Just having a bit of fun, playing with Ancient Copper ink OVER washes of watercolor.
There is a method to my madness in terms of the experiment…
Pentalic Aqua Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil, Platinum Carbon pen, Lamy Al-Star, De Atramentis Document black, Diamine Ancient Copper ink;
and Sennelier, Holbein, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
©D. Katie Powell.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
For the next few weeks I am looking at my paint “collection.”
I know better now how to judge what paints to buy, what I might love, and what I have — but it has taken me actually studying (*shudder* *gasp*) pigments to understand color and paint. My best sources for this study, handprint, a guide to painting, paint pigments, mixing paints, color theory. All kinds of great info, a degree in color all by itself.
I mistakenly posted the second post last week instead of this one to start the series:
Tools: Watercolors, 2, Red-Pink
Unfortunately — or maybe not, as the indiscriminate early buying also brought me to where I am today — I bought several paint tubes on the internet before I understood pigment colors. (A good post about pigments, and when I finally “got” it!)
And then there is my recent obsession with mixing colors… Truth is, I will enjoy the colors I’ve got until they run out. AND, I am really getting serious about my palette…
That is what these posts will be about. What I am choosing and why.
From handprint, about how artist’s buy colors:
“There is another layer of marketing that defines the paint manufacturer’s trade
image or brand style — a statement of the company’s goals, its ingredient choices
and paint manufacturing methods — and of course its relationship to you, the purchasing artist. I call this the marketing romance, and it exerts an amazing power over the many compulsive collectors of colored gum among watercolor painters.”
I was one of those collectors, and am
just now beginning to benefit from my studying. I admit, firstly, that yes,
I am easily seduced by the marketing
lore of Daniel Smith. Here are two
paints I am dying to buy because I know
that the ochre from Verona will make
my paintings magically come to life
because everything from Italy is magic,
and that people will clamor to buy my moon-sky paintings if I only have a
Lunar Blue night sky.
“Verona Gold Ochre, above: Pigment mined near this ancient northern Italian city gives Verona Gold Ochre unusual warmth and clarity for an earth color.
Lunar Blue, right: The fabric of the night sky glides off the brush in this heavenly new shade. Granulating lunar black floats above a phthalo undertone, perfect for capturing a moonlit sky. Inky as midnight, or diffused as the moon on water, semi-transparent Lunar Blue lifts beautifully, leaving behind a mere shadow of itself. This moody new watercolor is sure to entrance.”
They say awareness and admitting you have a problem are the first steps
toward recovery. I know understanding pigments, transparency,
and hue steer me toward the right colors for my work.
However, I disagree with Bruce MacEvoy when it comes to Primateks.
In general, I love the effects of the grainy stone colors for skies, stones, cityscapes.
I have a few that I think are duds, but mostly,to use them is exciting, because even if you are quite good with them they can surprise you… and since I’ve already chosen
to embark on a medium that is basically out of control, this works for me!
There is a mystery unless you begin to educate yourself about the various colors,
pigments, and ingredients. It does begin to give you a starting point, even if you are not a chemist, to stop you from buying five of the same watercolor tubes with different names!
I recommend you go to this handprint.com page, “the guide to watercolor pigments“. Along the top are the various colors: Print each one of them and begin,
however, slowly to study the colors you love. Note the pigment nomenclature, which i will highlight below in this section. Highlight the paints you have already bought. Make notes in the margins about the ones you love or hate and why.
TAKE IT WITH YOU WHEN YOU GO TO THE ART STORE!
To see references on YELLOW and ORANGE from handprint, click through.
Mayan Yellow looks like Indian Yellow; the Mayan colors are wrapped in DS mys-story:
no pigment names. Two yellow that have the same name: DS’s Indian Yellow is Anthrapyrimidine (sounds like a disease), PY108; M.Graham’s (MG) Indian Yellow is Isoindolinone, PY110. are quite different in pigment and visual appearance.
DS makes Isoindolinone Yellow, PY139, quite opaque but smooth.
The Keepers:
Which are keepers? I love DS Indian Yellow and Isoindolinone Yellow.
I won’t buy Mayan Yellow and MG’s Indian Yellow again because they lay down thick, muddy and streaky, unlike DS’s Indian Yellow which will blend.
