As the weather warms I’m able to do more field journaling. My last two outings have been to the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center just north of Manila (Humboldt County!). I am fine tuning my “gear” so that I can hike in with a minimum of weight and still have the essentials for creating good field notes. There is nothing like recording on location; it works different parts of my brain and I “see” more than if I relied on photos.

The first outing was my first look at the endangered Humboldt Bay Wallflower. I didn’t have much time to draw the flower but I did sit down and create a color palette that I could refer to later. I was able to make a lot of observations and noted these in my journal. The willows were done on location as well as the ink outlines of the landscape. I did research back in the studio and made many discoveries about this amazing plant. It produces lots of seedlings – no problem there – but only 1% of them survive. Why? I used a scale for survival risk and included it at the bottom of the page. Somehow the image “says more” than the word “endangered”. I also like the graph in the upper left of the page a visual of when the plants are in bloom.

I had time on the second outing to create most of the journal spread shown below. My goal was to compare two similar items. I added the metadata first and wrote a bit about the walk into the dunes. I found these two shells on the beach and I have to confess I thought the larger one was a mussel. They are both clams. I used iNaturalist to identify the clams but only after I have already recorded what I saw; sometimes knowing the name for something “turns off” my curiosity sensor!

I learned a lot on these two trips:

• Watercolor and sand work just fine together
• I love my water soluble pencil – used on the clams
• I like fountain pens with thicker nibs
• I like using different colors of ink
• Waterbrushes were really easy to use in the field
• Pacific Razor clams are not mussels. Both clams are bi-valve
• I like my first “bubble” letters
• A color palette is a great addition and is a helpful reference for finishing work in the studio
• I am remembering to use my measuring tape!
• I still have more questions to answer. That’s good.

I HOPE YOU CAN VISIT: Friends of the Dunes https://www.friendsofthedunes.org/

I love watercolors. I don’t even have to paint anything recognizable  – I just love the way they feel when I add water and put the pigments on the page. I like swishing them around, dropping bits onto wet paper and watching them spread and granulate – if they are so inclined. Mixing pigments on paper is most exciting when the colors mix in a way that I don’t expect. One of the most helpful tools for my journaling are the swatch cards I create for each of my paints. I got the idea from Susan Chiang who guided me through the critical questions regarding pigments: are they transparent, do they stain, are they granulating, and how lightfast are they? Making Swatch Cards will help you become a better watercolor painter and they are just fun to make!The big card on the bottom is kept in my travel kit for reference and are my current colors. The individual cards record the range of colors as more water is added, the level of staining (some colors are easier to lift than others), and transparency (can I still see the black line when it is covered with pigment?). On the back of the cards I add information from the Daniel Smith website regarding the advantages of each color.

I have come a long way from thinking that purple was a primary color.