Treats...

Well I made it through the weekend; all the moving and hauling. I've very nearly 'absorbed' all the stuff I'd brought home from my mother's house into my own house...or into the attic. (Thank goodness for humongous farmhouse attics)
Yesterday, as a reward to myself, I paid a visit to the local A.C. Moore with a wonderful coupon in hand and bought myself this set of Windsor & Newton coloured drawing inks. Plus a small new set of brushes (because none of my hundred or so old brushes would 'do' for these new inks) and some other fun things from the Clearance aisle.
But the inks are truly the thing...
I have a love affair with Windsor & Newton inks that goes back to my dad. The paintings I used to do--ten or so years ago--on watercolour paper were these intensely crafted pieces that layered ink on coloured pencil on ink on coloured pencil and so on...until I had gotten the intensity of colour and the depth of detail I wanted.
I want to revisit that style again and see what happens. I'd believed that I'd never paint like that again, but I've been inspired by the wonderful blog http://littleglimpses.blogspot.com/ and Mystele's journey toward a simpler, more playful way with her art.
It's funny what a struggle it can be to try to get back to the simple act of play in my art. I watch my two year old nephew draw with crayons and sidewalk chalk and his utter joy at having made a mark and his complete surety of what that mark represents (it's a car; it's a plane;it's a dinosaur) are just marvels to me. I know I still have that feeling inside me. When I see something like Robin Red or Anais 'come to life' beneath my fingers I feel it.
Monday night I went to a digital media art show at my son's high school. All the seniors were presenting their work...everything from graphic design and print ads to fully produced and scored mini-films and computer-animated movies. I was blown away. These kids are so hugely talented at 17 and their work still reflects an ability to just play. They're not afraid to try new things.
I'm barely computer able with the few things I do--like blogging--so no worries there. But I want to 'remember' what it was like to just open a bottle of new ink and play for a couple hours.

A tremendous hooray and thank you to Julie from http://therubynest.blogspot.com/. I came online today to catch up to date on blogs and such and discovered I'd been drawn a winner in her lovely giveaway. A print of Princess Fauna. I'm very excited and happy. I knew birds were 'speaking' to me this spring....