Book: Art Journal Kickstarter

My favorite quote today comes from Artist Nancy Belle in the book Art Journal Kickstarter, "When you are in doubt about a composition, draw a square in the middle of your page. This is the area to stay out of with any important images.  Align your important images with any of the four corners of the square..."

Check out more of her advice as well as artwork and insight from 99 other artists, including my piece "Dreams Come True" on page 43!

My page in Art Journal Kickstarter! So grateful to have been included.

Happy Arting!  Tristina :D

Book: Urban Watercolor Sketching

Always looking for a way to capture the moment with sketching, I was happy to find Felix Scheinberger's Urban Watercolor Sketching book this week at Blick Art Materials.

My doggie Becah is enjoying the book with me, too!

I'm loving the simplicity and excitement with which Felix writes, and EVERY page is filled with his loose and beautiful pen and pencil sketches enhanced with watercolor.

(c) 2011 Felix Scheinberger in Urban Watercolor Sketching 

Learning tons, and my favorite tidbit so far is, "The easiest way to learn it is simply to try it again and again." I also like his discussion of drawing vs painting, "...drawing mainly explains. Color is demanding and enriches our pictures with a sensual aspect. A drawing of a cake merely describes its shape, but a painting of a cake makes it mouthwatering."

Do you sketch with watercolor? What's your favorite urban travel kit? Leave comments below, can't see what you have to share! :D

HAPPY SKETCHING!  Tristina Dietz Elmes

View Into The Creative Process

I find I like to take the familiar, exaggerate it, and throw in bunches of color to come up with new ideas for painting series'. My latest series obsession is a Fantasy Tree idea born out of my art journal sketch books. Read on to check out my Creative Process...

Doodling with charcoal in one of my many sketchbooks.

Refining the Fantasy Tree concept with graphite on Bristol paper.

Experimenting with the concept using Pebeo Cerne Relief dimensional paint and Pebeo Fantasy paints in my Moleskin mixed media painting ideas book. 

Working out the Pebeo paints over gessoed watercolor paper for a test run.

Luvin' it!!!

"Purple Snow", 14in x 17in, fine art painting on paper, 

Pebeo cerne relief dimensional and liquid alkyd Fantasy paints over acrylic. 

And...must remember the GLITTER!

Hope this inspires you to grab a sketchbook (or 2 or 3 - I have MANY) and get to messing around. The lovely thing about a personal sketchbook is it is a place to get loose and BE YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF, letting crazy ideas percolate and surface for surprising results.

Now, grab a sketch pad and pencil, and get CREATING! 

Happy Arting! :D Tristina