Happy Friday, my friends. We’ve made it through the week. Yay. I believe we’ve seen the last of the Great Snail Explosion of 2022. I took several more snails out of the Apothecarium before dinnertime yesterday.
Current tally:
- 14 baby snails moved outside
- 2 adults moved outside
- 2 AWOL baby snails lost in the bedroom
At one point, I was shocked to find what I thought was another baby snail in a different jar. Fortunately, it was a baby isopod stuck in a drop of condensation on the glass. Unfortunately, at about 40x magnification, they are all sorts of horrific. I don’t have any pictures of it today.
You’re welcome.
The day looks pretty sunny so far. Yesterday was sunny as well, but the wind has been just too much. I definitely can’t paint out there. I was able to manage a half hour or so of spin time out there. If there’s not much more than a breeze, I’m ok out there. Anything more than a breeze and will start to affect the poi, especially the sock poi at low speed. Unfortunately, the wind picked up while I was out there and I was forced to cut things short.
Since I was stuck indoors all afternoon, I sketched a bit. I’m adjusting to the fact that there is prep involved with watercolors. If I paint in other art forms, there’s never any prep, or bare minimum. When I was involved in the custom My Little Pony scene, I did very few “full body as a paint canvas” pieces. Much of the designs I painted on ponies were small. I had a much more “art piece” style rather than traditional MLP style, and preferred sculpted details over painted. In the past, when I put art on paper, whatever medium I put on the paper is what I’m working with and that’s it. Whether I used pastels or a simple no. 2 pencil, that’s how I worked.
One sheet, one medium.
However, with the watercolors, there’s more prep involved. I’m enjoying the line and wash style that I’ve been experimenting with. They look great, but they are work. I start with a basic pencil sketch: nothing fancy, but somewhat more than a rough sketch. Then, I ink over the pencil sketch with a fine tip pen. This is where I really need to force myself to step away from the paper at the right point. I can be overzealous with the ink, almost as though I forget most of what I want to focus on is the paint.
Forty years of a “one sheet, one medium” mindset does that to a girl. After the sketch, the paint. Wash, more wash, then details. Maybe more wash and details. Stop sooner rather than later. Sign it, and don’t touch it.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll make it outside to paint today. We still have far too much wind for that sort of thing. Depending on the condensation situation, I might try to look through the microscope at the terrariums, maybe find that isopod. I’ll probably prep some sketches. The wind has to stop at some point. When that happens, I’ll be ready.
