Lighten Up!

I find that over and over I try to simplify my gear and lighten my load--and since I want to be prepared for almost any sketching contingency, it's not that easy! 

Recently I've been exploring the fun little Pocket Palettes from Expeditionary Arts--and Maria Coryell-Martin keeps refining and offering new types, formats, and kits!  Check out her "toolkit" page at the link...

Here you see the original palette on the left and a newer model with a brushed steel case (I think she's offering a traditional black one now too, but I didn't see it on the page.)

I know it's silly, but I'll keep carrying the original shiny one because sometimes a girl just needs a mirror...or a signaling device...or...and the little bag it comes in protects the finish!

The very first ones had small pans, like those on the right in the filled palette, but many of us like to work with a larger brush, so Maria added the square pans.  Perfect! 

a really tiny mint tin palette

On our recent trip to Fredericksburg, I purchased a tiny mint tin because it reminded me of a friend and co-worker who portrayed Rosie the Riveter in historic presentations. Teresa's aunt had actually been a riveter during World War II, and much of the material was based on her memories. And now the tin has been turned into a wee paint box. I tested my color choices on this page.

A silicon mini ice cube tray from Amazon was cut up to fit the tin with 9 spaces for tube paint to be squeezed into. While I was at it, I cut another to fit the Texas mint tin I purchased when we were planning to move to Texas. Formerly it held 6 half-pans of paint; now it can hold 12 colors plus a bit of a natural sponge.

The bare minimum of tools to take along with me . . . one of these tiny tins, a fountain pen, a waterbrush, and my journal.

Current Tools - and New Travel Palette

I've been using a new palette lately and now like it enough to show and tell a bit about it :)


I'm always looking for a way to make my palette lighter, smaller and more flexible plus I enjoy playing with different set-ups of colors. After my Alaska adventure my friend mentioned an interesting artist and avid outdoor sketcher - Maria Coryell-Martin whose work is entwined with Alaska. I looked through her we-site and blog and really liked her palette shown on one of the photos and thought that I should write and ask a few question.


A few days later I realized that it would be very useful to have watercolor pans attached with magnets as I'd like to try changing colors and their position in my watercolor kit. I googled magnetic watercolor pans and... I was back at Maria's web-site!

Impatient me probably was looking at pictures, reading every other line in the best case - but now I noticed that she is selling these palettes :)

Below are some photos of my new set-up in action. In short - it's working great for me!



What I like most?
First - it's tiny! (photo above compares size of this credit card holder with my trusty Cotman Sketcher's Pocket Box.

Second - it clips very nicely to my sketchbook (this is 8.5 x 11 Alpha series Stillman&Birn - love them!). The cover of the kit and kit itself are so thin that I can close a book if I need to move or rush somewhere and have no time to pack.


Third - I can move my colors and add/exchange on the go. I like that pans are rather shallow so I can add fresh colors often.


Last but not least - pans are large enough for my flat brush to get in. I am showing flat Niji waterbrush on the photo below because many of you are familiar with it's size but I've been using my 1" with this kit happily!


And palette came with a nice little towel - which soaks up incredible amounts of water.

new year, 2 new journals (a post from my blog)

new year, two new journals, a photo by vickylw on Flickr.

My latest hand-bound journal is filled with Niddigan print paper, which works better with gouache or ink work than watercolor. The paper is very light-weight, with an interesting texture -- I'm not sure if I can paint on both sides of a sheet or not yet. I bought two full sheets, the normal amount used per sketchbook, but the paper is so much thinner than the watercolor paper I normally use I added some pages of toned Fabriano Tiziano paper.

I also started a watercolor Moleskine, bought very cheaply at Border's ending-business sale, for those times when I want to use watercolor. It fits in my purse easier. The paper makes watercolors look a bit dull, but it's just to play in.



The above is the first page of the Niddigan journal -- I always include a palette sketch on the first page of each new journal. It seems to make the journal less "new" and easier to pick up for simple sketches. This shows my updated gouache palette, with some recently purchased colors. I especially love the cool red (quinacridone rose) from M. Graham, but it seems to stay sticky instead of drying in the pan. My other color choices were largely inspired by those of Roz Stendahl -- she does amazing gouache works in her artist journals!

 Using gouache is so different from watercolor, but I am determined to learn more about using it this year. I bought two teaching DVDs from talented artist Sandy Williams. I'm looking forward to learning from Sandy . . . just as soon as I shake this horrible head cold with it's blocked ears and headaches.

UPDATE: Taking the advice of others, I went ahead and painted on the back of this page . . . works great! And watercolor seems to work fine also; the toned paper just adds an "antique" feel. Fun paper!

New Video on homemade watercolor boxes!

It took forever to upload, guess it's pretty big but here it is...spilled coffee and all!

Sheer Heaven Travel Palette - Watercolor

Back in 2004, I ran an article in the online magazine I published then, about the "perfect" travel palette, made from my signature art paper, Sheer Heaven. Sheer Heaven has unique qualities that make this idea work flawlessly, and the palette is infinitely refillable and impervious to moisture. I know there are some renditions of the idea out there these days using watercolor paper, but there is no comparison.

Cathy and several other folks have asked me recently to bring that article back around - because the idea is so useful, and ideal for journaling artists.

So, I put the whole thing on my blog, and won't take up the real estate here to repeat it. Here is the link to the full description - mixing colors and all:

http://wisdomwoman.com/whatever