I'm happy to share that I did some color mixing this morning. It’s something I’ve been talking about doing but I haven’t motivated until now. I kept it simple. I took Thalo Blue and mixed it with the reds I have: Alizarin Crimson, Qinacridone Magenta, Cadmium Red Medium, and Cadmium Red Light. Quin Mag and Alizarin Crimson made really great purples, but the Cad reds made browns. Good to know.
That’s why I wanted to do this, so that I can understand the colors and how they work together. If I’m painting a subject with a lot of yellow tones, Thalo Blue and either the Quin Mag or the Alizarin Crimson would work great. It would make it easy to mix a purple in order to tone down the yellows.
I’m inspired to go through all the paint I have, which is quite a bit, and see what mixtures I get. I also have Mars Red but it’s so old I couldn’t get it open. I might work on that tomorrow.
I am looking for inspiration with my painting. Not that I’m bored or restless, but lately I’ve been focused on all these commissions I’ve been doing that I’m looking forward to having some time to play around again. I am extremely grateful for the commissions and I would love to get more, but I also need time to play. It feels like part of the creative process I can’t do without.
Yesterday, as I was reading the biography of Emily Dickinson, I was amazed at how much I want to write letters. I can remember when I was in high school and college writing letters to friends and family. It was what we did. I miss it. Emily Dickinson’s biographer is telling so much of her story through the letters she wrote. And she exchanged letters with so many people: friends, family, acquaintances. She wrote letters to aunts and cousins and siblings. It just seems like a great way to keep in touch. Much better than emails or text messages.
For years I’ve thought about getting myself a pen pal. I like writing and I like the thought of sitting down at a small table by a window, taking out some stationary, and writing someone a letter. Emily Dickinson had a table in her bedroom where it’s believed she wrote letters and her 1770 poems. I write a lot, but most of what I write is in a notebook or on the computer and I sit on the couch. So, I probably would’t be sitting at a table in front of a window like in my fantasy, but still, It’s fun to dream.
Tomorrow I’m meeting another client for lunch. This one is a family member. I’m looking forward to it. She already has the painting but has’t paid me yet, so it will be nice to meet with a happy, satisfied client and get paid. That’s a nice perk for mid-week.
I finished a house portrait this morning. I’ll give it few days to dry before I tell the client. This client commissioned two house paintings, one of his house and one of a friend's. Hopefully I’ll deliver them by Monday. It’s been a great month. I feel so blessed to be able to paint for a living. I’m still a work in progress, my business is still a work in progress, but it’s coming along, and that feels great.