Winning holidays.

Watercolour Pencil Tutorial

Reg and I are sharing moments, reminiscing, tonight. 
From the romantic escape for two, close to home, see those photos above to first class airfares to the nearest Australian state or roughing it in a swag on the ground to far away places.
Some of the best family holidays were Inexpensive, camping trips on the River Murray and we also took our children on luxury international tours.
 
We have been to Theme Parks on the  Gold Coast, Australia, doing the tourist thing, to quiet wilderness experiences like some we have just experienced here in Karijini National Park, Pilbara, Western Australia.
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We talked about, some of the beautiful sights in the United States, including spectacular Yosemite. New Zealand, Nauru and Yasawa Islands. These are just a few of the holidays Reg, and I have enjoyed.

Some of these trips I won.  
I received an email from eBay telling me I had won a $1,000. travel accommodation voucher and I was about to delete it as SPAM  when I decided to go to eBay and look on the announcements page and there sure enough it said, Kathy Shell, is the winner of the watif.com,  $1,000. travel accommodation voucher.

Using that winning voucher, Reg and I initially booked in for a luxury 5-star mid week accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula, at ‘Arthurs Superb Views Luxury Retreat,' see photos above. Though in our 60’s, and normally into bush walking when on tour, Reg and I put up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign, enjoyed house service meals, and in-house movies and lazed in the spa bath or stayed in bed for three days and totally enjoyed to the fullest, our luxurious mid week break, not all that far from our own home.   

We were able to purchase our accommodation at a discount price, so the $1,000. went a long way and our eldest daughter, used the remainder of the voucher to book an apartment on the Gold Coast, for a family holiday. She purchased a family, three-year pass to Dream World and the family have been having holidays there every year and getting maximum benefit for their three-year family pass.

I have been relatively lucky when it comes to winning travel prizes, both the cost of the travel and the luxury accommodation. I have enjoyed first-class return air flights to Tasmania, won at a family golfing picnic day and earned as a sales bonus, an all-inclusive, luxury family tour of Fiji plus spending money.  That stirred up a taste for traveling abroad, and while this blog is primarily about our gray nomad years of traveling around Australia, Reg and I have enjoyed numerous holidays overseas.

One of our daughters, son in law and two grandchildren have the full set up of a caravan and land cruiser, and they head out for adventure, make your fun, road holidays and love camping close to the beach or with friends, near Lake Eildon and water skiing or going four wheel driving. 

Our other daughter and her family have become interested in scouting and bush camping holidays, and they are beginning to look at overseas holiday destinations like Reg, and I did, when our family was also young.   It’s great to see the younger generation enjoying travel.

What a difference the right frame makes. The studio assistant, Tabby Cat, Photoshopped in front of a fake brick wall.

I had always been exceedingly frugal in regards to buying things for myself, aside from art materials. While I'd had no hesitation in buying the full set of Caran D'Ache watercolour pencils, buying print gifts of my artworks was something I'd considered an off limit's luxury.  
In many ways, I'm a slow learner. It is time to break out of that depriving myself cycle and loosen the purse strings. I lovely large shopping tote, or what is sold as a Weekender Bag, from my fine art print store is hardly going to break the bank. I do need to loosen up. I will feel so good shopping with this bag over my arm instead of several plastic bags. 

Do you experience self--doubt? Are you self-critical of your artwork? Well, you may be interested to know that experience doesn't lessen this. In fact, the better you paint, the more demanding you may become.
Work to control the doubts and inner critique and learn to accept each artwork for what it is. 

When I left this painting last night, I did not like it. I felt that I'd failed to achieve what I was after. On looking at it in the morning, I realised that all it needed was a signature. It isn't like any work I have done before, because it is what it is, an original watercolour painting of my May garden flowers, completed on Mother's Day. 

Mother's Day was a special day for me and Reg. We were visited by my lovely daughter Carla and son-in-law Sean. 

Feel welcome to share your thought nohow artists can overcome these self-doubt thoughts and love their work. 

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Apricot Nectar Rose in Carat D'Ache Aquarelle Museum Pencils by Ryn Shell

In my opinion, as an experienced watercolorist, watercolour pencils won't improve a good watercolour. If you can do whatever you want to with the brush in hand, and do it with more versatility than a pencil allows, why use a watercolour pencil in a watercolour? Would watercolour improve a drawing? Probably, although it ceases being a pure drawing. Would drawing improve a skilfully executed watercolour? Not many lovers of watercolour would think so. Opaque mediums, and possibly pencils, con certainly help to fix a bad watercolour. I taught pastel painting to my watercolour students for that very reason.
I now will not use pastels, or my much-loved pastel pencils, because I don't have the industrial standard safety booth to use it in to ventilate the dust away from me and to contain it safely.

Now, when I hear of colouring pencil artists using paint thinners indoors (highly toxic—especially those odourless ones) I want to yell, "Why not use watercolour pencils for your fluid underpainting and not pollute the air your family and visitors, and you are breathing."
Those thinners are for outdoor use. I doubt many artists go outdoor to use them. Also, the thinner goes through the skin barrier and straight to your kidneys and liver via the bloodstream, doing damage as those organs try to filter it from your system, even if you avoid damaging your lungs by inhaling it.

Thinner damaged liver is why people will say of eccentric (cirrhosis of the liver induced dementia) artists, "Been on the turps." A sick liver is a long and lousy may to die. Stick to watercolour pencils rather than coloured pencils and thinners if you want to work safely with a fluid emulsified pencil. I taught health and safety in the arts, along with art tuition. I've heard of too many artists dying, slowly, in chronic ill health, due to their unsafe painting techniques.

That's why I went and added a set of Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils (I have the Albrecht Durer Aquarelle already) to be able to do fluid pencil blending where I may need it.

Enjoy your aquarelle pencils. Water is safe to use, thinners are not without industrial standard protection, something most artists take an, "The warnings in small print on that bottle don't apply to me," fool approach to. You are smart, talking water soluble pencil.

My Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle Pencils have arrived, completing my pencil studio purchases. They are a dream to work with both dry and wet. I'm testing them out on Bristol, acid free, heavy weight, two-ply vellum surface.
The other treat to arrive today are the first of my ACEO blanks. 
ACEO stands for artists' trading cards, which are always 2.5"x3.5" and perfect for miniature work. 
Tools perfect for armchair artworks, ideal for hot days, like today, spent in front of the air conditioner.
Work in progress. Apricot Nectar rose from my garden painting. Adding an aquarelle wash using a size 6 sable brush. 2.5"x3.5" ACEO using Caran d'Ache Aquarelle pencils on vellum Bristol board.