This was an unexpectedly good place to paint, in Rodeo. It’s unfortunate that people trash their environment, but there was just too much to trash here, so somehow, it was still beautiful! Painting in progress.
I am trying out a <oh never!> stylus with a drawing program from AutoDesk for the iPad. It’s pretty cool, the software, except I can’t find an eyedropper tool so far, which would be oh-so-handy for picking up a previous color. It makes you try harder to match colors, of course, which is probably a good thing. Steve Jobs would have hated that I’m using a stylus, but it really helps because my finger gets tired!! Maybe after a while you get stronger (finger exercises – yeah!) but for now, this is great.
It is so interesting drawing my step-mother’s pots, they each have such a strong, individual character. This one was a "pinch pot", meaning she didn’t throw it on the wheel, but just coiled or mushed some clay together, and formed it into this shape. She often carved the clay after a day or so, when it had had enough time to harden enough to hold the shape of the carving, then she painted it. You couldn’t tell what color it would be after firing, most of the paints looked grey or pink while being applied.
For the past 5 or so years, I’ve been using a small watercolor kit that fits <pretty well> in your pocket. It used to have a tiny brush that fit right inside, but that got left behind somewhere at Burning Man (oops – moop – sorry) and so now I carry a Chinese calligraphy brush with me. Not a big deal, it’s just that it doesn’t fit in the box. Anyway, I was looking at my colors, and just deleted the white (so useless), replacing it with a deep green from an old tube from 1995, then piled a bunch of turquoise in another pan – and then, wow! The colors are so intense! I’m going to have to replace most of my colors now that I know they were but pale representatives of the real thing. Here’s my sketch from the Hillside Club, where we saw Sheldon Brown (very technical, very good musicians!).
