Monday's Painting Day

Monday I went to paint Plein Air with friend, Karen Lee.

We met at her home for a morning repast of fresh melon from the farmers market, homemade cottage cheese, honey that her husband gets from his bees, and wonderful tea. After which  we went out to the court yard where she lives and I chose this scene to paint. But I didn't use regular paints.

I used my set of Tom Bow Brushes that look like marking pens with one end  fine tipped and the other pointed and thick almost like a brush but not a brush. Continuing something learned Sunday in the art class I took from Terry Banderas. Only this time I used two shades of brown and orange and green; after wards going over it with a water filled paint brush to bleed the color across the page. I followed up with brown and black ink pen for more detail.

I am still struggling to learn how to make water look like water. There was a slight breeze that made the water look like beads and sending it in criss-cross directions down and off the fountain.

These are the Tom Bows. I got the set at Michael's and the black one in Davis at the

art supply store. They had tons of colors there too.

After painting (we were there from 9 a.m. till 12:30!) I ran some errands and then came home. I am reading this book:

It's by the same guy who wrote "The Wire" a TV series that was excellently acted about the same Corner and drug life in Baltimore. The book is non-fiction. It's hard to say I am enjoying it as it's a desperate life; but interesting to learn about.