Watercolor brushes.

Graphite, Gouache and Color Pencil on S&B Alpha Series 8" x 10"

These are the watercolor brushes I travel with for long trips, yet still many others are on my desk. Synthetic hair, natural hair and blends of both are in this group. My favorite are the mops, 4, 6, 11, 12 & 13, the washes are so juicy because they hold so much paint. Then other of my favorites is a synthetic one, 5, so sturdy yet it performs like a brush with natural hair, it never stops amazing me how brush makers manage to create such good products. Then the underdog synthetic brushes 1, 7, 15 and 16. These brushes I use to pick up and mix paint from pans and sometime to paint. So resilient and reliable.  I also have but didn't include a set of three travel brushes da Vinci Maestro Kolinski 1503 which I love to use too for day trips, favorite also. I used gouache this time, just for a change, and added some details with color pencil, what a delight!

I am an art tools junkie. I'm sure I'm not alone on this one.

Value the value.

Pencil and watercolor graphite on Leuchtturm 1917 

Practicing value on sketches is a good exercise. It is easier to focus on value when there is no distractions and actually sketches are made faster. Sometimes we are so focus on choosing the right color that value is simply forgotten. I think I like this sketch much better than other sketches in color I have done. I like the white and dark areas and the different shades of grey. For this exercise I used Artgraf watercolor grahite, it gives you a great range of grades and very dark black. It doesn't make clean washes, brush strokes marks are visible, but other than than it behaves like watercolor paint. Value the value, let's not forget how important it is to make your sketch pop out of the page!

The doves and the window.

Ink and watercolor on Moleskine watercolor sketchbook 3.5" x 5.5'

From a window exactly like this, I thanked the neighbor for letting the light on up very late for I wouldn't be able to see this. I couldn't sleep, my stomach hurt all day long that day. It was just few days before our departure to return back home. The anxiety and incertitude of a problem that I couldn't solve and that it was off my hands got me into that state of mind and discomfort. That problem is solved today, but that awful night, as I wonder in the hallway of the place we stayed in, an opening in the window allowed me to spot two doves resting on the edge of the neighbors' window. I knew they were the proud parents who had two chicks last March. I, through the window of the kitchen, followed the progress of the soon to be mom. I did sneak peek countless times the patient bird warming the eggs, not for a moment she left the nest until eggs hatched, and the chicks, which eventually claimed the whole space of the nest for themselves, already grown, made mom and dad move to the edge of the window just above the nest. The refuge they found near the nest allowed them to still guard the nest, still feed the chicks, and at night, together, rest to continue to do the same the following morning. Motivated for this dedicated routine and perhaps my romantic imagination, I grabbed  a pen and my sketchbook to draw this simple view but so full of love. This scene took me out of my self awareness and miserable pain. Drawing took me just few pleasant minutes, which I hope will last longer in my memory than that ill long night.