Big update

Hey everyone! I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I've been pretty busy!

Wednesday was my little painting demonstration at the Painted Desert Inn. It went well, a few people stopped by to take a peak. It's really funny, everyone visitor I encountered says 3 things: "That's great! I tried painting but I'm just no good!" or "My mother took up painting later in life!" or "What medium is that?".

To those of you who might say you're no good, I would say it takes alot of practice! Watercolor didn't come to me overnight, I did a little bit when I was younger, then I took a class to understand different techniques, but it was only when I started to use everything I knew and made it my own technique that it started to work. I'm still not an expert, when I was studying Georgia O'Keefes' watercolors I thought "Ok, I get it! This will be easy", but it wasn't! And of course, the quality of materials makes all the difference. Paper, paint, brushes, it's a commitment.

For this demonstration I did an acrylic painting of petrified wood. While painting, I realized that I really need to get back into oil paints. The way it flows, the way it looks, it would look really great. The catch? I'll need to do some practice pieces first, I'm so out of practice in oil. Such is my inability to stick with one medium permanently.

Ok, picture time!

(Petroglyphs!)

Another volunteer and I went Geocaching! This is a worldwide treasure hunt of sorts, someone hides a container in a specific location. Inside is a notepad, a pencil and some trinkets. They then place the GPS coordinates online. You take the coordinates and your GPS to find where the location is. Then, you have to find the well hidden container wherever you are.

(This was under a pile of rocks, under a bigger rock!)

(You then write down your name and date in the notepad. You take a trinket, and leave one of your own inside. We took the rubber duck)

(HUGE petrified tree in Crystal Forest)

(My setup at the Painted Desert Inn. Watercolors and finished pieces to the left, in the works to the right)

I'm pretty satisfied with the finished piece actually, you can't tell from the picture but there's some icy blues and gold pigment thrown in there. I feel like Iridescence and metallic pigments could take over my paintings sometimes, so I have to be careful with them!

Anyways, I'm not sure when I'll be posting again. Tomorrow I'm going to a Christmas/Cultural parade in Winslow with some friends. There's going to be vendors and traditional dancing. By the time I get back the cafe will be closed, and I'll be packing for my early departure on Sunday :(. I'll probably post later on Sunday, since internet will be abundant once again.

Thanks for reading, talk to you guys soon!