 After many years of trial & error, I have finally landed on my perfect 'palette' which is, in fact, a group of palettes.
STUDIO: Beam Paints (top right): butter, poplar, salmon, beach rose, cherry magenta, dreamers' gold, fireweed, turtle belly, strawberry, lilac, ice, robin's egg, milkweed, rainforest, Salish sea, Prussian blue, Mars violet. Rosa Palette - Navy (left): cadmium lemon (Rosa), hansa yellow medium (Daniel Smith), ochre light (Rosa), golden yellow (Joan of Art)/potter's pink (Winsor Newton), quinacridone burnt orange (Daniel Smith), quinacridone rose (M.Graham), permanent rose (Joan of Art), magenta rose (Rosa), manganese blue (Winsor Newton), pthalo blue (Daniel Smith), Prussian blue (Joan of Art), sap green (Winsor Newton). Rosa Palette - Turquoise (center): Joan of Art paint - pineapple, golden, yellow ochre, pumpkin, scarlet, hot pink, rose madder, cold pink, loganberry, violet, purple, chartreuse, pine, tree frog, aqua, woad, Prussian, cerulean, indigo (W+N), burnt sienna, burnt umber. TRAVEL SKETCHING: Altoids: Daniel Smith - hansa yellow light, quinacridone rose, indanthrone blue Art Toolkit Demi (bottom right): lemon, burnt sienna, rose madder genuine, manganese blue hue, indigo, permanent sap green. I keep the mini Altoids tin out of sentimentality but I do still reach for those colours. It was the first mini travel kit that I created using a tin that my husband gifted to me but I find the Art Toolkit Demi is so much thinner and lighter to pack. My art supplies have become very minimal, as has my packing list when I travel. Everything has to be small, light and easily accessible and, as I only pack a Fjallraven backpack with my clothing so it can fit under a seat on an airplane, I can only bring a small waist pack for my wallet, ID and art supplies. This works very well as it also allows me to paint anywhere, anytime so I tend to keep it in my bag at all times these days. I also love that the Beam Paints are natural products and an Indigenous female owned company while the VivaJoan.com paints are queer female owned and both are Canadian companies (east coast and west coast). I love supporting other women, especially marginalized women.  I was gifted the Inspire Easel by KraftGeek which I received serendipitously on my birthday and, since I've been simplifying my space and supplies, this has been a real treat. It is compact but sturdy and sets up/tears down quickly and easily. It works as both a tabletop and standing easel and I love the minimal design...it will definitely be my go-to easel. I'm looking forward to brings it to my demo at Framed on Fifth on August 6, 12-3pm. KraftGeek also offered a discount code for 15% off: FUNK2025. Thanks KraftGeek!
 On the weekend, my husband took me to Banff to enjoy the mountains...my favourite thing to do. The first time I visited the Rockies, I was 4 years old and my father taught me how to use a camera. My first photo was of him standing in the snow in the summertime, something that fascinated me as I lived in northern Manitoba where our winters were cold and very snowy but the summers were extremely warm...no snow in sight. It was a special treat to enjoy a sunny day after all of the cold rain we've experienced and to see all of the wild roses in bloom.
 Last month I received a set of Derwent Graphitint which is tinted graphite. The colours are muted, which is similar to the A.Gallo set I was gifted last year. Unfortunately, the rosemay oil that was the base of the A.Gallo paints ended up exacerbating my husband's allergies so I had to pass them along to a friend once I completed the 'Ahead of Her Time' project. So, I have been interested in finding another set in those tones because I loved using them, plus, I use the Staedtler Tinted Watercolour Pencils which are also in those muted tones. They certainly compliment one another...I would have guessed that they were made by the same company though Derwent is British while Staedtler is German.
