My Palette

My favorite palette was so messy that I had to clean it up.  It seemed like a good time to take and post a picture of it. It is aluminum and is enameled white on the inside and black on the outside.  The paints are protected when it is folded and closed.  I like this palette because it has all my favorite colors and I can take it to workshops, use it for plein air painting, and use it at home.  It's great for sketching, too.  The thumb hole is great, especially for plein air.  It folds out and is very comfortable because there is a rest for the thumb.  Colors can be added for temporary use, such as the cobalt blue near the thumb hole now.  My colors in the palette most of the time are burnt sienna, quinacradone gold, yellow ochre, hansa yellow, aurelian, alizarin, winsor red, magenta, cerulean, french ultramarine, pthalo blue, veridian, and sap green. 

February Challenge

My art group has a monthly challenge that involves painting from pictures,  There were three photographs for February.  This project's "historical" name is "Subject to Interpretation," and this is the second year we've done it in the Winter when we can't work outside--en plein air.

I approached this a little differently than I usually do--and interpreted the three paintings together as one abstract.  To do that, I made a black and white printout of each photograph, and then traced over each on the same sheet of tracing paper so that I had a line drawing with some interesting shapes, but nothing really recognizable. 

I then transferred the transfer paper drawing to a full sheet of watercolor, and added some more lines because some of the areas were not "interesting."  That's when the fun began.  I painted various shapes, leaving a large white center, as I learned in a John Salminen workshop.  I used a limited number of colors and tried to link some of the shapes.  It's all about shapes!!!!  

It's not finished, but February 2011 is coming to an end, and it needs to be posted on the group blog, http://www.behindthescenes-ppasp.blogspot.com/. 

PS:  Hope you enjoy the fish shapes!!!!



From Mary: An Adorable Little Elf and A Box of Tasty Granola

My step-daughter Mary is really more than that to me.  Closer to a daughter, just like her sisters Elizabeth (my beloved Howard) died over three years ago, we have remained family.  Mary and I (and her adorable daughter Rebecca, who is granddaughter to me) had dinner recently.  We hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving.  Mary gave me an adorable elf.  Some might call it a Christmas ornament, but it seems to be a kitchen elf--something I learned would bring me a little chuckle every day.  She also gave me a box of the granola she makes and sells at farmer's markets--so good!!!!  It won't last as long as the elf.   My thankfulness for the beautiful people in my life continues......