S.A.D. no more...

When we lived in Virginia, as beautiful as the State was, in the winter it was often gray, gloomy, and snowy. I can handle the cold and the snow, but the constant grayness of the sky blocking out the sun got to me as it does to many people causing symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder - SAD. That just means lack of enough bright sunlight can cause a kind of depression. Turns out we are sun-worshippers! Brightness is measured is "lux" and bright sunlight has 20,000 - 100,000 lux. A daylight cloudy sky has 5,000. Whoa! I got a really spiffy light therapy box that I sat in front of for an hour or so when needed, usually just reading or whatever. Worked like a charm. Fast forward to now - just dug the old light box out of unpacked boxes and repurposing it to use as an art tracing lightbox. Whoohoo! Glad that didn't go to Goodwill along with my winter coats when we moved to San Diego where there are plenty of luxes to go around and no SADness here - at least not from lack of bright sun. Lightboxes are used by many artists, among them - watercolorists - to transfer a sketch/drawing onto watercolor paper. So no more taping it to the living room window to trace. I'm finding repurposing uses for other things too like different sized medicine bottles which I pull the label off of and fill with fountain pen nibs, ink fillers, travel brushes, whatever.  Okay enough of that!

I am so in love with my new Noodler's Apache Sunset Ink!!

You can fill a fountain pen and write with it.
You can paint with it full strength or diluted.
You can use it to paint with other colored inks.
The effects and the color are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Check out this gorgeous daylily that an artist way more talented than I painted with Noodler's Apache Sunset ink.

So, who can be SAD with all this lovely color to play with?!

My First Watercolor - Sunflower

My favorite flowers are sunflowers so it makes sense it would be the first thing I'd paint. I'm no van Gogh, but I don't think it turned out too bad. I sketched the flower then went back over it with a Pigma Micron .05 in black, adding texture with shading effects. I'm still getting the hang of layering transparent washes of color, but love the unexpected effects.

All the Lovely Colors - A beginning...

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." ~ Pablo Picasso

Thanks to a good friend and fellow artist, I have taken up the brush once again. It's been quite a hiatus. I've done art since I was a child and even took a year to study art when we moved to Tucson. In all that time I've never tried watercolor because it's so unpredictable. But as my life has gotten more and more unpredictable I've appreciated what this art medium has to say about just being in and enjoying the moment, being spontaneous, looking at things a new way, looking for beauty. Like many artists, I have this inner dialogue going on holding me back - that inner critic that tells me "no", "you can't", "you're not good enough." With Patti's nudge, I started acknowledging that other voice - that artist's voice that is tired of being ignored. It's awakening something and making me happy on the inside. I figure that can't help but spill out into a more joyous and satisfying outside. Life is hard - but it's also beautiful. You have to open yourself up to the beauty all around you (and it doesn't hurt at all to live in San Diego!) If nothing else I figure it will be cheaper than therapy and way more fun! This blog is mostly for my own enjoyment -  to record and enjoy this artistic journey which will likely also include some creative writing at times.

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. 

The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." – Norman Cousins

This is "The Beginning" of my new and colorful art walkabout - literally - because from 2017 forward I intend to carry a sketching travel kit with me everywhere seeking inspiration wherever I can find it! I've been researching for a week and this is what I've ordered. Got some things in the UK because of better prices and selections. Those items still coming, but I got my Gouletpens.com shipment today!

Contents of future travel kit:

• Stillman & Birn Delta softcover sketchbook ( 8.5x5.5 landscaped)
• Lamy Joy fountain pen w/ diff nibs & Duke 209 bent nib pen
• Noodlers inks for both line and washes of color
• 3 shades of gray Copia markers
• White Uni-Ball 153 Signo Broad Point Gel Pen
• 3 pocket brushes from Rosemaryandco.com - UK (squirrel mop, sable dagger, & sable rigger)
• On my wishlist (because I already spent all my Christmas money!) is this Whiskey Painters Master Travel Palette. 

Update: As of May 2018 I still haven't locked down on a medium. I love oil, watercolor, gouache, fountain pen urban sketching, oil pastels. Art makes me happy - so I do it a lot. I've always written poetry and love creative writing, so for lack of anywhere else to archive it, herein it resides. 

  

And so begins...

all the beautiful colors... and words!

...and words