This is an exercise in gesture versus guidelines, and in permanence (in the form of lasting details and materials) versus impermanence (fast, light materials.)

I have two bags I reach for besides my painting bag.  One is this lovely silk Chinese bag which never lasts more than a season — the material and construction is not meant for  ever after.  These purses are bright, beautiful bursts of color and i buy them in Spring and they last until autumn.

The image above was created in under fifteen minutes including watercolor:
a Uniball pen in a fast gesture, with the essential colors caught on paper.
When I added the Quin Coral below and let it run, I did it consciously,
because the purse has many colors shot through the weave and the Quin Coral
is a secondary color, with two shades of gold, and a Phthalo blue.

The detailed drawing below is of my temporary seasonal purse with the addition of my longterm perfect purse, a black leather HOBO bag that I have had for about twenty years.  It hold almost everything I must have, zips securely, slings over my shoulder, and is small so it doesn’t hurt my back.  I love it.  It is not much to look at anymore but I have not found a replacement.  It is like an old friend.

Are all women so picky about their purses?
Having found the perfect purse, isn’t it hard to dump it for another?

I took a bit more time, but still only used guidelines to block in the essential shapes.  From there to ink, and on to watercolor.  I didn’t want a big blob of black, so mixed a bit of Primatek Hematite with purple to give it texture.  I’m happy with this — black is driving me crazy in the form of two of our black cats, who I keep trying to capture.  I also dropped a bit of Primatek Serpentine into the green of the purse, though this was not as successful — the purse is brighter.  I added the punch of colors in the flowers while things were still damp, so it blurred some areas and not others.  I like the effect.

Drawn in an Stillman & Birn Alpha journal
with blue-black Uniball (top, running ink) or
Caran D’ache watercolor pencil followed by Preppie pen with Noodler’s Lexington Grey ink, and Daniel Smith (Primatek too) and QoR watercolors.

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