'elizabeth's younger sister' ~ watercolors in pocket moleskine w.c. book

it's like this:  when the days are sunny i wanna be out walking (or sitting) in the sun; when the days are cloudy the light isn't good for taking blog pics.   and so the days roll by...

thank you for your suggestions re: brown paper in the last post!   in case it's helpful, here they are:

1.  rolls of brown paper at home depot

2.  rolls and pads of brown paper at walmart

3.  rolls of brown paper at art stores

4.  brown paper bags

5.  bee paper company's brown bogus paper

6.  strathmore's toned tan paper

the brown bogus paper got the  most votes...

colored pencil and watercolors

the only thing i've done on brown paper since the last post!  the paper is from a mailing envelope with a beautiful orange-y cast. the way the green colored pencil on the bottom pops off the paper thrills me!

gansai tambi watercolors in homemade strathmore journal, 4" x 6"

mostly i've been messing around with my new kuretake gansai tambi watercolors.  i wasn't sure if i'd like them but the packaging was gorgeous, and the pale aqua irresistible.  this page is the first time that i used them, and i was impressed by their intensity...    if you click you can see how opaque the colors can be on the top left leaf.

the next day i painted this girl;  i used two colors of green for her hair, then went away to do something else.  when i came back and saw the way the colors had arranged themselves, the interaction between them, i was smitten.

here they are in my art room - they're huge.  i had to have the set of 36 because it's the only one with all of the iridescent colors. 

used with a lot of water they look like regular watercolors, but if you don't use much water they're opaque and glossy - like a glossy gouache.  the black and white are extremely dense.

i've loved using the iridescent colors.   if you click you can see the iridescence on the bird, etc.   in person it makes a lovely difference.

on the left side of the page i used gold over the red,

which you can see here if you click.  

here they are watered way down...  nice and transparent.

unfortunately the pictures don't capture the glossiness of the paints when they're not watered down;  the contrast between the matte of my other watercolors against the glossiness of the gansai tambi makes me smile...

these are all painted in the pocket moleskine watercolor book that i started in early september.

 i loved working in this book.

what it looks like now -  i glued one of my old paintings to the front and covered it with a couple of layers of liquitex satin varnish.

homemade book with s. & b. 'delta' paper

when i had a couple of pages left in the moleskine i read that stillman and birn is now selling the paper that they use in their books by the sheet.  what?!!   i did not hesitate...  i ordered five sheets of the 'delta' paper from ASW and made my next book with it.   it contains - almost exactly - one 22" x 30" sheet of 'delta' paper.  i could not be happier...  

homemade book with s. & b. 'delta' paper

yep, i made it in landscape format!   one day when i was painting outside i realized why landscape format is so useful - it fits in your hand when you're painting.   it took me a long time to figure this out.  ; )

another thing i've gotten since the last post is an 8 oz. container of americana's light buttermilk paint.  this is my absolute favorite paint for covering stuff up that i don't like.  masking tape + americana 'light buttermilk' = a fresh start...   there used to be a face on this page.

painted after looking at this article about maira kalman's new books.  here's another article about maira's new books.  both of these articles have pictures of maira's paintings, of course.

i am feeling the deep maira love right now.

* * *

The pieces that I chose were based on one thing only — a gasp of DELIGHT. 

Isn’t that the only way to curate a life? To live among things that make you gasp with delight? 

~ Maira Kalman,  'My Favorite Things'