watercolor

1. I will follow 2. to the clouds
3. forming a new peace 4. little joys
5. TIED TOGETHER 6. I saw three leaves TRANSPARENT in the SNOW

This past weekend I had the warm feeling that life may be returning to normal, the sensation that things will be ok. Focusing on the simple things we took afternoon walks in the sun, made chocolate chocolate chip cookies, ate homemade soup and watched "500 Days of Summer" {a very cute movie btw. Have you seen it?}

Shortly after my grandmother passed I took time from all that was happening and painted these watercolors {above} without pressure or expectations in mind. I was thinking about loss, healing, finding calm and peace. Truly there is a time for grey skies and thick fog and time is needed for mourning.  And sometimes we just power through until we have to stop and rest.  But now the heaviness is lifting, slightly and I have new hope in mind.  So I'm happy these watercolors {plus some other watercolors of mine} are part of the COLOR show opening at Eyebuzz Fine Art tomorrow, Feb. 2. Also showing are two amazing artists Jennifer Judd-McGee and Eunju Kang.  I'm thrilled to be part of this gallery, owned by husband and wife team Tara and Tim who are very wonderful to work with. Thank you!

Since we finished all the tofu & mushroom soup {it's been the winter for soups!} I hope to make veggie lasagna tonight, with spinach salad and a new boule.  Seems rather ambitious for me on a Monday night but we'll see.

Thanks for visiting me today.  I hope you're having a hopeful start to your week,

H

Making watercolor by hand

Hi,

I'm back to show you some pics of my process for making handmade watercolor paint. When I was in graduate school I took a course called "Materials & Techniques" led by my favorite professor. She taught us to make painting grounds {true gesso, hide glue etc.} and all kinds of paint {watercolor, egg tempera, oil, casein, pastels, etc.} from scratch. Well as you can imagine, I loved it! I mean, look at all those jars of color! {That alone sends me, in a good way, but anyway.} It may sound silly to say but I feel connected to my "roots" when making my own paint. The colors when mixed by hand are vibrant, intense, and with watercolor I have flexibility to paint the way I want. I can control how opaque or transparent I want the paint just by adjusting the amount of medium, pigment, or water. I don't call myself a traditional "watercolorist" but I do love making paint by hand, the old fashioned way. And while it is not difficult it does take time, and that makes it even more beautiful.

Handmade watercolor begins with dry pigments, and grinding them into a glass palette with water until it forms a paste. Once the paste is blended I add a medium to bind it, gum arabic. And this grinding, mixing method is continued with each color. Once I have my 'basic' colors made I can then make further mixtures on my palette when working. While I prefer a giant piece of glass for my palette, I want to mention I have had this palette since I was a girl. I remember sitting on the beach taking watercolor lessons and trying to paint the waves. There is even still a small shrimp boat I drew on the front in pencil when I was about twelve.

Tomorrow I will share a few ideas that have been buzzing around my brain, incorporated in these new works and others. The ones you see here on my table are part of a new collection of {affordable} handmade watercolor paintings that I just added to my Gallery Store.

Thanks for reading today,
H

Tuesday

Hi,

Yesterday, inspired by this, I looked at my stack of art cards and wondered what they would look like together on the wall. Some need a little work to complete and there are a couple I am keeping, but it made me realize I should do something with them. Even so, I like seeing how these tiny art pieces make make a kind of "quilt" pieced together. I suppose I could have an art-card-special-sale kind of thing? What do you think?

Lately, I have really missed making my own paint, so yesterday I also spent time grinding some new watercolor paints by hand. You really cannot beat the intense color, color that I've not found in any tube or pan. And this way I can make them as transparent or opaque as I like.

Tonight I really need to make a gigantic batch of tomato sauce to freeze, we have a gazillion tomatoes.

That's about all that is going on here right now. I hope you have a great day,
H

ps. Just found this. It looks like a quilt of doors to me.