I am so enjoying painting these tiny portraits of women artists for this year's #the100dayproject and can't believe I haven't taken part since I painted the 'Nasty Women' project. It's been especially fun to push the portraits a little to make them wonkier...and I'm loving doing this is watercolour. I'm not sure what I'll do with them once I'm done, but they fit into two mint tins. Sparrow Artspace have asked that I show them there as well, so that will be fun. I will probably adhere them to foam core to hang. At least they are easy to transport and will be great to share what an incredible variety of colour you can create by only using the three primaries (in any shade). I'm also planning an introduction to portraiture as well as travel journalling workshops while I'm there which will be fun.

I've really been enjoying working en plein air using the direct watercolour method as it means I only need paper, watercolour palette & water brush. There is nothing more limited with regards to art supplies than that...and to think it only happened because I forgot my pencil a couple of years ago. I've had to practive and re-purpose a lot of paper while I tried and tried again. I needed to find that sweet spot between the type of paper I like to use, the colours and brand of watercolours I prefer, and figuring out how to use a water-filled brush. All of the years that I've practiced thinning acrylics to apply in a watercolour-like manner have certainly helped but the paper is definitely a different substrate...not in a bad way at all. Since I began doing this I have been reminded of Canadian artists Toni Onley (British Columbia) and Dorothy Knowles (Saskatchewan) who both practiced this method of painting in their own way. It's been interesting to figure out mine, too, as I love the look and feel of that abstracted landscape. I also love bleeds and blooms and patterns so it's been interesting to see how I can make this work for me. I have started using the images I painted outdoors as reference when painting in my studio so that I can take an image and manipulate colours and shapes and effects in new ways. I feel like I'm finally finding my voice in this medium, too, and though it has taken awhile, I'm really, really happy with the process and the results.