Let It Snow!

I finished my first snow queen!

"Crystal" 8x12" acrylic watercolor (sold)
Prints
Merchandise

I like how she turned out. Watercolor is so much less forgiving than oils or acrylics, that there is a sort of low level of anxiety riding along on any piece you are working on. A couple times there, I thought I had gone right off the cliff and ruined it. I think I got it in the end though! I'm still relearning old techniques and working on sussing out new ones and adding them to my arsenal.

I had some issues with the masking fluid, which I knew I would when I realized it got gone a little wonky on me as it had been years since I had even cracked the bottle. So why did I use it? I'm a little stuck between the traditional "Never add white! White is a violation of the rules of watercolors!" and the realization that I'm not competing with anyone, so I can add any darn color I want. I can enhance with whatever suits me. I could use my earlobes to make prints if I really wanted to, and who's going to care? So, with that in mind (well, maybe not the earlobes, that would be awkward, and then I would have paint in my hair...) I did enhance with white. The masking created a bulky result. That may very well be due to the age, but perhaps the application too. I'd like to find a way to add it to my work in tiny lines (and also to remember where the heck those are when it's time to take the masking off. I keep going back and spotting another snowflake or something that I forgot to pull the masking off of.) I think I wish it came in a pen form. I don't suppose it does? I found this, so maybe that's what I'm thinking of, and I'll order it on my next round and give it a try.

I enjoyed this one so much though that when I put my order into my supplier recently, I made sure to order new watercolors and several smaller hot pressed blocks (maybe one day I'll find a way to fall in love with the texture of cold pressed, but as it stands now I want things smoooooooth!) I forgot to add the masking. Sigh.

It's nice to return to my figures too. I started out with women in my work, whether abstract or not, and it's been a while since I've seen them. I've been on a fairytale kick, and while I love it, I've been yearning to put my figures into process once again. Watercolor, being so quick, is a great way to do this while I'm still carrying out my Alice series in acrylics. It's also giving me something fun to learn. I was an oil painter, and I couldn't make anything come out right in acrylics. It took time, but I finally learned how to do that, and so this year seems to have been all about acrylic painting. I think it's possible that 2013 will be about watercolors, because I love the luminous quality using watercolor and paper can bring to skin tone. I'm still figuring it out, but I'm on to something, and I plan on chasing it!

In other news, THRICE Fiction Magazine is out with their new (free to download) issue, and two of my works are in it. If you like short fiction and fun art, give it a shot!

The forecast says snow this weekend... I'm hoping! I'll be working on my snowflake spider (as well as something involving hot chocolate - on a painting, not drinking it... well, ok maybe drinking it too) in between baking sessions and wrapping up holiday shopping! I need some positive, because this week has been hard on me. I found out one of my dogs most likely has bone cancer (we're waiting on the radiologist, but it's not really in doubt) and I'm worried he'll even make it to January, and we already lost one dog this year (Max, although he was an old fellow. Cosmo is only 7 years old!) My kids possibly have whooping cough, and my son has been told to not go to any public place until Wednesday. The rest of us are allowed to, but he isn't (he doesn't see a problem with this, as it means no school!)

I'm just in sore need of some holiday cheer!