What really surprised me is the fact that they don't feel gritty either to use or on the page once they dry. Plus, the colours are quite vibrant and reactivate very quickly. I haven't done a tonne of mixing yet, but they really layer well with the watercolour pencils. Plus, they actually erase a bit, which is fun for re-adding highlights. I've been using them in my 'Women of the West' project and am excited to see how I will continue to use them moving forward.   Margaret Shelton (1915-1984)
Thirteen years ago, I read an article about a fascinating woman by the name of Margaret Shelton and couldn't believe I hadn't heard of her before. She grew up in the mid-central Alberta prairies (near Drumheller) and would ride her orange bike all the way to the Rockies to sketch and paint them along with everything else around her, both near and far, staying in her pup tent for the summer. Her work is quite stunning as she was able to capture the area with impeccable drawing skills and would then return home to create linocut and wood block prints along with larger watercolor and oil paintings. What an amazing role model to not only follow her dream as an artist, but to be so focused and driven to do what it takes to follow that dream. Even today, what she accomplished fills me with wonder and awe as I don't know that I could be so dedicated, so committed, so brave. In the summer of 2012, I headed into Calgary to visit The Collectors Gallery in Inglewood (always a pleasure) and saw my favorite pieces, a small watercolour sketch which sat beside its completed print. It was wonderful to see her bike (which she painted orange so that it wouldn't be stolen) in the exhibit along with the pochade and sketchbooks she travelled with - I wish these items would be placed in a museum for posterity. I wanted to take a ride on the bike and flip through her sketchbooks. I got to see another exhibit of her work at The Collectors Gallery recently, without her bike unfortunately, and was just as amazed as the first time.  Evanescence Gallery 2012 "Eventually I discovered for myself the utterly simple prescription for creativity;
be intensely yourself. Don't try to be outstanding; don't try to be a success; don't try to do pictures for others to look at - just please yourself." ~ Ralph Steiner  I wrote this on my blog & newsletter in 2012 & think it might be important to share again:
Awhile ago an artist was creating a video and asked a number of different women for a photo of themselves with a word or phrase that meant something to them. Her focus was empowerment and speaking of things to let go, such as fear, in order to move forward. I decided I wanted mine to be positive, a reflection of where I feel I've begun to see growth in my own life. Growing up I was painfully shy and was absolutely grateful for the group of girls that allowed me to speak and be fully myself. But otherwise, I didn't feel my contribution mattered - in fact, it felt as though as what I had to say was silly, non-consequential, almost a stain on any conversation. As an adult, with my paintings and writing being exhibited and published more frequently and also being asked to speak publicly more often, I am realizing that my voice does matter. That each one of us needs to share our 'song'. That without allowing everyone a chance for expression, we are missing a vital part of this wonderful journey in this world. Like Martha Graham once said, there is a life-force that runs through each and every one of us, and if we don't express it, the world will lose it. And what a shame that would be.  Mary Schäffer Warren (1861–1939) was an American-Canadian naturalist, illustrator, photographer, and writer. Schäffer collected botanical specimens and learned photography, collecting specimens for the University of Pennsylvania. In 1907 Alpine Flora of the Canadian Rocky Mountains was published, with text by Stewardson Brown and drawings and photographs by Schäffer. 1907 also saw Schäffer transition from using a folding camera and glass plate negatives for her work to using celluloid film. Upon completion of her botanical work, Schäffer and Adams decided that they wanted to explore further into the mountains. They convinced, a mountain guide named William "Billy" Warren and fellow guide Sidney Unwin to provide the outfit and knowledge necessary to try finding "Chaba Imne," a lake in an unexplored mountain valley that they had heard of from the Stoney First Nations people. As recorded in Mary's book, Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies, a map drawn by Samson Beaver led to the first recorded visit to Jasper's Maligne Lake in 1908, which Mary describes as “an entire string of pearls.” Throughout her travels she continued to take photographs that she would hand-colour upon her return home and use to encourage others to travel in the Canadian Rockies. Schäffer's work was in part responsible for the incorporation of Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. Had it not been for her, Maligne Lake may not have been preserved for the benefit of future generations. In 1912 Schäffer moved permanently to Banff, Alberta. In 1915 she married her longtime friend and mountain guide William "Billy" Warren, 20 years her junior. In 1909, a mountain in Yoho National Park was named Mount Schaffer in her honor. In 2003, the University of Alberta named their newest student residence Schäffer Hall as a tribute to Schäffer Warren. Janice Sanford Beck is the author of “No Ordinary Woman: The Story of Mary Schäffer Warren” (Rocky Mountain Books, 2001). Her latest works, “Life of the Trail 1” and “Life of the Trail 2”, are collaborations with Emerson Sanford that retrace the footsteps of early travelers (including David Thompson, Sir James Hector, and Mary Schäffer) in and around eastern Banff National Park and northern Yoho National Park.  As much as I love research, I am excited to get back to painting the portraits of these 'Women of the West'. It has been rather challenging finding photographs of some of the women who I have been introduced to, so I have been considering alternative ways of including them in this project. Possibly by adding their stories to 12x12 inch cradled panels instead of adding their portraits. We'll see. I have given myself lots of time. I was actually able to re-fit my watercolour palette to include all of the colours that I prefer to use when painting portraits (or even abstract landscapes or teacups for that matter). Anyway, I'm very excited to continue with this work.
 I know there will still be a few changes to this palette once I've used the paint that is currently in it, but right now this is working extremely well for the 'Women of the West' projects:
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