Lost in the water temple

I can see myself struggling with the (cellulose) paper here - I wish it weren't the case that expensive materials make such a difference with watercolor!

First take on those aspens in Utah, September. More accurate but less technically effective than the second take. It was overcast and low-contrast both times that I painted.

Jan. 2024, Breakheart Reservation. A lot of things I would have done differently in this one, but also some successful little thoughts.

2024, quickie of the winter walk to the playground.

Thank you to the just-turning aspens. I wonder what they look like now.

Becca O'Mara from Tana French's mystery novel The Secret Place. Shout-out to A. for plunging me into a devastating obsession with the Dublin Murder Squad series (luscious Irish psychodramas with lashings of Gothic and folk horror), and shout-out to Tana French for her service in representation of flat-chested maladaptive-daydreaming teen witches...

Some scruffy invented landscapes

Toxic faun and other noodles

Hi, thank you so much! I’m currently hooked on the Handbook Journal Co. watercolor journals, which come in a bunch of different sizes. They’re not 100% cotton, so you can’t layer watercolor on them infinitely, but they hold up well, and I generally like how the binding, paper texture, etc. feel.

My second time painting this photo (from a 2011 walk) of this tree. It took some digging, but the first painting (in the line-up of 3 paintings) was from back in August 2014, almost 10 years ago. It's always weird to look back at old art and think, this is simultaneously better than I expected, and about as bad as I expected.

Busy painting week/end. Love my brushes, love my set-up, love feeling and seeing the benefits of regular practice, but... there's still so much to leeeearn!

Process video of the little dark woodland here!

Oh my goodness, haha. This is actually my first ask, so... the opposite of spam! THANK YOU, I find Oy in general to be such a ladjfklajdflkjadlkfa. I really struggled to translate my mental image of his face and body language, so I'm glad he pushed your "Oy" buttons.

Tiny painting process video here, with warm thanks to @simply-sithel for the (underutilized, but I'm trying to make friends with it) phone mount.

Keeping up with it for half a week so far has also been a telling readout of my energy levels, when I pull myself together in the evening and talk myself into painting. Who knew... commuting was exhausting ... ... ? Thank goodness for working from home.

Process sketches here!

[final art here]