I don’t see the benefits of the others. New Gamboge is Nickel Dioxine, PY153,
and while thick is not streaky, it can also be thinned for beautiful washes that are never muddy, and so, is a keeper. My favorite go-to yellow is Quinophthalone Yellow, PY138, and Sennelier’s Hansa Light 578, PY153. Note that the both New Gamboge, above, and the latter have the same pigment numbers PY153? I don’t yet understand how that is possible, but am looking at getting that information! Thick or thin,
both are smooth and as transparent as is possible with yellows. In the Sennelier pan colors, few are brilliant, but Lemon Yellow is lively and makes the cut.
Oh, the search for transparent beautiful oranges! Holbein’s Permanent
Yellow-Orange PY74/83-PO73 is deeper than Isoindolinone Yellow, and lovely.
My favorite orange is Holbein’s Brilliant Orange PO7362; Sennelier
Red Orange PO43-PY83 comes in second. Perinome PO43 is deep, and while it can be semi-opaque, is never muddy. The last was originally shown on the Red chart for next week, Organic Vermilion, a Napthol Red, PR188, and while quite opaque, I’ll keep it in my opaques — one of only a half-dozen. I am NOT fond of opaque paints.
The Rarely or Never Agains:
Sometimes it is a matter of what I will use. The pale colors do not excite me. I seem to use them in only two places — skin tones and the occasional painted lady (Victorian painted home.) Besides those I’ve discussed, I never will buy Holbein’s Jaune Brillant (Cadmium) PO20-PY35-PW6 as one tube will last me forever.
Sennelier Naples 566 (muddy), QoR’s Nickel Azo (I prefer DS Indian Yellow and/or Holbein Quin Gold not shown yet), MG Azo Orange (Benzimidazolone) PO62, Yarka’s Titan Red (no info, pan, muddy) are no buys. While the latter it might be good for the grand Canyon, I have better colors. The last was originally shown on the Red chart for next week, but I pulled it back into oranges: Sennelier French Vermilion 675,
a pan color, which I find in person a bit flat compared to Organic Vermilion.
I might buy Hansa Medium again, but I doubt it — it is a bit muddy and Quinophthalone is simply prettier! I reach for clear drenched color every time!
In a future post I will talk about the Mayan Colors…
What they are, what I like and dislike about them.
Pentalic Field Journal, Platinum Carbon pen, and Greenleaf & Blueberry,
Sennelier, Holbein, QoR, M.Graham and Daniel Smith watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
I sketched these in the Bright Ideas journal, which is becoming a constant companion!
Mug Soulmates.
You have to be part of our inner-inner circle
I was asking Mitchell to write this entry so
Mimi’s Watch Pin (or stopwatch). A Mystery.
OOOOH, fountain froggies.Bright Ideas multi-color journal with Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black ink,
White Uniball Signo pen, Fat white Pitt pen, and colored pencils.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Pentalic Aqua Journal, Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star, De Atramentis Document black ink;
and Sennelier, Holbein, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
©D. Katie Powell.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Each Sunday for the next few weeks I am looking at my paint “collection.”
Because of this mistake, I am revising this post, pulling some of the
pinks-violet into the post on violet-purples coming later.
Before we get started, there are colors for mixing other colors — I’d never use them
on my own — and then favorite colors. Skin tones, stones, shadows —
all these take some odd mixing colors. Odd for me at least!
NOTE: All paints Daniel Smith (DS) unless it says
First, let’s talk colors that look the same,
Sennelier makes a beautiful Quinacridone Red, PR209;
MG makes a muddier version, also PR209. The muddiness must be the honey binder.
There is also Quinacridone Coral, PR209.
Note these are all a bit different but all PR209!
You don’t want to work with fugitive
paints — paints which are not
light-fast. Still, I can’t walk away from Opera Pink, Quinacridone, PR122, though it is fugative. You’ll see, there is
no other bright clear pink like it!
I’ve bought several Quinacridone pinks looking for it: while they are lovely,
they are not HOT PINK!
To see references on RED and MAGENTA from handprint, click through.
The Keepers: 
Which are keepers? I love Quinacridone Coral and Sennelier Quinacridone RED 679, though both are supposedly PR209. Anthraquinoid Scarlet, PR168, has a muddy side, but is an excellent brick and building pigment, as is Perylene Scarlet, PR149. Perylene Red, PR178, is quite opaque, but beautiful, a true red. If only it were transparent! Love our first Primatek, Rhodonite, a grainy textural, lovely coral color!
