New Year’s Resolution - Cleaning

Let’s take a moment to laud the lowly stir stick.  Beautiful in their own right where would we be without them, after all?  As for me, I’d have very colorful fingers. Today is studio cleaning day which involves a lot of gathering and putting things into their rightful place.

The background is a handmade linen scarf we bought from a vendor in Belgium.  We were traveling on a particularly chilly day.  Gary bought a sweatshirt, I bought this scarf.  The two items made our day and we were nice and cozy after that!  I first laid the stir sticks on my desk, but the desk looks the same so it was like they were wearing camouflage.  Had to find a plain background! 🤭

This unsung paint sticks really ARE beautiful, aren’t they? And now I actually have them all in one place instead of scattered all over the house and garage.  Maybe.  Now... what else can I organize around here...

Happy New Year Artist Desk

Happy new year!  From my desk to yours.  My desk is sporting a lot of Golden paints, my favorite, Bubba!  When I get into the throes of painting I leave a wake of a mess behind me.  That’s what we’ve got here; I’m lucky to get the lids on straight.  Once finished with my work I go back and open each lid, clean off dry or oozing paint and get the lids on nice and tight.  As for the mugs?  The sock monkey has got to be my favorite student gift this year.  I think it came filled with cocoa or something.  Makes me smile every time I look at it.  The Nashville mug represents our church choir’s trip there this fall.  It was AWESOME!  We sang at the Ryman Auditorium, made a recording, went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, rode Segues all over town - SOO fun - toured Nashville in so many ways, went to the Johnny Cash museum, enjoyed the Dove Awards... and ate at Peg Leg Porker’s.  Wow.  Some of the best food we’ve ever HAD.

An Artist’s Desktop

It doesn’t seem to matter how big my desk is; it pretty much always looks like this.  Unfair that I’m not showing you the outer edges which sport PILES of books, papers, information, inspiration and ephemera. What’s on YOUR desk? Is it clean? 

I have an insatiable personality which means I read an unbelievable variety of weird things, just because it’s good to know.  And as far as art supplies, I pretty much have to try everything, which means I’m constantly experimenting.  Thus the Daniel Green watercolor crayons you see in the little five-pack at the top. Each stick is the equivalent to approximately four pans of watercolor and they ARE pigment loaded.  The jury’s out on them thus far... As far as both the Golden paints and the Matisse paints, they are so luscious and pigment packed that I could eat them.  But I won’t.  Because I expect like many materials they are carcinogenic in the State of California.  May be safe here in Texas, but let’s not be chancey.

Golden Acrylics Painter

Well, I guess this makes me a Golden Girl. I did this little piece with Golden’s QOR colors and have to say they’re the best, most highly-pigmented watercolors in the business. Added to that touches of Golden’s fluid and high-flow acrylics to brighten and deepen the whole thing. I like this little piece, and was inspired to paint it the other day on my bike ride.  Noting the smashed mulberries on the path, I looked up to behold my afternoon snack.  Post snack I took a couple inspiring shots,and here you have it. Mulberry love.  Ah... I just named the painting. Mulberry Love. Let me know if you want me to paint your mulberries.

Work in Studio

Dang.  I was going to drink that. Paint water coffee.  This happens on occasion and you would think I’d learn.  ApparentlyI never do. Well, it wasn’t wasted; I just used the coffee to cover a couple pages to get a nice background neutral stain going.  Art that not only looks good, but SMELLS good!  Coffee artists arise!