Summertime

                       Hi there,                                  

                  My, it has been hot but, thankfully, not as hot as it is out west and other parts of the world. (Hopefully, it will cool down for everyone soon.) On the day this photo was taken, it would have been nice to jump in this fountain.

                      Hot days but recently cool nights. Some nights 13C or  55.4 F.  The cool nights must be a relief for the fire fighters. So many fires this season.  191 wild fires in Ontario alone. About 858 fires burning nation wide.

                      So sad for many communities.

                                                                         

On the home front…Unfortunately, I hurt my foot. Not sure how.  It started to swell one day and two days later boom. It was getting better, but now both feet are sore. Back to square one or two—not been out and about much. 

Waiting for an appointment with a podiatrists. There are several here, but they are all booking for the middle of August. And even though I emphatically wined that I have places to go, people to see and worlds to conquer, no earlier appointment granted.  Humbug!

So it’s RICE: rest, ice, compression and elevation. Not getting along so well with resting.

*

 

This wooden palette was a Christmas gift from my son, Jesse.  

Sometimes, it seems, I can get too precious with new items. Time to get on with it. Use it!

 

 

 

    A toothpick works to get rid of air bubbles in the paint.  Filled the palette so far with mostly Sennelier watercolour paint.  Will the paint dry without cracking?  Probably. (Gouache often cracks and sometimes crumbles when it dries. Just add more paint.)

The good thing about Sennelier paint is that the binder is honey, so even after some time the tubes are generally easy to open.

                                      9 slots left. What to add?  Decisions, decisions.     

                                   Will swatch the colours once the paint dries.

                             The brush slot holds two travel brushes.  Also, the palette does have a tripod attachment. May set it up inside for a test drive.

But do prefer a small inconspicuous setup for outside—lap or a table works well.     

                                            

 

                                                                        Iced matcha. 

                                                   Pleased to be joining T Stands for Tuesday

                                           

                                         Could add these to the palette, although so fun to mix greens even though greens, to me, are finicky to work with.  Would, however, like to try another brand of sap green.  Even with red added to tone it down it appears garish to me.  Maybe it is just a matter of getting use to it.

                                          

                                         Tip: you can use white gouache sparingly to fix watercolour mistakes.

                                          It will be opaque, but depending on where it is and how you paint, it may not be                                                                noticeable.

                              Concertina booklet that I recently made. You may remember it from my last blog post.

                               Small and handy. Makes it easy to sit on the sofa and draw with the wax pastels.

Love pine trees.

Working on the darkest value paper is different.  Although you can mix the wax pastels with water, it doesn't work on this paper.

                                     

                                     There are 11 pages in this booklet with two left to paint. 

                                              

                                 

                                                                Eye of the birch.

                                                       Painted with gouache and wax pastels on 

                                                       400 series Strathmore paper.  

The Neo colour wax pastels are fun to work with. They stay put—no smudging or dust to worry about.              Will try a larger drawing/painting at some point.

                    

The world is still Shakespeare’s oyster. But the debate runs on: is Will, really the Bard, or did the poet Emilia Bassano write the plays and sonnets?

Or were certain other men or women the writer?  Round and round we go.  We do know that Will added  1700 words to the language and that he was brilliant. Small wonder the plays and sonnets are still entertaining us today.  Apparently, “Where there’s a Will there’s a way.” 

                                                              

                                                             Love the clouds in this photo.

 Sunrise 5:27 a.m. Sunset 8:42 p.m. Later than last time.

by approx 12 minutes. (Inquiring minds.)

                                                    Be well and stay strong.

                                        Linking to Link Parties via my link party page.

                                                     Thanks to everyone for hosting.