Watercolors and Drawing

           "Can I still learn watercoloring if I can't draw?" I get asked this question a lot and I have seen this question asked on watercolor groups a lot. The answer is simply yes. You don't need to know how to draw just to learn how to watercolor. In this two part post, I will show you how to do that.

          Let me start by asking one question first: Have you tried learning how to draw? If not there are many videos on youtube that can help you with that as well as many great courses online. You can also find amazing courses on Udemy, SkillShare, and Domestika. There are also many amazing books for the people who like to learn that way. Now let us say you tried all that and STILL you can't draw a straight line. This is when you can go through the route I will explain here.

          I CAN'T DRAW. Okay, but that doesn't mean you can stop from learning about watercolors and making art. So how can you do that if you can't draw? It depends on what you are planning to do with that art. 

          If you are doing it for yourself and you are not going to sell your art, then there are people on ETSY who sell line art which you  can trace and use watercolor techniques to color. They give you permission to use it for personal use only and if you share your work online to show friends always link back to the original artist of the line art that you traced and acknowledge their work. Another thing that I use is stamps and stamp sets. There are amazing ones in different shops online.

          If you are planning to sell your art then there are a few things you can do. You can use your own personal photographs that you took and trace those, or you can look for pictures that are free to use commercially online and trace those. Make sure to always document what you did and where you got your elements. Let me give an example. When I look online for pictures to use freely I usually have a picture in my head that I want to draw. I will look for pictures that have the parts that I need. Like I could take the mountain from one picture and add that to the trees that I had taken a picture of personally and liked then add a house from a different picture and so on until my picture is complete. Sometimes not everything works well together and I change things or add or subtract things. When the line art that I traced from different elements looks like the picture in my head then I start using my watercolor techniques to color it. Be extra careful that the things you use are free to use commercially.  This is mostly theory so the next post I will explain a little more with actual practical examples and some of the tools I use to achieve my own art that speaks to me.

Monthly Update (February 2021)

          Last month was a complete disaster when it came to my studies, my blogs, and my journalling. I mostly failed at adulting in that month. 

As you can see a lot of half done boxes and crosses. The only thing I really kept up was practicing my languages via the apps. 

          I decided that some bits of what I did last month were good but the rest had to be changed so that is what I did for this month as a trial.

          First let me start with the monthly review. I did that using my new glass dip pen set. 

I loved using the set, and it worked wonderfully with my new journals from Notebook Therapy. Some of the inks did ghost but not all of them. 

I had half a page of nothing so I decided to try and see how much water the pages of the journal can take...boy they can take a lot of punishment. I piled on the water and it didn’t warp much. 

Notice that because some of the inks had ghosted and I added water to the mix they showed up even more but the words on the previous page stayed just the same. So this journal can really take a lot of punishment. 

          Next I decided to work on my February cover page. I had a picture in my head of what I wanted to do then I sketched it out and used my new Ohuhu Acrylic markers and stamps to work on the picture. I like the end result!

          I also decided to not do a daily tracker but instead use a new format that I have been playing with last month. I have a weekly study log and I kind of have what should be done on any given day but if I don’t finish it by that day then I have the rest of the week to catch up. The important thing is that by Saturday everything has to be done. I did keep my monthly calendar the same with a little tweak to make the page look even and the boxes a little bigger.

The next spread is my goals, blog ideas and books read spread. These have not really changed.

I’m hoping this new way of doing things will help me get motivated and going.

Monthly Update (January 2021)

          I started working on my goals at the end of December. I used a workbook that I put together myself. I worked on each of my goals separately but first I did a survey of my goals from last year.

Since I had my yearly goals all set I decided to work on my new journal. I knew I didn’t want to stay in my ferris wheel journal because I wanted nothing to do with anything from 2020. So this is the notebook from Notebook Therapy that I am currently using. 

          First I set up the pages that are going to stay as a staple like a grid that shows me the box count on each day and how many boxes I am going to need for my month at a glance for example. 

          Next a title page for 2021, a review of last year and my budget page. 

I made a title page for January and a month at a glance page which included my trackers.

Finally a page for my goals, blog ideas and books read. 

I also have a weekly study tracker and a daily study tracker which I made for myself. I like to know what I expect of myself all week (weekly tracker) and what I actually get done during the day. 

This is how I use the daily tracker. 

By using this daily tracker I can see what bits take up more time and how much time I am really spending at studying.

I love my new journal. The pages are really thick which makes it easy to use watercolor and other mediums on it. 

Notebook Therapy Haul

For a while now I’ve been wanting to get some of the beautiful Notebook Therapy books and finally after deciding that I wanted to start the new year with a new journal I took the plunge and bought a notebook...or 2...errm okay 3.

