Watercolor Gift

This summer has been packed full of changes for me … I bought a house and I lost my job … I had to pack everything and get it moved … and I am still in the process of finding things … I found my postage stamps last nite about 11 PM so this morning … I found one of my sketch pads to use to write my son in Iowa a letter to let him know what is happening in my life at the moment.

This morning, I created a mixed media sketch using my watercolor pencils [no water] and gel ink pens on the sketch pad. The sketch paper is labeled heavyweight, multipurpose textured art paper, ideal for sketching and for pencil, ink, pastel or color markers. Sketch paper doesn’t usually seem to have weight on them … but I love using watercolor pencils for sketching without using water … it gives a pastel look to me instead of a colored pencil look.

Maybe it is just me … but whenever I use colored pencils, it gives sharp well defined marks and the watercolor pencils do not … they give me either a well defined or a soft out of focus cloud like appearance … all depending on what I do and how I do it.

I was just sketching a decorative letter with a tiny bit of family news to my son … I did the writing in the gel pen inks … I used a few complementary colors to the watercolor palm tree and grassy area - easy to read - the purpose of the letter was to inform as well as share my fun artwork idea. I liked how it turned out. I hope he enjoys it - the paper size is 18 inches by 12 inches so I had to fold it a lot [almost similar to origami] and I put the finished letter in a legal size business envelope … hope it does not ruin the painting. I got ti out to the mailbox before the mail went too so it will go out and he should get it … by next … Wednesday? I hope.

I did not take any pictures of my letter for out here … it just seemed too personal for blogging it here … but it was a fun way to write old fashioned letters … yes email is a wonderful immediate thing … but some people LOVE to get old fashioned mail from the post office and have something to hold in their hand … to re-read over and over … to see what stamp was chosen for the envelope - I currently have Frank Sinatra stamps right now .. before that, I had Star Wars stamps … and before that I had lighthouses, the forever liberty bell, flags, etc.

Now that I am moved and starting to know where my painting equipment is again … I have some paintings waiting for me to put them on paper … and I have some ACEO images in my mind to create too

Sounds like they would have nothing whatsoever in common with each other at first glance huh? I found a new size of watercolor paper pads last week - 6″ x 18″ - which will be marvelous for tall trees or panoramic narrow width seascapes using my watercolor pencils … in order to put them online … I needed a new digital camera … even if my scanner still worked, this paper is too long to scan all at once and stitching images together can be a lot of work .. I would rather paint and photograph.

I bought a Kodak 12 megapixel v1273 … even with my arthritis, the touchscreen is easy to use … you can read my post about my new camera at TX Dragon … last nite, I transferred the pictures I had been taking this week .from the card to my computer .. I have some lovely texture pictures … the camera takes EXCELLENT pictures … and the close up of some palm tree bark is really nice … I have new ideas for my palm tree dancing watercolor series and I have great reference photos for it so I won’t forget what I was seeing when I thought of a pom pom cheerleader and a hula dancer.

I really recommend having a camera tripod for photographing your watercolor paintings (or any other artwork). Camera shake happens … more for some like me than for others … tripods give you better photographs and if you are selling them online … better photographs mean better sales.