I decided I had better stop in to say “hi” to those who read this blog. I have probably lost most of my readers in the past few months with so few posts and no new art. I have been flaring again and unable to really do much. I do sit down and play with the watercolors and papers and my palette. I did order some new paints from Daniel Smith. I really love the paints from there. Some of my new paints are: Cobalt Teal Blue–love it!, Bronzite which is a cool bronze color. I’ve never had a metallic paint so this could be fun. I also got Quinacridone Pink. I already have Q. Rose and wanted this lighter version, very pretty and good for florals. I had to get their limited edition Opera pink. It is a fluorescent pink and I have seen other brands carry it, but this is the first time I have seen this color at Daniel Smith. I have seen it mentioned on some other watercolor blogs and also in magazines and just had to try it. I think it will make some great mixtures for oranges and violets. I haven’t tried it with my blues yet, but I did try it with Hansa yellow medium and New Gamboge and it does make a lovely orange with both of these colors. Very clear. I think it may need to be used sparingly as it is kind of fugitive from what I gather. I normally buy paints that are very light fast, but I couldn’t pass this one up. Kind of like using Alizarin Crimson. Although now that they have that in a more permanent form, I try to use that instead of the original. Not every painting is a masterpiece, but I still want them to hold up for a very long time. I did get DS’s Cobalt Violet too. I have this from another paint manufacturer and hated it, but the one from DS I love! It is very pale, but will make wonderful mixtures. The other brand would get this gross grease layer on top in the palette. I hated that. This is totally different. It just goes to show that the same colors from different paint companies can have totally different characteristics. So, if you don’t like a color from one manufacturer, you can always try it from another one. I bought a Cerulean Blue from DS and I have to say I am a bit disappointed in it. It is much darker than I thought it would be. I was really looking for that wonderful sky blue color that some Cerulean Blues are. I think that is the first one I have been disappointed with. I did get a new Primatek color from them, Amethyst Genuine. It is a fairly dark granulating violet. I have a few other Primatek colors from DS and really like them, especially Sleeping Beauty Turqouise and Amazonite. The Primatek colors are made from pigments from the earth. They are like the pigments that were used first in watercolors and other mediums. All from the earth and natural pigments. Some of them are very intense and some are very light but all of them are interesting and make wonderful mixtures. So I’ve been playing with these paints and rearranging my palette to include a few of them. I need a palette with more wells in it. I have looked at all the palettes that are out there and have debated and debated and I am thinking of getting Cheap Joe’s Piggyback palette with the extra palette. That way I can have the colors that I don’t use as often in the piggyback part and it has more wells than my current two palettes. It is a tough decision. I am starting to use bigger flat brushes, so I have looked at some with bigger wells, also. It boils down to needing more wells for my many colors. I think the wells will be large enough. I’m going to have to wait on that though as I just made a big order at Jerry’s Artarama. Chris’s daughter Kasie is now living with us and she has been wanting some art supplies. She wanted to try some water soluble oils so I ordered some of those for her and I ordered some canvasses. I have been wanting some oil pastels, so I broke down and bought two different kind. One of them is Sennelier and one I can’t remember, but I’m sure they will be harder than the Sennelier’s and will make good under-paintings. I bought two larger flat bristle brushes for watercolor washes. Oh, and I finally ordered some gesso that I have been needing for months<G>. Suffice it to say I won’t be making an art order for some time, especially since I haven’t produced anything worth showing to anyone much less putting in a gallery.

Speaking of galleries, several people have been asking when I am going to come back to the Artist’s Co-op Gallery here in Arivaca. I was a member when we lived here before, but I got too sick to stay there. I really want to be back there as I have many friends there and it’s a social thing as well as a place to hang some of my work. They have wall space, so I decided it is time to re-apply.

My health is somewhat precarious at the moment. It seems that any little stress will send me into a flare. I am eating healthier and that is a very good thing. I think it will end up helping greatly. In particular we are eating lots of fermented foods. We have a source of raw goat’s milk and we have been making kefir (I drink about a quart of this a day) and Chris has been soaking our grains in active whey and then using them in bread and also sprouting the grains as well. We now have a grain mill and have been milling the grains going into the bread. It is all sourdough from a starter that we made from the natural yeast in the air here. All of these things aid in digestion and add more nutrients to the food. We have been using spelt flour, trying to avoid wheat, so in that way we are doing much better. We are also moving to a place on the other side of town that a friend of ours owns. It is ten acres of land and there is a labyrinth on it. We will live in the motorhome there and there is also a travel trailer that will have a bedroom for Kasie and a studio for me… yay! And the best thing is that we will be caretakers of the land, so we only have to pay electric! The land has great energy and we are very happy to do this. Life is good.

Namaste,

Sara