Watercolor

This weekend I had the chance to go out sketching and painting plein air at a local arboretum. Such fun! I’ve never really had a chance to go out making art with a friend. The closest I’ve gotten is going to life drawing sessions and seeing people who are at least acquaintances. I enjoyed it, but we didn’t get much time to discuss art because we were either being quiet enough to enjoy spotting birds as we painted, or it had gotten so hot that it was time to get inside and cool down.

Ideally we would have decamped to some place with libations, but we had stayed out in the heat too long. Both of us independently ended up taking naps that afternoon to recover. How hot was it? I let a nearly full cup of coffee in my car at about 9:30 am, and by 1:30pm, it was still just as hot. By7pm last night it was still over 110 degrees in terms of a heat index and it looks to be a brutal summer through the end of the week.

Aside from venturing out to do a little fencing, I’ll mostly be staying inside where it’s cool and thinking about watercolor. It’s still eluding me and it’s frustrating. I suspect that I’m failing to adjust my technique based on results, with the obvious sequelae. I keep thinking that maybe if I buy better paper and better watercolors and better brushes, then things will just magically get better. Ha. I know better. So maybe I’ll get out some of the less ideal materials and see if I can start figuring out what might work for me.