A Winsor and Newton Series 7 paint brush came in the mail today (#4). Excitement. Alas, the brush bristles divided when I painted with it. This is the best paint brush I have ever ordered. I am going back to my old brand. Hope the company will take it back.

Started this watercolor in pencil. Filling in with watercolor paints.

I will go back in and use black ink over the pencil lines. 9 inches wide, about 7 inches tall so far.

ACEO's made yesterday.

Esther (Elaine) Nelson Rodgers

 Fried Grits

I tell my husband I will not throw away the grits that are not eaten. My grandmother (photo above, born around 1898) would take the leftover grits and fry them later in the day to go with another meal. Crispy on the outside ...mushy on the inside, I'm sure it was tasty. Wouldn't you think they would have to be in their congealed state and not stirred up? Oh, and fry it in butter. Sprinkle bacon bits on top.

Yes, I too eat leftover grits. If you add enough stuff to them they get better and better. I always add onion powder and garlic powder now days. Trying not to add salt, so I add bacon bits instead, like that doesn't add any salt to it.

ACEO

I turned my 4 by 6 painting into 2 ACEOs

ACEOs are fun size little artworks (2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches) that people collect from different artist. Sometimes they are framed in groupings, collected like baseball cards or they can be used in scrapbooking projects. I have used many small art pieces in scrapbook pages. It adds a touch of color and interest.

On ebay there are all kinds of ACEOs. If you look for a little while you can see some fantastic artists selling their miniature paintings, maybe just to get their work out into the world, and they are originals, or at least some are. And some look just like large paintings, but are miniature. I saw one artist who recreates famous paintings, they sell for quite a bit, but are amazing. And they are tiny, tiny, tiny. Imagine a wallet size photo, about that size. I better not look at them too much or I will bid on some of them - I may already have, oops.

My cards on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251083456308?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 

Art and Life or 

The Puppy Project

My art projects end up all over the house. One box, prepared for painting (gesso, sand, gesso, sand), was in the family room waiting to be painted. Our pup thought it looked just right for sleeping, especially since someone had thrown a blanket and a pillow into it.

I think I am finished.

Beginning of a new 4 by 6 watercolor. First drawn with pen. No pencil.
It's a good thing my son hasn't gotten around to pulling up those little trees next to the house. I was able to use one as a model. Plants sit still longer than people to model.

I wanted to show the "Opera" pink color. I think it was a secret color for a while. It will give you amazing oranges and pinks and purples. Today I am using Holbein Opera, Grumbacher Ultramarine Blue, and MaimeriBlu Green, Verde. I have not found any brand better than another. I have not tried cheaper brands (cheaper than Cotman). Except little pan sets when my boys were kids and those were actually fun and made fine pictures.  Although if you stick with one brand for a while you will not buy colors that are almost the same in another brand. You buy the better brands for lightfastness, intensity of color, and quality pigments.

I did buy a little Winsor Cotman set of pan watercolors to have when I travel. They are fun.

If you are worried about what is best to do you can always just buy Winsor & Newton Artist watercolors. They have a fine paint and a good assortment of colors or should I say colours. There are many sights that will list the top watercolor brands to buy.

Most watercolor classes start you off with only 3 to 6 colors anyway, you don't have to buy very many.

Last week I found my little Lanaquarelle pad in the cabinet, lost and neglected from use. I love this hot press version for watercolor pencils because if I decide not to use water on it the pencil looks smooth and good as a drawing. Pencil drawings do not look good on other watercolor paper without washing them with water.

Orange Peel

If you want your kitchen to smell tasty and delightful, boil orange peels. Boil them with water 3 times and pour off the water after it cools off. Then the 4th time only add sugar. Slowly cook that until it look clearish and you will have candied orange peel. Cut it up, roll it in sugar. People really love this treat.

Makes your kitchen smell good all day and you get candy at the end.
Nancy

Scanners

My mom bought an Epson scanner so I could scan in the family photos. I researched and found that the one with digital ice was best for photos and slides. I ordered the V500 Photo about a year ago. Not all scanners can scan slides. This one does a great job with slides. You can even see images on slides that you thought were black or almost black.  So I am the first person to see these pictures, basically. I uploaded them to flicker.com for family to see.

I also use it for scanning in artwork, then I can tryout different colors with a drawing using Painter, that is Corel Painter. I think it is my favorite program. Or maybe Adobe illustrator is my favorite, just a favorite in a different way.

This is something I did for a screensaver in Adobe Illustrator. I learned Adobe Illustrator when it was first bought for the office I worked for by taking the instruction guide with me on vacation and reading it. When I got back to work I was able to play with it until I could work easily with it. I have a newer version now, so I am learning again.

If you want a copy of this purple owl, leave your email address in a comment and I will send the purple owl to you. Indicate if you want png or jpg.

Working on the front porch in good light. This is actually how I work. Just a handful of items, go sit in a good location, location, location, and draw. If I stay too close to the kitchen people start asking for food, and sometimes I forget to feed them when I start drawing - oops. 

I love my array of colored pencils, watercolor type. I overlap them to get interesting effects. Whether I apply water to them or not they are great to work with. I tried a number of different brands and this one (Faber-Castell) is my favorite. I bought their mega box of colors and trade out favorite colors into a smaller box that I can carry around with me.

I usually carry a box of these pencils with me to my mom's on a trip. 

Faber-Castell

http://www.fabercastell.com/art-and-graphic

I use their Pitt pens also. 

Finished last night. Watercolor on watercolor paper. Pen and ink. I remembered to sign this one.

Artwork from this week: The purple one I finished today. It reminds me of Perelandra, the world created by C. S. Lewis. If you having difficulty with visuals his book is filled with amazing imagery, vivid descriptions of all types. I think the sky was actually gold in the book but I usually add a little to what I read with my own ideas. The foreground is the warm water that the main character finds himself floating in when he first gets to Perelandra. There were high waves of the ocean and floating land masses - which were hard to latch on to.

One of my favorite books - Perelandra. Wish I could make a connection to goodreads.com. It is a great place to find books and a good way to keep up with what you have read and want to read.

That painting above is starting to look different to me. The colored area is starting to take on shapes that I didn't know were there. As watercolor dries it actually changes and developes unintended effects. Most people enjoy these little surprises, I do.

Many times I gravitate towards this smaller paper size for working with pen and ink. About 4 by 6 inches. Is it ok to write with sentence fragments in a blog? And not punctuate correctly? Don't know.   My son told me I could pay him to proof-read my blog for me....I told him I could pay him with milkshakes. He didn't proof-read anything yet.