Adding small landscape drawings and paintings to your journals creates a wonderful sense of place, greatly enhancing your pages. John Muir Laws calls them “landscapitos!” Don’t be intimidated! These are fast, fun, and addictive.

I’ll take you on two or three explorations using my Virtual Field Trip technology; I’ll walk you through how I choose a scene to sketch, how I “edit” down the view so I’m not overwhelmed, and how I quickly map out the drawing using big shapes. Then we’ll add some beautiful watercolor.

Have your journal and pencil or pen with waterproof ink handy, along with your favorite watercolors. Have you seen my new Earth Palette? These are especially fun paints for landscapitos.

Length: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Resources from the Workshop

CHAT transcript — click > HERE <

Information and links from the workshop:

My favorite paints: Minimalist = a true primary triad (cyan, magenta, yellow) plus two wild-card colors for making browns and black. I like Daniel Smith Manganese Blue, Quinacridone Rose, and Aureolin Yellow, plus Burnt Sienna and Indanthrone Blue. Or, love Greenleaf & Blueberry’s Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, and their Red Ochre and Mayan Blue 2. https://www.exploringoverland.com/academy#color

https://www.exploringoverland.com/shop/minimalist-paint-tins-2-sizes-with-or-without-paint-samples

My notebook: Handmade leather, tutorial here: https://www.exploringoverland.com/field-arts-tutorials-list/2020/8/18/adding-pages-to-my-handmade-leather-journal

Grids: https://www.dickblick.com/products/compose-it-grids/

Perspex Palette: https://www.exploringoverland.com/shop/clear-perspex-palette-with-magnet-strip

Aspect Ratios information:

ASPECT RATIO = SHORTER EDGE ÷ LONGER EDGE

3 ÷ 3.75 = 0.8

4 ÷ 5 = 0.8

Click on image at right to enlarge:

White painter’s tape or washi tape:

https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-artist-tape/

https://www.amazon.com/MT-Solids-Masking-Tape-MT01P208/dp/B00DHZP2FS/

mt Washi tape can be found with a cute little cutter.

Field Trip: Southern Colorado

https://360exploring.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mountains-Mesas-2020/output/index.html

Field Trip: Kenai Peninsula, Grewlingk Glacier (we didn’t have time for this one, but if you practice landscapitos here, please credit Kim McNett as photographer)

https://360exploring.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Alaska/output/index.html

Landscapitos from the Workshop