          My current journal is good but the pages ghost and sometimes the ink from the fountain pen seep into the pages (depends on the ink) and feathers. I heard good things about the notebooks from Notebook Therapy and that made up my mind. 

          I must confess I wanted to buy all the notebooks on the site. They all looked so amazingly beautiful even the ones with black pages but in the end I settled on these three. 

Tsuki “Dreamy Nights” Limited Edition Bullet Journal

Tsuki “Torii” Limited Edition Bullet Journal

          

Tsuki “Falling Star” Limited Edition Bullet Journal

The first two I have interesting cover textures and the last one is a normal hard cover. But all are beautiful in my eyes. With the red one I even got the spiral paperclip. All the pages are very thick (160 gms), dotted and white in color. Each one has 176 pages and is A5 in size which after using the travel journal size and the square size journals I realized I like the best. Each one has 2 book marks. I’ve decided to start the year with the Tsuki “Falling Star” journal. 

I also love that it lays flat on the surface. Makes things very convenient.

          Finally, I also bought the Tsuki Bullet Journal Tracking Stamp Set. 

In total it has 25 stamps that include boxes, to do lists calendars, trackers and even the weather just to name a few. I don’t know if I am going to use all of it but it is certainly handy to have. 

Next week I will be showing you my adventures in setting up my new bullet journal.

Language Studies

           I started out the month going easy on myself because I honestly had no motivation to study much but as the month moved on I realized that if I left myself like this I would forget all the stuff that I learned and then I would have to start from the beginning again. So this week I bit the bullet and texted my teacher to let him know that I was ready to go back to taking weekly classes. I also decided to take Korean classes on italki and found a teacher through a series of trial lessons. She wasn't my first choice but my first choice doesn't have the time slots that I need and so I took my second choice. I've scheduled a series of five lessons and I will reassess after that. My Chinese lessons are still on going. 

          I also am focusing on one book at a time where it comes to Chinese and Korean and when that book is done I will move on to the next one. Doing two or more books at the same time was too much load work and made me confused at times. Focusing on one thing and later after it is done reinforcing it with the next thing is much better.

       So now for Korean I am working through Practical Korean after finishing Korean Grammar For Speakers and for Chinese I am working through Developmental Chinese with my Chinese teacher. Quality not quantity is what I am currently going for.

        Basically, when things aren't working change up your routine, don't stop and hope you retain when you have been doing while you get back your rhythm. At least not where language is concerned.

          As you can see from my tracker, there are days when only half a box is filled and that is okay. Half filled means I didn’t do all the tasks in this category but it can also mean I did half of them. I chose to see that I did half of them.

     

          

Monthly Update (December)

          Last month’s lack of motivation really messed me up when it came to my studies, and my journalling. I went days with out writing one sentence in my journal and I hated it. So I vowed that I wouldn’t push myself too much this month but That I should write as much as I can. 

NOVEMBER TRACKER PAGE:

Notice the crosses and brown splotches. The brown is me taking time off and the crosses are just me not having enough energy to do anything. 

There is one thing that I did do and that is pass the first semester of ZAD Academy.

DECEMBER TRACKER PAGE:

I messed up the grid a little so I used white out and then added a sticker on top. 😂 

I took out my morning routine and instead I added Apps as a thing I wanted to track otherwise nothing else changed. 

MONTHLY REVIEW:

I did do the monthly review and I poured my thoughts into it and what I might do different in December. 

DECEMBER COVER PAGE:

Yeah, don’t ask me why unicorns are a thing on this page, in fact don’t ask me why it looks like this. I have no idea.

MONTH AT A GLANCE PAGES:

December month at a glance page. 

This is November’s month at a glance.

MONTHLY GOALS:

Notice how compact it is. Yeah, I’m not doing much this month and that is deliberate. I need to regroup and relax. 

I decided that doing one book at a time right now was the way to go instead of working on many books all at once. 

Well, this is my update for this month.

More on Lack of Motivation

          In my previous post I talked about how I’ve been lacking motivation thanks to the whole 2020 catastrophe year and end of year blues. In this post I’d like to expand a little and maybe share with you all what I’ve been doing. 

1. Look at your goals and see which ones you can shift around or add more tiny steps too to make things easier on yourself and to not give .

2. Take a break. I gave myself a few days to just chill and do nothing but the absolute necessary. 

3. See if there is something that sparks your interest, that makes you want to do it then turn it into a reward for yourself if you do something, even if it is a small thing.

4. Change where you usually sit to do your work. A change of scenery is always a good reset. 

5. Be gentle on yourself. There is always tomorrow.