idee fixe

(5x7)
I don't know why, I can't lay off these poinsettias! It'slike I'm painting them against my will ...

We had a big snow here starting late Friday night: it was like magic--I woke up Saturday and everything was covered in six inches of snow, a rarity here at the shore. I don't even have a snow shovel, but I do have a very nice neighbor, Jamie, who's outside shoveling my walk and driveway right now, while I sit inside and play with my paints (and bake an orange kugelhopf for Jamie).
I don't have snow boots, either, but the sun is out which means 1) beautiful shadows on the snow and 2) the snow won't last long, so I have to get out there and try to get some photos, even if it means wet feet.

Ever since Jan Hart, with whom I have taken two workshops, explained to me that instead of choosing paints by their names, I should look at the numbers on their side--e.g. PB36 = cerulean**--I have tried not to buy tubes of paint that are mixes of colors I already have and especially not to buy mixes that include white. Having said that, I just bought these three tubes from Cheap Joe's, thinking they might be useful in the Virgin Islands, two of which have white in them. This swatch really doesn't do the coastal fog justice--it's got a nice warm glow; and the mint julep does accord with my memories of shallow Caribbean waters. I'm waiting for a tube of Old Holland's "Caribbean Blue," before I finalize my travel palette.

** For more on and a better explanation of the labeling of pigments (or for anything pertaining to watercolor, for that matter!) see Handprint.