Some Time in the Morning

While my granddaughter was fast asleep after her bottle this morning, I headed to my watercolor paints at the dining room table. Like I have mentioned before, the light from the window at this spot is great. Even thought it's a rainy, windy morning the light is still good, north facing light.  The basement studio hasn't seen any action in a while because it's easier to keep an eye on my charge if I paint nearby.  I set up the usual suspects and painted for twenty minutes.

I haven't had the chance to get a smaller block of paper for these quick works so, as suggested by a fellow artist and blogger friend Pat, I cut larger paper down to the size I need. The way I paint, the bigger the paper, the bigger I go so I have to pencil in a dot to limit the area.

The paper I am using is Arches. The small notebook was Canson, and I'm noticing a difference. The Arches paper block stays wet longer, not so the Canson notebook pages.  I'm also finding that I can't paint as fast with the Arches because it's still wet when I want to add color and then it gets muddy.  I have to pay attention.  Learning how to use the tools is part of the process, so it's all good.

This is how the painting looks after twenty minutes. It's not exactly how I'd like it to be so later on, if I get the chance, I will go back to clean it up.

Mid-Morning (c)2010 DST  8x10 Watercolor

On impulse yesterday, I purchased a 10 pack of small stretched canvas for almost no money at, gasp, Michael's Crafts.  I do hope there will be some oil painting in my future, meaning this winter.  How does twenty minutes of oil painting sound? Can it be done with any success?  Can I do it with a modicum of success?  I guess I will have to try it and see.