I rather like this time of year, when there is enough vagueness and drift to the days but there is also post and businesses are open.
I had some nice art materials for Christmas, as well as pyjamas which are always handy, as at this time of year I tend to don them as soon as I’ve finished outside duties of retrieving the guinea pigs to their indoor overnight pen, and the dog has had his last walk, so about 4pm.
New Schmincke Horadam gouache paints, new Leuchtturm sketchbook, new Blackwing pencils. I want to start this sketchbook on January 1st – wonderful that it’s a Monday! – so I’ve been tinkering in the front pages, and swatching my paints. I don’t normally try out the paints, just dive in, but the pigments and therefore behaviour do vary and I thought it would be useful to do in advance of the art projects I’m planning for the new year. I also bought some new Fabriano paper which is a little heavier than I’ve used before as the earth pigments have been really patchy and a more absorbent weight is much more forgiving.
I bought a new china palette too, and I have resolved to use up my paint each time rather than leaving it to dry. Although it rewets perfectly well, it’s never quite the same and I end up with a lot of contamination and muddiness happening so I want to be more disciplined about mixing enough paint to start with, and then using it up. It’s impossible to judge accurately (for me, anyway) so I end up with excess, so I will choose a picture to paint so that I use it up. This being the traditional week of leftovers, I thought it appropriate to try this new regime. The tree tomatoes on the blue plate above were painted using the remaining paint from the Fieldfare I did, and the boy looking in to the sun is using up the ochre and burnt umber I was swatching, and the reference photo is from the same article about Rwanda (and the country’s amazing progress with conservation and habitat regeneration) in my copy of Condé Nast Traveller which I love, and also got for Christmas.
I now need to decide on which birds I am going to paint solely for wall art, rather than illustrations. I also want to put together some more comprehensive compilations of birds in situ rather than just for identification purposes.
