It's Getting Serious

Dick Blick and I are in a serious situationship. Dolly Parton, my attorney, prefers the box to the supplies though. 

Technically, I Get My Peaches from Kroger

But they probably come from Georgia. 

Watercolor > gouache > colored pencils. Layers folks, like an onion. 

Water, Water, Every Where

I’ve been testing out the creme de la crème of watercolor paper, Arches 100% cotton. It’s so expensive my credit card sent me an alert for a high priced item. Jk jk. But it is pretty pricey for… paper.

At first I wasn’t a fan. Give me the cheap cellulose or wood based paper. But I’ve discovered it’s meant for true watercolorists, those who saturate with water more freely. Knowing that, I like it better and we’ve developed a mutual admiration. Each supply and medium has its own personality. You just have to get to know it on its terms.

Ray made me these watercolor sketchbooks from the Arches pad so I’d feel better about using the ‘good’ stuff instead of worrying I needed to paint a masterpiece with it and not using it at all. He was excited to try book binding so it was a win-win.

Title inspo, Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 

 

More is more 🌈

Collect all the paints and pigments is my motto. Hence getting this Himi gouache set, which I definitely didn’t need but had to have so could swish little toothpicks around in the paint.

I learned that gouache is harder than acrylic or watercolor, at least for me. The gouache tulip tried to kill me. 

 

Your Move, Pizza Hut

This photo is blurry because it's from a larger image, but the real painting is perfection. 

 

UPDATE: The Pizza Hut social media gurus saw my tag of this on Instagram and sent me a code for a free large pizza. Not even a personal pan, a large. This is my path to artistic freedom... I will chain restaurant paint my way to fame. 

I've read nearly 20 books thus far in 2025, Pizza Hut, which I feel strongly is more than enough for a free personal pan pizza. Ya'll did me dirty as a kid because I'd never heard of Book It, otherwise I'd have been aglow in greasy, cheesy pizzas, so it's time you all do right by me. 

If that isn't enough — but let's be clear, it's more than enough — I also painted the iconic Pizza Hut Tiffany-style stained glass lampshade. I can see it in my mind's eye, hanging above a vinyl red booth along the windows at the Pizza Hut in Marion, Indiana, casting the red plastic drink tumblers aglow. 

I painted this as a surprise for a friend who met her husband while they both worked at Pizza Hut in college. He was her manager. Scandalous. 

If I don't hear back from you soon, I'll assume you are sending me a lifetime supply of free breadsticks. (Those breadsticks slap.)

Happy Cinco de… Seis?

I am day late on the Cinco de Mayo festivities, but I did paint this margarita late last night. She’s gone to a friend or else I’d add some more detail to the lime. She still cute tho.🍋‍🟩

 

April Showers... May Flowers

The vase is probably my favorite of the florals I painted in late winter/early spring for family and friends, but it took forever to paint. 

Blue and white pottery has been catching the eye for all of antiquity, so no wonder it resonates the most. It's probably been ingrained in me over the of course many lifetimes/through ancient DNA. 

The leaves are... not great. But I love it anyway.

Many of the postcards went to the Love For Our Elders organization, which I discovered through a work volunteer event. It's very simple... you write a handwritten note/letter to an elder who's been nominated to receive happy mail. So if I ever become a famous painter, my first paintings belong to people I found through volunteering. 

I also really love the California poppies.