The Artist's Magazine (more about that in a later blog). So there it is, the first run of the Sketching/Journaling Workshop has debuted.

At left is a "patch" Suzanne glued over a drawing that she felt "bombed." At right is our workshop announcement and the Journalist's Credo that Gail glued inside her journal's front cover. Above, check out Shirly B.'s pressed flowers. Above are Dan's fuzzy almonds, and scattered throughout this blog entry are a lot of other great pieces from the class!

At the end of the last session, I held a raffle for my book The Redrock Canyon Explorer in return for evaluation sheets which each student filled out. To me, that's a great trade, and I got lots of good feedback from them, which I'll put to work next time I give this class.

By the way, the students knew they were experiencing the first run of the class (and that they'd gotten a $20 discount because of that). I decided to tell them right from the get-go, and they seemed to enjoy helping me spot areas to be improved. In the last session as they colored their sketches, they offered a whole raft of ideas to add to the longer Costa Rica workshop next February.

Thanks to each and every one of you students for your bright presence and participation in this inaugural run of "our" Sketching/Journaling Workshop. You made it a joy for everyone around you, and your contributions will have a definite imprint on all the future presentations of the class. Thank you!

Irish Musicians and a Big-Time Computer Crash

WELL! I have had quite a month! My computer crashed with a resounding thump the third week of August as I was preparing the workbooks for my newest workshop, the one I've been chronicling here. It has taken me quite awhile and quite a jouncy ride to get a new computer up and running, the workbooks finished and off to the printer so they could arrive here in time for the class, and to finish gathering teaching materials and getting ready to teach that class. WHEW!

Below is the entry I managed to prepare the week after the crash (but never got a chance to post), and now I'm already in the middle of the Journaling workshop so it is slightly out of date -- but there's some really interesting news in it so I'm going to post this tonight and then post the info about the workshop (how it went, what I'll have to change, and other cool stuff, plus pictures) tomorrow or the next day. So start reading, and keep tooned.

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drafted about August 25 but never posted:

My Journaling Workshop is Official!

Hoo boy, it's for real now! My classified ad just appeared in the September issue of The Artist's Magazine (page 84, top left corner!), and I have two students signed up already plus the magazine has sent me "leads" from people who registered interest in it. Looks like it's a go! I need to send out info to those leads soon!

I spent some time putting my Journaling Workshop web page together, too, and I think it looks pretty exciting. El Remanso, the wildlife lodge in Costa Rica which is hosting the workshops, has also put up a web page about it.

I have my first go at the class in just a couple of weeks here in The Rogue Valley (that's what they call this area, since the mighty Rogue River, of Rooster Cogburn fame runs through it). The class is listed on page 33 of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Guide along with the new venture that fellow artist Cathy Egelston and I are going to try, which is leading sketching rambles in Lithia park on the 2nd and 4th Mondays in October and November.

I've heard of other artists going out and sketching with whoever shows up for the "crawl" and thought it sounded like fun -- so we'll give it a try. Since Cathy and I both teach in the area, we figured it might be a nice way to get acquainted with potential students -- they can come and get a free look at us before committing time and their hard-earned money to a class or workshop.

My workbooks aren't finished yet, though. I had finished the sketching workbook and was putting the finishing touches on the writing workbook when my barely-2-year-old computer crashed. Gone. Have you noticed how time seems to pass by so quickly as we get older? Well, I thought I'd backed up just a few days before, and it turned out it was three WEEKS before. I lost a lot of work I'd put beau coup time into, and I also lost all my email for the last many years, all my contacts, etc. And I lost EVERYTHING in the workbooks.

Actually, I'd printed out a fairly recent draft (with only (!) a couple of days of improvement lost), but I'm in Oregon and my InDesign program disk was accidentally left in Idaho last time I went, so there was no time to start over and no time to get it here with the Labor Day Weekend in the way. So I've been scanning all the printed draft pages into Photoshop, making the needed changes graphically, and I'll put those into pdfs to send to the printer. They'll work fine -- it's just not how I planned to spend my week!

And oh, if you've ever had your computer croak on you, you'll know the agony of sitting down to do something and discovering that something needs installing, or you're missing a beloved program that you only had on your computer and have no way to replace.

So it's been a tough week, but at least my new computer is up and running and my old scanner works again, so, soon I will scan in some of the things I've been sketching. It was SO much fun drawing the Irish musicians again last week! Thirteen of them at one point, with harp, bodhran (drum), mandolin, guitar, fiddle, pipes, bones, box, button accordian, and banjo (hope I didn't forget anything!).

