New Study

Well, I'm not doing much work this week. Between appointments for me and appointments for the kids and even an appointment for Speedy the leopard gecko . . . and cleaning the house and studio . . . well, I guess that's work in the real sense of the word, and I'm doing a lot of that, but not much of the creative sort.

However, last night while my youngest was at clogging class (another one of those little things that makes life worth living!) I did up a new study for a continuation of my "After the Storm" series:

This'll be a new large-scale work eventually. I'm working out the construction details in my head right now. As usual I'm making up several new techniques 'cause, hey, what's life without a little adventure and tears?!

I finally broke down after years of coveting them and bought a set of 24 Prismacolor artist markers.

If you've ever seen them you know why I waited so long--they are stupid expensive!! And really, how good can a marker really get?! Well, folks, assuming they last longer than the average marker, I am in love with them and am not experiencing any buyer's remorse.

The set has all my favorite lurid colors (as you can see above) and does things no other markers I've ever used can do. Lights can go on top of darks and change what's going on. For example, I added a tan color over my field of grain to fill in the bits of white and darken things up a little. That it did, but it also created the "waving" effect. Which led me to several of the experimental techniques I can't wait to try.

Besides, the case is really, really cool! :-)