Travel Blog

Another indoor day today. Not that I don't get outside. I did go for a walk, but when I got home I had to hang my raingear, shoes and hat near the fireplace - after they'd done their dripping in the laundry room. Thanks to my Beloved for having a beautiful fire going.

Then I tried a sketch from a photo I had taken at Scandrett Park. We've been there a few times, but it's so exposed that if there's any wind at all, it's next to impossible to work en plein air. Not only do I have to worry about triggering a migraine (bane of my existence), but I don't know how many times I've had the watercolour paper flip over or even blow away entirely. (Remembrances of standing out in a field in Metchosin, holding the canvas on the easel with one hand as I painted with the other). Thing is, when the paper moves, it usually collides with the paintbrush, and I end up with lots of unintended marks. On the other hand, working from photos is just not the same. You can't see the subtleties of the colours. It's too static. And you aren't surrounded by the smells and sounds that somehow add so much to the piece.

All of that having been said, I have been wanting to paint the folds of the hills at Scandrett ever since I first saw them. So, here goes, in abesntia:

Scandrett Park

TODAY'S TIDBIT

It seems that table salt here comes in two sizes: large, coarse grains for salt mills, and very, very fine grains for salt shakers. I keep undersalting or oversalting. It's surprising how hard it is calculating the amount you need when the grains are not the usual size.