A Little Problem

I'm very happy with my mini-studio. However, I do have a little problem. Well, sort of a big problem. I can't find my paintbrushes for oil and acrylic. They are all in one box marked "Brushes".  They must be among the boxes still in the garage but I have looked there many times with no luck.

My watercolor brushes and watercolor paint are in the studio and I am eyeing them because the early autumn pastoral scenes here are spectacular. Lovely browns and golds due to the lack of rain. I am contemplating what to do - should I go back to watercolor until I find my bushes? I even have a chair for contemplation in the Studio now that my office isn't in my studio for the first time. Hmmm...coincidentally, I have also hung one of my watercolor paintings in the studio. Go to the end of this post to see it.

The view East from my contemplation chair. 

Looking West. There's the chair I plan to sit in to contemplate life (art, what to make for dinner, etc.). You may notice that my pastel workstation has rotated so I'm not blocking either of the north-light windows.  

Out the east window is the garden. Today we have smoke from fires.

Out the west window is the little shed where all my panels and canvases are stored. Yes, I've looked in there for the brushes. Not there either!

"Trust," watercolor, ©2004 Barbara Benedetti Newton

Collection of the Artist

Watercolor Plein Air - my August challenge

Every time I post in yet another medium on this blog, I lose subscribers. I wonder if my pastel followers are still around? I like to experiment and will eventually get back to the medium you were interested in when you subscribed. Thanks for those who hang in there with me through my journey.

Yesterday I became interested in painting plein air with watercolor. Hahha. Watercolor was difficult enough for me many years ago in a controlled studio atmosphere so now I've decided to try it plein air? I actually had fun with it years ago and even taught workshops then decided I that at my age I wouldn't live long enough to learn all it has to offer so I moved on. My admiration to all watercolorists. However, now that I have forgotten all I ever knew about it, I'm back at least for the month of August and am not concerned about in-depth study of the medium. I don't care which colors are transparent, translucent, staining, etc. In fact, when I found this lidded palette in my Studio I wonder if it is even mine? I don't know what these colors are but I painted with it yesterday, 8-1 on a little block of cold press.

8-1-18 in progress. Well, actually done because I didn't finish it. I started painting in the cloudy morning and didn't have a chance to photograph it until sunny afternoon.

8-2-18 lake again. Pretty cold and gray today. I added Neutral Tint, Burnt Sienna and Cerulean Blue to an additional palette and began painting on 140 lb taped down. My HUGE annoyance is wavy paper so I will definitely order some 300 lb. because I don't want to stretch the 140 lb.