Pale pinks are useful because of skin tones, and of course, Painted Ladies.
Holbein Shell Pink, PO73-PW6, is a mainstay part of skin tones.
I am undecided about Holbein Brilliant Pink, PO209-PW6.
The Rarely or Never Agains:
Sometimes it is a matter of what I will use. Some I’ve discussed. MG’s Quinacridone Red, PR209, is muddy and slow drying in the pan. Sennelier Bright Red 619, a pan color, and Sennelier Carmine 635 PAN are both blah. I might buy Deep Scarlet, Benzimidazole, PR175, because it is a good brick color. Greenleaf & Blueberry’s Mayan Red reminds me of Victorian wallpaper: very grainy and swirly, but not in a good way. Mayan Orange I probably won’t buy again, as it is very close to Vermilion.
In a future next post I will talk about the Mayan Colors…
What they are, what I like and dislike about them.
Must build the collection to discuss!
Pentalic Field Journal, Platinum Carbon pen, and Greenleaf & Blueberry,
Sennelier, Holbein, QoR, M.Graham and Daniel Smith watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Ink drawing, shadow inks (grisaille), then watercolors.
Moleskin 8×11 watercolor journal, Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document Black, Noodler’s inks,
and Daniel Smith , Holbein, and QoR watercolors.
I started a Facebook group page (you must join to view) to allow everyone to share their virtual sketches, and also where we will, from time to time, take virtual sketch walks together. Come join us On Facebook if you are inclined!
If you want to know more about what a virtual sketchwalk is review my first post.
I also created an accompanying Flickr group!
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Photography by Amy Lauren-Gettys.
I sketched these in the Bright Ideas journal.
I had to use Freshly Minted Suggestions
for the best designed bottle cap opener thangy ever!
If you don’t have one of these 50+-year-old gadgets then you haven’t lived.
And the memories of the fields of strawberries in Dana Point,
pies my mom made, jam she tried once or twice, and bowls of fresh berries? YUM.
There will be more strange rock stories.
Okay, so they spelled Pallete this way then I did too but it kept bothering me
and then I found it is palette… oh well.
I couldn’t resist showing how much I use and love these pieces of plastic that stack.
I admit it, better than porcelain because they stack.
You have to understand how much a part of our lives the Dyson is…
Between upholstery at the studio and cats at hoe and the studio…
my husband is a madman.
30 years. Nine years is when I stopped collecting tokens.
I went with my brother….
It never took for him, and we cremated him four years ago.
Bright Ideas multi-color journal with Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black ink,
White Uniball Signo pen, Fat white Pitt pen, and colored pencils.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Experimenting with color after taking a class…
I am often bored by stone buildings, but several interesting water-colorists
use what-ever color where-ever they want. This is one of the stone churches we pass
on our way to the Saturday Market at PSU. It has lovely doors with stained glass,
from which I drew my colors. I am happy with this as a first try…
Check out Thursday Doors, with Norm’s amazing doors, and others, here!)
Fabriano Watercolor Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil,
Platinum Carbon pen, Lamy Al-Star w/De Atramentis Document black ink;
and Holbein, M Graham, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Thanks to Wikipedia for the image in their article.
Necessity is the mother of fast sketches.
I barely finished these by the end of our month on Capetown!
I used a water-soluble graphite fat pencil
and splashed watercolors over the sketches.
From beginning to end in about 15 minutes each!
Spread for this month below!
Click to see the first page….
Moleskin 8×11 watercolor journal, water-soluble graphite,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document Black,
and Daniel Smith , Holbein, and QoR watercolors.
I started a Facebook group page (you must join to view) to allow everyone to share their virtual sketches, and also where we will, from time to time, take virtual sketch walks together. Come join us On Facebook if you are inclined!
If you want to know more about what a virtual sketchwalk is review my first post.
There are a few more notes/pointers on our first walk through Laguna Beach, California.
I also created an accompanying Flickr group!
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Dan recently blogged about failures: “So many people try to hide failure.
Sometimes, they want to hide it out of embarrassment and sometimes they want to hide it out of fear. I don’t want to fail, but when I do, I want to learn from failure.”
