Broken Tree
5" x 8"
Blick Artists' Watercolor
Moleskine watercolor journal
From my own photo taken on the same lookout point as Barbara's Lookout.

I just got my Blick watercolors yesterday along with the free Lama Li journal -- which rocks, the rough paper has a weird texture and I finally know what to do with rough paper thanks to Bob Davies. The watercolors are wonderful. Don't let the price fool you, these really are artist grade and fantastic, at student grade prices. So anyone taking up watercolor, I'd say, go to Blick and don't bother with the student watercolors at all. These are great for beginners and experienced artists both.

I also finally bought an Incredible Nib and now I'm kicking myself for not getting it back in 2004 when I first considered it. The white signature on the corner of this painting is not Titanium White, it's masking fluid applied with the pointed cone end of my new Incredible Nib. It's a weird thing, unlike anything else, not like a Colour Shaper at all. More fibrous like the innards of a felt tip or marker, but sturdier and dry until you dip it. You can paint with these too, though I am thinking of getting a second one and keeping the painting one separate from the masking one so that color never gets in the masked areas.

You can also wet it and use it to draw fine lines and then lift them by blotting, creating lighter delicate details in dark areas on watercolor paintings. They don't recommend using it for anything but watermedia so it may break down with oil based or turpentine mediums -- but even just with acrylics and watercolors it's great.

I also charted my new colors and my Sakura Koi watercolors today in my watercolor journal too, which means I have now used up 10 pages out of the 72 in the Moleskine. I love the way the book has so many pages! Some of the other watercolor journals only have a dozen. The Lama Li one has fifty though so that'll last a while.

I cut out everything that I didn't need or want in 1990. I don't buy clothes unless they're so worn out they need to be replaced since I know what I like. We got rid of cable TV six months after I moved in with Kitten because no one was watching it. For years, Kitten and I have lived efficiently -- the usual answer to not enough money has been "do something to get in some more money" instead of "cut things we want and need."

It's ironic but I have more spending money now on a fixed income than I did when I was working. That's what cutting out all the waste got me, though I do miss having a vehicle.