In Which We Find A Lazy Afternoon...

I have this issue. Well, I don't think it's an issue, but the boy does. I have a hard time spending money on myself. There's always stuff to buy for the kids, the house, the yard, blah blah blah. So we have an arrangement where we each get x amount of money each month to spend on whatever we want. No questions asked. It's a handy thing and useful for those frivolous things like yarn and iTunes and whatnot. The thing is, even with my "fun money" I still have issues buying things that cost what I deem to be a LOT of money. The boy thinks this is silly. For a long time I've wanted a really nice easel for painting. So for Christmas he bought me one.


It's a Julian Full Box French Easel. And it rocks. It folds up for easy transporting, and it came with a bag to keep it dry and safe. The bag can sling over your shoulder and it also has backpack type straps so you can take it out into the field. It's by far the coolest thing ever. I've wanted this easel for a long, long time... but never wanted to cough over the money to buy it. (and it really wasn't THAT much in the grand scheme of things). I wish I had somewhere to keep it set up, but the rooms that have the best lighting are my son's bedroom and the front room where I have to worry about rambunctious children and the dog. It sets up very easily and I don't much mind having to take it out each time to use it. My next house (ROFL) will have a room that will be all mine to do with what I chose. I will have a corner for sewing and a corner for painting and a place to store my yarn.. and..... well. Anyhow. In honor of my new easel, I used some of my fun money in January and bought some new brushes.

My old ones were in pretty rough shape, as they were not only old but cheap and well used. I decided that my days of being cheap are over. I'd rather buy a few and save up for some more, then buy all the different sizes and types I need on the cheap. Quality really does matter when it comes to art. I have a fondness for Windsor and Newton art supplies. I don't have a solid reason for this, but over the past 20 years (man I am old).. since I was in Jr. High... I've tried a lot of different types of brushes/paints etc.. and I always find myself coming back to Windsor and Newton. So, why fight it. They make quite a variety of things, and I have everything from paints to brushes to inks and haven't been disappointed yet. I found some cheap Art Board at Micheal's that I use behind what I'm painting on if it's not a canvas. It makes a nice backing and provides some stability. And if the mood ever strikes me, I can also paint on it and buy a new one.


Today was a rather boring kind of day. Laundry, and the likes of things that needed to get done before the school week starts. My neighbor came over to play X-Box with the boy late this afternoon ,so I decided to paint. I feel confident in all of my painting abilities... except for with watercolors. Water colors are tricky and there are a lot of different factors that contribute to how successful you will be at any given time. The main one being how fast you can get your painting done before the paper you are painting on dries. (ideally you spray your paper with water first and then paint). So today I worked with watercolors. I did a series of different practice boxes (I draw 5"x5" squares on a page) of waves. This was the last one I did.. and my favorite of the bunch.