What I'm Painting These Days

Here it is, my painting day, Tuesday, so I thought a little update on the painter bit of me was in order. I am still really enjoying watercolor and kind of think that I will stick with it as "my" medium as an artist. I am tempted by gouache (say "gwash") and water soluble oils which my drawing teacher just told me about. I think I will do a bit of dabbling in both of those sometime but, I do love watercolor quite well.

I think part of my allegiance to watercolor is the fact that my grandfather was a watercolorist, somehow seems cool to be carrying on the tradition...and then I also really like the challenge of working with such a difficult medium and the beautiful translucent, light-shot quality that ends up on the paper.

Another thing I have discovered along the way is the truly brilliant fabulocity of tube paints over a tray of block colors. Tube paints are more vivid, more energetic and they feel better somehow too. I have just begun using up a couple of the colors in my tray and bought tubes to replace them, I look forward to being 100% in the tube paint world someday soon.

Related articles

• I like {watercolors} (invisiblehouse.typepad.com)
• Watercolors As You've Never Seen Them (chicagoist.com)
• art journal on the go (shaunaleelange.com)
• What's so good about gouache? (susanwellingtonart.wordpress.com)
• Chagall's Biblical Gift to His Wife (online.wsj.com)

Lots O' Links

Am just kind of confetti brained tonight and so am sharing with you all the shiny bits, tossing around inside my cranium. Have a lot of interesting non sequitur fun with  me! Hooray random, fascinating, sparkly thoughts!

(I am a magpie in my soul)

• I am planning to be grounded tomorrow by the blizzard that's sweeping in and am hoping to make this with the extra milk we have in our fridge at the moment. How fluffy and alluring does that bowlful look? I learned to like cottage cheese as a grown-up. Sometimes I learn slow.

• I was reaching past a woman for a whole roasting chicken in the grocery meat department the other day and I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by her breathtaking perfume and I forgot all about the bird and started an animated conversation with her about why I must someday find a way to get some of her Estee Lauder perfume. Usually I find floral scents well meaning but in the end, fake and overwhelming but this one was spot on gardenia, totally exotic and romantic.

• I took two paintings in to be framed at this art shop and accidentally happened on a 70% off sale they were running on custom frame work. The framer was artistic and thoughtful, I cannot believe how good my paintings look in the hands of a professional. 3 weeks and I can go and get them back! Hooray! Can't wait!

• This video made me almost cry.

• Still shopping for beekeeping goods but am so excited to drool all over they keyboard at this site while I mull. I think I should join. Support is good.

The Lovely Pear

 Is there anything prettier than Bosc pears? That dusty brown green color...and those elegant long stems. So lovely. Shapes hardly could be more graceful. And to think that they call women who are pudgy on the bottom "pear shaped." as though its some sort of ungainly descriptor.

Heavens! I'll be pear-shaped any day.Which is handy...since that's how I fall on those charts anyhow.

I think I ought to try painting pears. They are some of the most beautiful things I know. And I'm not the only one who thinks so! I love this giant pear sculpture near Boston [sculptor: Laura Baring-Gould] that I hope to visit someday, and this flock of giant pears [sculptor: George Baldessi] that I won't be visiting anytime soon, in New Zealand. I also think this, this and this are stunning examples of  pear beauty but my very favorite is this whimsical piece. *grin grin* Such happy pears!

Got any other favorite art pears that I should know about?