My dialogue with Dan continued in my head: failures teach so much, so why do so many teachers try to hide them? I thought about West Wing, Galileo, when it fails, and they decide to continue with the press conference so the kid who fails in school can see that even high-stakes enterprises fail, and we pick up and learn from it and try again….
I’ve taught design+creativity most of my
life to all age groups. I taught about failures
and creative blocks and being stuck and
all the real things creatives go through.
One phenomena I noticed teaching design
at UCLA, was that anytime I had a particularly difficult project that was uninspiring or
I was stuck, creative blocks or
where-one-gets-ideas was always the
what the students would ask about during critiques. We teach most what we need to learn, though many of us don’t know it at the time.
I always told the truth: when stumped I read Sherlock Holmes, a chapter from Pooh,
went for a walk on the Venice Beach boardwalk, or made a big beef stew from scratch.
I get paid for my brushstrokes every day in our business
(oil paint, shellac, traditional finishes on objects, above), and I am always learning, pushing the boundaries, taking on tasks I’ve never had the pleasure to treat!
Sometimes I have failures, and have to repair my own work. I am redoing a failure on the circus ball above as we speak. I tried a shortcut using Gamblin’s FastMatte oil paint without knowing there is a trick to layering: it’s all in the fats….
I started this blog when I switched from acrylics to watercolors.
I was 100% out of my depth, learning on the fly, by myself, no teachers.
It’s been two years. Posting my struggles and experiments has been good for
many readers, and I don’t feel so isolated in my explorations.
I’ve published a lot of “failures” and struggles.
I don’t rip out the failures from my sketchbooks.
This first
page (left) is not one of my favorites….
It’s a mess,
especially
the drawing of the refillable felt-tip pen.
GAAACK.
I believe success in any creative endeavor is a combination of equal parts:
This means anyone can be an artist.
This week I tackled the buildup of yellows, which I find difficult.
I tried Tracey’s method of building up with under-colors: first yellow layer.
That is where I might have stopped before.
Second layers as I am painting, wet on dry, (that is wet bubbling paint on the left)
with the addition of a marigold yellow. Note the deep color.
I also did a two-layer green also for the leaves.
However, I think the sunflower is overworked.
I HATE the background, my first outing with Cobalt Violet.
I am not impressed with the depth of the color, though I like the granulation.
My juicy wash went awry, and I’m not sure why!
GAAACK.
Pentalic Aqua Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil, Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black Ink, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
This week I’ve taken care of business — my jewelry business,
as I am hoping to wind it down and close shop this year.
(If my readers fall in love, note the 40% off using the code “SPECIAL”. Shameless plug.)
I want to make marks and work in our business and write…
This week I also repaired Mitchell’s necklaces, and created a new mala for myself.
Two weeks ago I drew my old mala, with the broken bee wing, below.
When I made that mala I chose rose quartz to open my heart to compassion, hematite for spiritual grounding, and clear quartz and turquoise to round out the directions.
This week’s BI journal was hardly touched BUT,
I had to take the time to draw my new mala, below.
Mitchell bought me the brilliant red hand-blown African whitehearts
for our anniversary, which means they are special to me.
As my old mala was near to breaking, I took it apart and used a few of the beads.
A mala is a counter for keeping track of prayers.
I grew up with a mother who said the rosary daily, often in the car when driving,
which was why her crystal rosary stayed in the car.
As a zennie I never needed a mala, but when accepted Chagdud Rinpoche as my root teacher, and despite my resistance to his processes (we negotiated my practice), I finally succumbed to doing the Guru Rinpoche prayers as a result of his saying I lacked faith.
“Whaaaa? FAITH? I don’t think so.”
But I was having a spiritual crisis of sorts, and so, I went along with this very non-zen ritual. And oh, I learned a lot! As I was counting in the one-thousand mantra range, I found myself saying, “Hail Mary, full of Grace….” I wept.
I remembered loving Guadalupe so,
so much as a child, lighting candles
in her small shrine at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, and praying to her
for comfort and guidance.
This was before I met the awful bigot
and hateful priest who drove me out, straight into Buddhas waiting arms.
I through the baby out with the bath water, and turned my back on G-O-D. Buddhism is a better fit, extremely
clear, and in the beginning I had no
need to discuss G-O-D, as it was all
about mindfulness and mediation.
