Watercolor Dirtbag
I will also do an annual retrospective, but here’s my month of December! The month was dominated by my Advent Calendar challenge. Advent Calendar Most of the month’s paintings were done specifically to showcase one of my DIY $0 Advent Calendar “gifts”. Some days I did swatches or non-paintings, but for these I had the … Read more
This was a stressful year with lots of moves, losses, disappointments, regrets, and complications. Though I didn’t expect to, I’m glad to be ending the year in the same general geographical locale where I began it, and I’m hoping to have a simpler 2025.
Art was a lifeline for me this year, providing a calm meditative activity and a point of focus other than the stresses of life. The first thing I did when going to any new home was to set up an art area.
I got my next painting area up and running quickly after moving. I painted less than in October because I actually had things to do, like starting a new job, but I managed to still do a lot, including participating in Magrish’s annual sky challenge and rejoining Claire Giordano’s Adventure Art Academy!
I spent much of October “convalescing in the countryside,” as I jokingly called it, on an extended visit to family in rural Massachusetts. From there, I did some job interviews in the city and wound up getting a job! I still have some business to take care of back in Vancouver, but very soon I will be back in Massachusetts to stay, and for many reasons I am feeling better about that than I felt about my attempt to move. I just love this landscape and I can’t explain it.
I’ve been using my autumn palette outside and in timely paintings for about a month, and I feel I have gathered enough experience to quickly review the colors and see if my expectations matched reality. Top Tier Colors I’m using these a lot: Also Good Borderline Not used as much as I expected What am … Read more
I didn’t know it at the start of the month, but September was my last calendar month in British Columbia. I’ve been dreaming about moving back to Massachusetts due to homesickness pretty much from the moment I arrived five months ago, but recently, the feeling switched over from “I miss home, but I am determined … Read more
In August, I continued to paint a lot from Unsplash photos. I luxuriated in some summer photos, uncharacteristically painting the current season instead of the one coming up! Then, my painting buddies and I decided to redo Kolbie Blume’s 2021 #PaintingtheWilderness 10-Day Challenge, which one of the first challenges I did that I credit with teaching me a lot about watercolor when I was first getting started. I didn’t quite finish, as I had to pack up my stuff for another small (in-town) move. There’s nothing after August 18, but hopefully I can get going again in September.
Here’s the paintings!
I finally had a place to work, so I did more painting in July than June. Not everything I painted worked for me, but these eight did. I also began experimenting with acrylic gouache! Watercolor I was feeling kind of homesick for New England which made me not want to paint either New England or … Read more
After two years of 3x/weekly posts, I finally ran out of runway! I had enough posts saved up to see me through my move, but I didn’t count on my move-related exhaustion hitting me most in the month after we arrived. Not only have I not written posts this month, I also haven’t painted much. … Read more
There is a real before-and-after to this month: before I moved and after! Either way, it’s a very light month because it has been such a month of upheaval and I haven’t had my paints set out most of the time. In Massachusetts A random landscape and some birds. In BC I did only one … Read more