Flighty, but Fun

I've been playing with some presents I bought myself on holiday - a few Daniel Smith watercolours from the Italian Artshop which stocks this brand that I've read about and wanted for years, not least because of the generous size tubes they come in...makes you feel a little less Scrooge-like about squeezing a dollop onto your palette with our poor Rand diving ever deeper into a hole; and a very reasonably priced Black Silver Dynasty 'dagger' shaped brush from Artsauce in Observatory, an artist-friendly shop in both price and helpful advice. I love the shapes and marks you can make with this brush, from broad flat stripes to pointy or swirly leaf shapes, to fine, sharp lines, it doesn't hold a lot of paint though so you have to dip often.


I used DS Phthalo Blue, Naples Yellow and Deep Scarlet in the top sketch of my son sleeping on the couch and on the strip underneath him - trying to see how much of a range I could get with just those. I also bought Moonglow, a lovely purplish granulating shade and Pyrrol Orange which I'm now wondering why... I did like it on my test strips hanging on the line in my studio. A transparent, glowing orange it could come in useful when painting... sunlit nasturtiums perhaps? I don't really like to fuss about colours and have actually been thinking I should trim my palette down as it's too confusing, and unnecessary to have so many. Sigh, ah well.

Hanging on a line in my (messy) studio here are offcuts of bits of watercolour paper that I've kept - very useful for playing around on and happy moodling!

Has anyone else caught onto the 'Word of the year' WOTY phenomenon? Suddenly it seems to be everywhere, with several creative mentorship sites promoting it as a creative spur or focus. I think I've decided on mine... FUN... which seems rather trivial, flighty and frivolous, but for some time I've been feeling a tad anxious and weighed down by what should or shouldn't be done and where I ought, or ought not to be artistically and otherwise, and the state of the nation, and that's the word that has jumped out at me from various sources. So I think I'll take it and see where it leads to. Would love to know yours if you have one!