The Art Journal & A River Frog
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It's the end of July, and I'll be honest, I've lost track of time since we moved into the new house. We started moving in on the 17th of May, and spent the rest of the month and most of June living in a sea of boxes and unpacking. We're still unpacking because we opted for the slow boat on that project, but I can say we have a beautiful house. We have furniture; the kitchen and pantries are fully functional; the studio is unpacked; and both bedrooms have beds. We've redone the master closet and turned one of the spare closets into a den of studio supplies. This month you'll notice a shift in style and content of my newsletter. I hope you enjoy the art and stories I'll be bringing to your inbox. From the Sketchbook:I've taken a lot of photos of things I say I'm going to "paint one day". Yet I've never dared to commit to building a sketchbook practice, nor a watercolor journal. In the hot summer of 2026, I'm changing that. I've started both a sketchbook and a watercolor journal. This frog photo was taken last summer on my brother's ranch while we were walking by the river on a warm August morning. From the photo, I began by creating the sketch, which I love and felt turned out really well. In the second rendition, my frog has recently eaten a large meal, and his eyes are a bit out of proportion. This is why they call it a practice, right? Story from the Studio:So you might be wondering what changed that led me to start this practice and stop saying someday. Let me tell you a little story. Last week Hubby and I were talking about what we'd do differently as far as career choices if we could go back and start over. I commented that I would have started making art much sooner in life. He said it was unfortunate that I didn't spend time in Junior High and High School exploring that more. I laughed and told him I took art in Junior High. I didn't further that exploration because that teacher told me I wasn't really any good and should explore other creative outlets. As an adult, I now know that teacher was only interested in working with the kids who already had refined art styles and skills. I wasn't any good because she wasn't willing to instruct me on how to build my skills and refine a style. Here we are over 30 years later, and I'm teaching myself through online classes and YouTube videos. Six years ago, I picked up a watercolor brush and painted my first watercolor using a Let's Make Art tutorial from YouTube. Then I started painting trees because they came easy to me, and I had a style that I carried over from pen and ink that I'd dabbled in. I also continued to paint from various tutorials. I painted a number of vehicles, but still didn't focus on my art. It took me another three years to let go and let myself make the art my soul longed to make. I gradually stopped making cards and started exploring watercolor, mixed media, gel plate printing, and anything else that piqued my interest; but I still didn't commit to a sketchbook/art Journal. In 2025, when we were packing up our lives to move home to Wyoming, I picked digital artwork and spent nearly a year making art with an app called Procreate on my iPad. Because of the format of the app, I accidentally stumbled into an art journal of sorts. I enjoyed looking through the past pieces I created and found joy in having them all in one place. Here we are now in July of 2026; I'm now ready to explore keeping a sketchbook/art journal. Since my current focus is watercolor, I've started both a sketchbook and a watercolor journal. I'm setting out to build the skills that an art teacher should have taught me in the eighth grade. In a way, I guess I'm also proving her wrong. I am good at this, and building this practice will only make me better. The joy is in the making, the practicing, the experimenting, and the trying of new things. Whether that be in art or in life. It’s not about perfect; it’s about the doing. Go out and enjoy new experiences. |