Laurelines

News from the traveling artist!

Hi everyone,

Leaving for northern Italy soon and, except for my hideous head cold, I'm in pretty good shape! Thought you might like to see my art gear selected for this trip. The *palette is considerably warmer and more diverse than the ones I took to Iceland and Norway in the winter! Note the gorgeous sketchbook pictured, covered in burnt sienna and gold and umber paper. That is a handmade journal given to me by my dear friend Cathy Johnson. I have had it for a while and have been waiting for just the right time to break it open. I think a trip to the Veneto qualifies as just the right time, don't  you?  I won't fill it all this trip, so I guess I'll just have to plan another Italian trip next year. Too bad ;D.

I'm taking two sets of colored markers/pens, something I've never done before. I want to have access to color without having to depend solely on watercolor washes for it. (There is often not enough time to paint on site when I'm traveling with others and I'm impatient, anyway.) I've got chisel tip Prismacolor markers, chosen because you can get such varying line weights with them, and colored Sakura brush pens, too. I have a cartridge pen filled with Noodler's Lexington Grey ink and my trusty Pentel Pocket brush pen. I have two nero Cretacolor oil pencils and one in sanguine. Also, a Stillman&Birn landscape Alpha sketchbook and portable watercolor brushes, etc.

*Here are my (completely quirky and not very rational) palette colors: Daniel Smith transparent Pyrrol orange, DS quin rose, DS graphite gray, DS new gamboge, DS transparent yellow oxide, DS quin gold, Holbein ochre, DS terre verte, DS ultra turquoise, DS manganese blue, DS cobalt blue, Winsor Newton cobalt turquoise light, DS lunar blue. I don't need all those yellows, but Wendy Shortland, an artist friend now traveling through Italy, suggested I bring the yellow oxide. It's different enough from my the Quin Gold and the ochre, so I added it. The palette weighs about as much as two feathers, so it's okay to have so much.

So, the Italy trip is to come. Here's an interview I did last week, based on some previous trips,  for a fabulous new website called Wander Arti that combines two of my greatest loves: art and travel. The questions about travel and about artistic style are interesting, so have a look. And leave a comment, if you like. I'm sure Lizzie Davey, the site's founder, would love to have your feedback.

 

See you soon, on the other side of the ocean!

 

April, behind the scenes

Except there's no SCENE yet... everything is in transitional or embryonic phase. It's like the new moon around here... you can't see it yet, but it's there.

Under these conditions, a couple of peeks at my journal can provide evidence of continued life on my planet.

I'm still having lots of fun with the Koh-i-noor magical pencils. I've expanded my holdings to include all of the colorways the Magic Pencils come in, as well as the entire range of their triangular Tri-tone pencils, shipped all the way from Poland! (Gulp, why did I not notice the shipping charges when I ordered them!! Do NOT try this at home. Still, in a couple of years, I'm *sure* I'll forget the pain.)

 

Getting into the swing of things for my fall show on a floral/plant/garden theme, I'm pulling out all my supplies and trying everything to see what feels right. The Koh-i-noor Tri-tone pencils worked pretty well on an acrylic-painted journal page!

I added some acrylic splashes to the drawing,too.

And finally, another pencil piece... a quick sketch of our dear friend Neil, made with a Koh-i-noor Progresso pencil (and maybe a white conté pencil, too... can't remember what I used) on toned paper.

 I'm leaving for Italy two weeks from today, on a several days' birthday trip for my wonderful husband, to stay with dear friends in the Veneto. More about that very soon. But before then, will be working, working, working in the studio to get things accomplished for my show! Wish me luck, if you please!