When one bowed to Buddha we were bowing to the Buddha nature within,
and the path was one anyone can step on and achieve. It was a long time before I could even say the G-O-D word again.
But there I was, that summer day, weeping with the child who loved
the virgin mother. I placed the crystal statue (right) on my altar, and soon
began painting lovely goddesses
from cultures around the world.
I have a Tibetan-Zen Buddhist practice now,
with the occasional dip into my religion of birth,
and a shared practice in the Vedic traditions with Mitchell.
My new mala has special meaning for me, and is different because I am different, having grown spiritually from the time I made my first mala.
I yearn for patience, not compassion, because I see impatience as my worst trait.
Yes, I still work on anger and compassion and wisdom and and and…
But as an elder I need fire to warm me, and the red beads do that.
They are a pleasure to touch, and the turtle is about patience, and my love for our earth and its living things, of which I am terribly concerned.
It would be sad for the human race to be wiped out.
It would be a travesty for us to take sea creatures and winged creatures
and woolly warm blooded creatures and desert creatures
and tree creatures and all manner of living beings out too.
My new mala and prayers will be for human beings to come to their senses….
And then there is my favorite movie, with Sarandon at her best:
Bull Durham “I gave Jesus a chance…”
All these images are sketched in the Bright Ideas journal with Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black ink,
White Uniball Signo pen, Fat white Pitt pen, and colored pencils.
©D. Katie Powell.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Middle of the night drawing of the Oregon Zoo train. Dan now you are forever linked to trains, along with my girlfriend who I used to ride trains with, and a crazy boyfriend who once picked me up on a train in front of my brother (which takes heuvos, doncha’ think?)
It is also a chance for me to thank Dan and a few others (Tracey, Jilanne, Susan,
Cathy, Northern Liz, Sammy), who have brought joy into my life by introducing
me to other great blogging friends. This from the kid who would not write the
Russian girl my Aunt Elsa May Smith said would be a great pen-pal…
A gratitude post…. Middle of the night!
Pentalic Aqua Journal, Platinum Carbon pen, Lamy Al-Star,
De Atramentis Document black ink, and Sennelier and Daniel Smith watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
My sketch, above of the unpainted and beautiful doors in the Doe Library.
The Doe Library in Berkeley still has
the solid redwood doors, covered in
thick hides with brass details.
We were hired to assess the doors,
and explain to them how to properly conserve and restore them to their
original beauty. The details of the
doors are interesting and beautiful,
each bit designed thoughtfully in a time when pride in design mattered in
all aspects of the built environment.
In half the Library the doors were repainted a dull, lifeless brown or
recovered in a poorly chosen leather. They are not my favorite doors.
The doors in one part of the library have not been repainted,
and they are beautiful as they are, rotting, layers, deeply rust colored.
I took hundreds of detailed images.
Not my usual posts, not as much painting,
but then I am playing in the group Thursday Doors, led by Norm 2.0, with others, here!
Pentalic Field Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil,
Platinum Preppie Pen, Noodler’s ink,
and Holbein, QoR and Daniel Smith watercolors.
©D. Katie Powell.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
Part two of the response to a friend’s request to post for National Train Day!
Part one here!
(Go visit him here if you love trains and that will lead you to others who are posting,
and the logo also was stolen from him….)
Note that I am having problems with the paper in my new
Fabriano Watercolor sketchbook and discuss it at the end of the post…
Oh, and both my Hero and Platinum (shocking, so reliable) pens gave me grief!
Finishing up my sketches from over a week ago, this is a thumbnail (you can see
below the size on the full page) of the view as you drive into the entrance.
The building is beautiful from all sides — this is the “backside” in some ways,
looking more industrial and shuttered as opposed to the entrance and the train side.
Still, the attention to the details create an elegance even to the working sides.
Sketched on site, blue skies added but trouble with sketchbook evident.
Watercolor added in studio.
Around the corner near the tracks is another structure, possibly offices or maintenance — has the round shape of the main building. I will have to sketch it too sometime, and the view from the bridge (below) looking down onto the station and the tracks.
So much to sketch!
Guy Clark died this week; here is his sad train song appropriate for the day!