Watercolor Pencil Apples

On three weekends in July and August (3 sessions), I had a remarkable group of workshop students. They looked rather ordinary and most of them claimed that they didn't have a clue about drawing, but by the time we had finished the workshop, all six women had convinced me that they were extraordinary.

There were only six of them -- in the summer it can be hard to fill classes here because we have a rather small area to draw from ('scuse the pun!) and I've given this workshop here several times already.

But the enthusiasm was high and they jumped right into the right-brain drawing exercises with gusto. Elise had taken the class before, and I hoped she wouldn't find it repetitive, but she reassured me that it was excellent practice for her, so I stopped worrying about it.

By the second session, they were gaining confidence, and the critiques were of great interest, with everyone learning from each other. In the picture at the top, each has drawn a gnarly stick, first with the stick in front of them, then immediately after, a drawing of it from memory -- the results of which caused considerable amusement.

The apples were daunting at first, but we took it step by step, and soon the ghosts of apples were appearing on the paper as they first laid down a yellow wash, wet it then dried it, then started applying the various reds, purples, greens and yellows close examination revealed on those supposedly red apples. At left below, pencil is scribbled on -- below right, water is painted over the pencil, and the watercolor pencil marks blend and spread into what looks very much like a watercolor painting. More pencil and more water can be applied until the desired intensity is reached, although too many washes may buckle the paper.

Click pictures for a bigger view

Soon, the drawings were looking good enough to eat, and the ladies were rightly pleased with their results.
Below is each student with her masterpiece.

In order of appearance, the apple artists are: Carol C., Elise L., Leslie L., Marta D. and Mary Lou L., They all gave me permission to include them here. Cathleen K., who is in the center of the critique photo at top, couldn't make it to the third session, but I'm positive her apple would have been as high quality as the rest.






Here are the apples close-up -- click on the picture to see them even better.

Sketching the Musicians

Finally! I finished the workbooks for my sketching/journaling workshop (the weekend of September 15 and 16, and the following Thursday night, September 20), not an easy task with my scanner driver in the ditch. When I create a journal I like to scan in drawings and other goodies from my journals and sketchbooks -- but for this one I had to rely on files I already had scanned in.

Actually, I'm really pleased with the results, so it's no big deal.

My friend Cathy Egelston, also an artist, instructor and journaler, took the workbooks and tried out the course. She says the workshop's almost there -- pointing out places where I could bolster faltering confidence in would-be journalers if needed, and suggesting changes that would make the process easier. I didn't leave enough room for the calligraphy sample on the workbook page, for instance, and it was hard for her to try out the lettering with the calligraphy pen in the cramped space. Good to know!

It's always important to vet a workshop before giving it for the first time. I've given workshops cold, without running them past a "reviewer," but it's scary and I always notice things during the workshop that I might have approached differently. I would have been pretty vexed with myself during this workshop, for instance, as I watched students struggle with the calligraphy sample. It's of paramount importance to me to give people MORE than they expect for their money.

Now I'll go back into the workbook files, which I've been setting up in InDesign (an excellent program, by the way, but it requires a rather steep initial learning process), and make the fixes Cathy suggested. Then I can convert the workbooks to .pdf files and upload them to my brother David's printing company server (aren't I lucky?) and in a week or so I'll receive the workbooks via FedEx or UPS, gorgeous and ready to go.

Cathy and I did some impromptu journal sketching yesterday -- we went to The Black Sheep, a pub in Ashland (Oregon) just down the road, and sketched the musicians jamming Irish music -- an every-Sunday event. If I ever get that dang scanner going again, I'll upload my sketches of the harpist, mandolin, fiddle and other players.

It was deeply satisfying to be immersed in the lively music while sketching. I was working in ball-point pen, my Guinness Stout on the dark wooden table beside me, while Cathy concentrated on pencil as she sipped her tea. One of the musicians beckoned us over as we were packing up to leave (on our way to the swimming hole, complete with knotted rope swing for a plunge into the waters of the Ashland reservoir), and admired the sketches. What fun!

That sketching, now that I've planned the workshop, will serve as a bit of fodder for schemes to encourage and invigorate my students-to-be. I've been so busy recently that I've had little time to indulge in my favorite pastime, and now I need to work on my own journal pages to demonstrate techniques I've been touting in my workbooks.

By the way, I just completed the final session of my nature sketching workshop last Sunday. It was a wonderful group of gung-ho students, and we had great fun. I'll talk more about them next blog.

Until next blog, then!