Back In the Studio

Playing in the studio again the other day trying to make it a daily habit.  Eventually, I'll get in there for a couple hours each day.  Until that habit kicks in I'm thankful for the times I do find myself at my desk instead of in the kitchen.


I've been wanting to visit the local art supply store to look over some new watercolor paints.  The old tubes I had were dried up.  The new ones I had didn't have the range of colors I really wanted.  I don't want to resort to my travel set because then I'd need to replace those pans, too.

When you buy an introductory set of five tubes they  don't always offer the colors you want.  Strange colors I would never buy are included.  So I need to supplement the sets with more paints.  Some how I can't get to the store!  Is it a block?  Am I putting other things in my way so I never get there?  I don't know, but the great thing is that I painted anyway in spite of the weird colors.

Five large tubes of MamieriBlu and twelve tiny tubes of Holbein paints is what I have.  The MamieriBlu are wonderfully creamy and hold up nice while painting.  The Holbein are also nice to work with.  I had my eyes on a set of Russian Yarka paints. 

However, some wonderful fellow artists on the Etsy shop forums gave me great info on them and I decided to stick with what I have.  I don't feel like spending good money on inferior quality paint.


Off to the studio to look at the disaster of a painting I did last week.  The Artist Way course says bad paintings point the way to a different style.  Ok, so I did a junky painting.  I felt like thowing paint on the paper in an effort to abstract the marigold work. 

Well, let's say it looked like a mess of color.  Instead of ditching it, I went back to it and tried adding line, blotching some color out and generally playing with it.  Just a play date in the studio.

Maybe it wasn't what I had in mind, but a good effort anyway.  I'm not that embarrassed to show it.  Thankfully, things sometimes work out in the end if you try again.

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