A couple of notes about the Fabriano Watercolor Journal embedded below. I usually use a Moleskin, but wanted to try the Fabriano. This one did not perform well, pilling and lifting paper when just a soft watercolor brush was used in ways that I often use a brush to move skies around or blend a mistake. I am in touch with them and they are responding.
UPDATE: They were distressed and are sending me replacements.
I will write about what is sent…
Fabriano Watercolor Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil;
Platinum Carbon pen, Hero Pen, DeAtramentis Document Brown ink;
and Daniel Smith, Sennelier, and Holbein watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
A tough week; on top of our Kamala being sick, the astrological forces
(Mars retrograde or whatever is going on) have conspired to make some of the
people in my life complete arseholes. Fortunately, none are very close to me.
On the other hand, the nastiness came
out of the blue, when I had little sleep (Kamala), and was in a place that usually offered happiness, which means I was undefended. In response to my offering to
do a good deed — to send an art friend a small and inexpensive object which she
could not get in her country — I did
something inadvertently that made
her mad. She would not accept my
apology, offered even though it was just a misunderstanding. Art folks are usually helpful and sweet — I’ve had them do the same for me — yet I walked away from the experience wondering why I would ever ever want to do a nice anything for anyone again. This was the place I was in when I walked into my acupuncturist’s office.
The back story on my acupuncturists is that he once caught me drawing
in his waiting room; he wanted to look. He told me he wanted to take art lessons
as a child but they could not afford it. I made him a sketching kit for Christmas:
travel watercolors, a waterbrush, a fountain pen (+ cartridges), and a small sketchbook. He was delighted! However, no sketches have been shared to date.
I gently bother him about it about once every couple months.
“Have you sketched?” I ask. “No. I need to practice outside the book.”
“No, that is what the book is for — it is not so precious.”
I gave him a book that talked about no judgement
and told him doing it even 15 minutes a day, pen to paper, would change his life.
But today he came into show me his sketchbook! I was on my back with needles
in my hand, stomach (it took him months to get me to do that), knees and feet. It filled
my heart to bursting to see his joy and willingness to share. Mitchell always tells me, “You never know what’s around the corner.”
Then he also gave me a lovely gift, an empty dragon tea tin which I will use, and I told him I can use more! Friends of mine will be gifted with the beautiful tins, and so, the circle came round to opening my heart back to giving.
All these images are sketched in the Bright Ideas journal with Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black ink,
White Uniball Signo pen, Fat white Pitt pen, and colored pencils.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
It’s been a tough week.
Our little girl got sick, and while we now know it is from her new condition and the meds for hypothyroidism, it was a hard week, staying up all night with her, worried, et all.
I practice gratitude — looking for it, contemplating the things I am grateful for —
and this week has had many hits as well as Helpful People.
(The latter need to be read as if in a Pooh Book.)
When I tell people this week was my anniversary — of meeting /first date / marrying my Mitchell — they think it was about having our anniversary ruined.
Nope.
It was about sheer exhaustion, trying to go to work and worry.
They are our kids, these cats!
Pentalic Aqua Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil, Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black and Diamine Ancient Copper Ink,
and Greenleaf & Blueberry, Sennelier, Holbein, QoR and Daniel Smith watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
There is this amazing rusty metal door going into the art gallery on Raleigh.
It is a wild thing, all twisted and colorful and rough and organic.
I did my best; but gads, what a door.
It pops out of its concrete flat warehouse building and announces itself!
If I had time I’d go back and do it up close and personal…
But, this week sick cat came first before all things, and then there is that pesky work!
Check out Thursday Doors, with Norm’s amazing doors, and others, here!)
Strathmore Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil, Platinum Carbon pen,
and Greenleaf & Blueberry and Daniel Smith watercolors.
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my term
I haven’t much time this week.
These each took less than a half-hour to sketch
Moleskin 8×11 watercolor journal, Pentalic HB woodless pencil, Platinum Carbon pen
inks that behaved, Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document Black,
and Greenleaf & Blueberry, Daniel Smith , Holbein, and QoR watercolors.
I started a Facebook group page (you must join to view) to allow everyone to share their virtual sketches, and also where we will, from time to time, take virtual sketch walks together. Come join us On Facebook if you are inclined!
If you want to know more about what a virtual sketchwalk is review my first post.
There are a few more notes/pointers on our first walk through Laguna Beach, California.
I also created an accompanying Flickr group!
I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.
