Breaking the ice
Posted: January 28, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized 16 CommentsI know that my travel palette is well used (translation: a bit of a mess) but today I couldn’t figure out why it was so dirty until I realized that what I had mistaken for dirt was actually ice crystals forming on the enamel mixing surface. This has happened once before on a really cold day, and as I did last time, I had to take my half-finished sketch home to the warmth of my indoor studio and complete it there. My car studio was well heated but on some really cold days there is just no amount of preheating that will allow me to sketch outdoors.
Shari, your daily sketches and unending dedication are a great inspiration! Stay warm. I live in the United States in Arizona where we are having a heat wave. Yesterday was 80 degrees! I look forward to your sketches everyday, your art is amazing……
Enjoy that heat Karla! Glad you are enjoying the work…
My fingers are always the first part of me to feel icy and arthritic in the cold. I don’t know how you manage to work outdoors AT ALL this time of year, creating such impressive sketches.
I never notice that my fingers are cold until I get home and realize that they are like ice blocks!
Love your winter tree sketches! By the way Nina Johansson (www.ninajohansson.se)has a new entry on her blog about using vodka with her watercolor to keep it from freezing in Sweden. Might be fun to check out!
Thanks for sharing Dory! Great idea. Now I will have to add a flask to my sketching bag!!
I can relate to your heating problems . . . I’m on my way out to sketch and I keep thinking I should wait until the sun moves farther to the west so it isn’t so hot. I literally plan my scenes around how shady the street is and how many palm trees there are. Not bragging, it really gets hot here and I actually miss the change of seasons. Au revoir professor.
Bonjour mon ami Jacques. My watercolour heart bleeds for you! I hope you find some peace in the shade of a palm. You have no idea how bad this winter is and how I long for just one day of warmth…
A friend of mine had the same problem. Solution found: instead of using pure water, do a 50/50 mix of water and vodka. It does work! And your pages won’t smell like vodka once it’s all dry!
I have had this suggestion from so many people. Vodka, gin… I don’t know what to put in my flask!
Hi,
I believe Liz Steel turned me on to your blog, and I have to say I am loving your daily sketches.
Thanks so much Tony!
Love that background… a nice graphic quality… flat but not really flat. And then the foreground is sooo white… just what I imagine the snow looks like… it must have been hard to not add more paint to the large white areas.
Thanks Ross. It really was so white that day. Fresh snow in sunlight. You can’t get brighter than that.
Use gin instead of water for the liquid in your palette as we did one late fall in Georgian bay.
On a late fall day in Georgian Bay I probably would have used gin too. Thanks for the suggestion Audrey.