It gives me so much joy every time I go through my travel sketchbooks and, though I used to be a reluctant traveller, I am excited to plan journeys over the next two years. I definitely want to go back to visit my daughter in England, and I'm hoping to travel somewhere for a little break with my eldest daughter and son-in-law. It always amazes me how such a limited palette can create such a variety of colour, which helps me to pack light. All I need is a mini watercolour palette (like my Altoids tin), a red pencil crayon, a red pen and a waterbrush. I don't know when or why I began using red to draw with, but I do love the warmth of it and how it often contrasts the colours of nature. Plus, when I use it to add words to my page, they tend to pop. The one thing I missed when we travelled to England in the spring was a compact book light as I didn't want to disrupt my seatmates while they were sleeping by turning on my overhead light. Besides painting, it would have been great for reading, too. :)

It always feels wonderful to complete another project...though I am still considering how that I could add the names of the women that were written on the backs of their photographs. The exhibition for these pieces isn't until August 2025 at Framed on Fifth  in Kensington (Calgary) so I do have time to think about it. This has been an absolutely stress-free, joyful project to undertake, no pressure at all as some of the projects have been (pressure I put on myself). I really need to remember this while I continue to work on Women of the West. I am extremely grateful to A.Gallo paints in Italy for providing the materials for this special project and cannot wait to see them in a lovely, historic building next summer.

"Watercolour paint, cotton paper & Tintoretto brush provided by A.Gallo in Assissi, Italy. The watercolors are crafted according to a traditional recipe of raw pigments, gum arabic, local honey and rosemary essential oil and mulled by hand on a glass slab. Honey is a humectant, added to help the paints retain water and increase their longevity, and rosemary essential oil is also added for its natural antifungal property. The recipes are formulated with the best lightfast and environmentally friendly pigments available today to match historical pigments like vermilion, carmine and verderame. All of the colors are mercury, lead, arsenic, cobalt and cadmium free."

"Photographic inspiration: Hellis & Sons were a London-based (U.K.) photographic studios founded by Robert Hellis (1835-1895) in 1870 and was the studio with the most branches in 19th century London. Hellis was also a professor of magic-seances in 1878. The name changed to Hellis & Sons in 1887 with a partnership between William Henry Hellis, William Edward Morgan & Robert William Hellis that dissolved January 1, 1928."

Even though this photograph of the 'Nasty Women' project has been featured in every issue of In Her Studio magazine since 2019, I am still thrilled every time I see it in the current edition in bookstores, grocery stories and art supply shops. That project was quite challenging as it was the first time I painted portraits of women that I know so the pressure was definitely on. My main goal was to stay loose and more illustrative in my work while still capturing the essence of the women portrayed. Plus, painting 100 portraits in 100 days was tough, but, oh so good. I still look back very fondly on this project and the exhibition opening...it was amazing to see all of those women show up. It still warms the cockles of my heart.

I know I've talked about this before, but I'm often asked for my favourite watercolours and, after using them fairly steadily for a few years, especially during my 2-month residency at the ASA Gallery, I definitely lean toward certain varieties. 

1. Daniel Smith (Altoids tin): this is my favourite set to travel with as it contains primary colours, I'm not that particular about which yellow, red and blue I use, it rewets & dries easily and, since I've used large pans, the mini Altoids tin carries a lot of colour in a very small container.
2. M.Graham (Art Toolkit Pocket Palette): I love, love, love using M.Graham but they can be a bit challenging to travel with as they have a honey base and never totally dry which means they are a bit tacky/sticky so humid climates are a challenge. In this palette I currently have primary & secondary colours (red, yellow, blue & orange, green, purple) but I sometimes switch it up to include warm & cool primaries. There's lots of mixing space on this business card sized palette which is a bonus.
3. Rosa Watercolors (largest palette): I primarily use this palette in my studio and love how easily the colours reactivate. No matter which colours I've used in this brand, they all re-wet easily and are very vibrant plus I love the full pans.
4. Beam Paints: I really love Beam gouache paints. This is a wonderful product, Canadian made (east coast) by an Indigenous woman using only fully natural/organic materials. The gouache and watercolour does require a spray of water and a little time to sit for the paint to reactive before working with them.
5. Joan of Art (center bottom): Another Canadian woman-owned business (west coast). They offer the cutest little travel tin that holds a small pencil, sharpener, erasor, brush and 3 1/2 pans of watercolour but I love so many of their colours that I created a 12-pan set for myself. If they offered full pans & re-fill tubes, I think this would be my brand of choice.

A couple of things I always have to consider are whether they are vibrant as I love colour & am impatient so I don't like to spray and wait for the paint to wet (and dry), especially on the go, and whether my husband reacts to them when they are wet (allergies).

"Photographic inspiration: Hellis & Sons were a London-based (U.K.) photographic studios founded by Robert Hellis (1835-1895) in 1870 and was the studio with the most branches in 19th century London. Hellis was also a professor of magic-seances in 1878. The name changed to Hellis & Sons in 1887 with a partnership between William Henry Hellis, William Edward Morgan & Robert William Hellis that dissolved January 1, 1928."

I've wanted to bump up the contrast on the portraits I began during my Artist Residency at the ASA Gallery this fall so I have been playing with watercolour pencil crayons...Faber-Castell is my favourite pencil crayon brand. I'll keep adding layers to her hair, face and clothing until I am pleased with the final result as I am enjoying both blending in the marks with a waterbrush but also allowing some of those drawing marks to show. After I bump up the contrast on the background with another layer of green, I'll go back to her face. Loving these explorations!

Recently, I was reading about different ways to add pattern to watercolours, something I've been extremely interested in, and found a method of using water and a rag through stencils. Since I love using stencils in my acrylic work, I thought this might be the perfect method for me, especially since I prepared my watercolours sheets with watercolour ground, making them more sturdy and less susceptible to damage with some man-handling. Now that I've created a pattern on this first layer, I want to add another, deeper colour on top, allow it to dry, and try it again. I though it might replicate the feeling of dappled sunlight streaming through a forest of poplars. Wish me luck!