Guess what was waiting for me when I came home from school today?

I just got home from school.  I checked the mailbox and the book I ordered on Chris Lally's recommendation had arrived!  Hooray!

I Think That's It.

I played a little more.  Here are my ducks on 9"x12" 140 lb Arches cold press.

What I've Learned on a Sunday Afternoon

It's really HARD to paint the patterns in the feathers of these ducks!  I think Jim is getting tired of hearing me whine.  Yikes!  I've set my painting aside for a bit while I check the Internet for advice.  I know I could start over, but I don't want to give up on this one yet.  I'm the queen of scrubbing out on watercolor paper, so once I figure out what to do, I'll be fine.  Now I'm sitting here like Winnie the Pooh, "Think, think, think..."  Since I have no pride, I'm posting what I've done so far:)  I like these ducks.  I think they are sweet and Jim thinks they look like us, so I'll continue working on this painting tomorrow.

Whistling Ducks

A friend asked me to paint these ducks.  I decided to do a preliminary drawing (8-1/2" x 11") in my sketchbook with my magical Faber Castell graphite aquarelle pencils.  (Thank you again for posting about them, Chris Lally.)  When I paint them, I'll darken the background more around the white parts of their heads and make my darks darker.  That's the plan.

To Stretch or Not to Stretch...

I've tried different ways of preparing my watercolor paper over the years.  I soaked it in water, stretched it on a board and stapled it.  I used brown paper tape to hold it to the board.  I've rolled up masking tape, applied it to the back of my paper and taped it to the board.  Now I'm going back to soaking, stretching and stapling.  I really think it's the best method for keeping the paper from rippling and you can paint as wet as you like.  I went out and bought my concrete mixing tub this afternoon and soaked my paper in it.  My old tub disappeared years ago.  I haven't started painting yet, but that paper is flat and tight.

We went to the art show this morning.  I really liked several of the pieces.  I love, love, love the warehouse "gallery".  It's so lively, spacious and light!  The only thing is that the street in front is under construction and all torn up.  Jim had to drive VERY slowly.  The people who work in the gallery are absolutely delightful, very enthusiastic, friendly and just plain nice!  What a great morning!  I sure hope they have more shows at this location in the future.  The current show will be there through May 14.

A Boxer Puppy

I finished this painting of a boxer puppy today.

He's on 11 x 15 140 lb Arches cold press paper.  When I first looked at him, he seemed sad, but Jim says he looks like he's ready to get into mischief.  I'm going with mischief:)

A show opened here yesterday.  We're going to check it out tomorrow.  It's called "Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada".  It has over 100 pieces by 34 Nevada artists.  It opened last year in Reno.  Now it's in a 40,000 square foot warehouse in downtown Las Vegas.  The space is said to have fantastic natural light and has been renovated to a certain extent.  Should be interesting.

Happy Friday!