vacation days 1 & 2

Saturday was our first day of vacation, but we couldn't check into our rental house until late in the day.  I'm an early riser and had packed, gotten a haircut, and read all the blogs I follow before 10AM.  What to do with the next six hours?  Clean the studio, and then make a big new mess!  I hadn't painted big in months, so I had a wonderful time working fearlessly on my big watercolor pad.  Totally forgot to take pictures.  Didn't even think of making an index card while all that paint was flowing.  Instead I periodically posted ridiculous status updates on Facebook and then it was finally time to leave.

Hours later, kids in bed, wine consumed, ready for sleep - realize I didn't make an index card.  I thought about bagging it since I made four yesterday, but now I'm almost superstitious about making one every day.  Instead of making art, I decided to just recreate the day's facebook updates with my glaze pens.  (pardon the lousy image quality - no scanner and poor light in the house)

 

I could't fit all my goals on one card so I made two cards.  This was the point in the day when I was getting particularly giddy with the "hurry up and wait" aspect of getting ready to leave and my status updates reflected it. 

 

Today is day two of vacation - it's been cloudy with intermittent rain.  Twice we've dodged the raindrops and walked to our rocky little beach at the end of the lane.  Here's the card I made after our morning excursion - neocolor background and actual beach rocks:

 

I've had this tin of neocolors forever.  I bought them when I was a toddler teacher because I read somewhere they made good face paints.  Must have used them around Halloween.  They still bear the price tag from the University of Washington book store, and I moved away from Seattle in 1998 so I know they are at least 13 years old. I've recently started using them in my art, but I've never fully explored what they can do.  I spent some time messing around with them today, coloring on index cards and then painting over them with water.  (LOVE that Niji waterbrush!)

This was so much fun and I can't wait to keep playing with them.  I like how portable they are, now relatively non-messy they are, and how they still work like paint when wet.  Why did it take me so long to experiment?  Nothing like restrictions to force you in new directions.  Tomorrow I think I will cut up some of these experiments and layer them into a collage.  Stay tuned!