Creating a watercolor plant journal is a good way to practice painting and it also helps you track your progress. When I was learning watercolor, I had no idea how to go about painting plants so I got inspired to create a watercolor plant journal to push myself to learn more about the craft. This process helped me practice scaling, illustration, color mixing, and painting. It also gave me an eye for detail without being too obsessed with every line or detail of the plant reference.

I'm confident that you guys will learn these same things when you start creating your very own watercolor plant journal!

The topics we'll cover are:

Why journaling helps
Materials
Drawing in pencil: How to scale your drawing
Watercolor techniques (Wet on wet, dry on wet, glazing)
Final artwork and doing your class project

This class is ideal for all levels and for hobbyists who loves both nature and watercolors.

Looking forward to seeing your class projects!

---

MATERIALS USED IN CLASS:

1. Watercolor notebook - It's ideal that you use a binded pad or notebook so that it has a journal feel to it. You should make sure that the paper of the notebook is okay for watercolor use. In this class, I used KHADI Journal but feel free to use other brands of watercolor notebooks.

2. Watercolor paint - Artist grade or student grade, it doesn't matter. The journal's sole purpose is for practice so you can use any watercolor paint that you already have. I use Mission gold paints from Mijello.

3. Watercolor brushes - Have at least 2 different sizes of round brushes ready so that you can do finer details with a smaller brush and cover more space with a bigger brush. Synthetic or Sable, it's fine. I use brushes which I have already been using for 4 years now: Raphael and Escoda.

4. Pencil and Eraser - Pencil lead should not be darker than HB as watercolor becomes transparent when dry and you don't want pencil marks to be very visible on your artwork.

5. Water containers - Any jar you have at home is fine (so that you can reuse them). Have 2 containers ready. One for rinsing brushes, the other for activating paint and making your mixtures.

6. Leaves - As much as you can, don't pick leaves from a live plant. Get the leaves that have fallen off from the plant so that you don't harm the plant in the process. Size of the leaf is up to you, as long as it can fit in your journal!

7. Tape (masking or washi) and Paste - For sticking the leaf on the journal page

Angging Vallejo

16

26