Tag: watercolor journals

Finishing Up the Garden Journal

Dear Liza,

Our growing season is over here in the suddenly chilly Northwest. I put the garden to bed last week, and now I have written my last Garden Journal entry.

I made this year’s Journal out of an up-cycled movie list book, re-working the covers with collage. It seems I made fewer entries this year than last… am I running out of things to say about the garden?

I played with a lot of different media this year, anyway.

I watercolored the layout, both as I planned it to be…

and as it turned out.

I used collage when I wanted to show beauty but had no garden…

… and watercolor when I knew exactly what I wanted to show, in this case, how the first zucchini ended up.

I challenged myself to show the complex form of tomato plants.

And, sometimes, I just played with color.

I’ll be out of town for a big chunk of the next gardening season, and I’ll make another Journal when I get back. We’ll see what happens then.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Almost-July Garden Journal

Dear Liza,

Summer, which dawdled like a kid going to the dentist, has now arrived and has taken off like a freight train. I am in the garden everyday, making sure everything is watered and rejoicing in every new sprout or blossom.

And I am recording it all in my garden journal. When I started my first illustrated journal last spring, I was not confident in my ability to draw anything and make it look right, much less pretty or enjoyable.

But Auntie Bridgett and Ruthie Inman gave me courage and support, and I have really enjoyed both the process and the product!

To be honest, I don’t write or illustrate my garden journal while I am IN the garden. There is nowhere to sit and I don’t like sitting in the sun for very long.

I take pictures and notes on my phone and then use the images to draw in pencil, then watercolor, then outline with a micron pen.

It is like writing an illustrated story, but one where I am IN the story, snd I don’t know the ending yet. Good times.

Love,
Grandma Judy