Combed Elephant

Integrating Watercolor and Modelling Paste

The Plan:

(From a prompt to do a page with a neutral color palette: gray and tan.) Draw an elephant in pencil from a source photo. Add modelling paste in trunk, legs and ears and comb in wrinkles and then paint elephant in Payne's Grey watercolor. Add modeling paste through drywall tape in background. Use shredded jute twine mixed in gesso for "grass" the elephant is standing on.

The surprise: they integrated amazingly well. 

Music Head

Art Journal Page, Step-by-Step

The plan:  

A page on the theme of music. Use my chunky bracelet and drag some curves in violet watercolor on top of a watercolor over gesso background. (1)

Make a piano keyboard at one end of the curvy marks and have the other end burst into movement. (2)

Developing Texture and Interest

More bracelet marks in blue. (3) Added some marks coming out of the original paint puddles from the background to give it more interest and motion. Added title and words. Added dotted lines before and after each word to organize and guide the eye to read them (4).

Watercolor over Gesso 

Too chaotic and hard to read the words. Pulled up some paint and gessoed to simplify. It needs a focal point and there is an eye shaped space between the words "emotion" and "soul". I tried to do an eye with a sound wave (6) but adding the other eye and a nose to complete the face did not work, so I made a face profile which turns the eye Egyptian, but that's ok.

The surprises: The head, which I did not plan and the richness of the image. I'm loving the way it all came together and the ease of revising when the watercolor is over gesso.