My Watercolor Journal Tradition
All new art journals of mine must have the first page dedicated to Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" which remains one of my favorite childhood stories. Similar to my moleskine's first page, I couldn't wait to decorate this journal and began painting right away when I got home. A lot of members of the WetCanvas community were raving about the Stillman & Birn art journals and when I consulted my friend - he claimed that he had already been using one for several years.
Even the lady at the counter at Da Vinci's Artist Supply in the city highly praised these journals and preferred them over the Moleskine. I was so curious that I had to pick one up to test with. I'm still a bit skeptical on finding the 'perfect' journal so I can't give a proper review until probably a few months later.
Scanned first page of my new S&B journal
Of course, with all Last Unicorn paintings - I feel compelled to use glitter for her mane, tail and hoove hair. Glitter watercolors do not show up in the scans so I took a photo as well.
See how she sparkles!! Gotta love glitter. They make everything look even more beautiful and unique!
I think the only time I use glitter watercolors is when I paint The Last Unicorn...it just seems right. It's also amazing how different the scan is compared to a photo of the actual painting. The color and light balance is still vastly different even after post-processing in photoshop.
Here's the photo version of the same painting.
I can't wait to share my results when I have more feedback on the Stillman and Birn paper/journals. They offer a free sample of their papers for you to test in case you're like me and you can't decide which series to get or if you're slightly skeptical at how the paper will hold up against heavy usage. Don't hesitate to reach out for samples!
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below :)