woo-hoo!! – ThreeSixFiveArt

Leaves and balloons… what could be simpler?? Trying out some new Schmincke colors here.

And with that… ta-daaaa! This watercolor journal is complete!! Woo-hoo!! On to the next. But first:

I’d love to hear your thoughts on fugitive* colors… (particularly Opera Pink… PR122, which came in my newest Schmincke set.) I keep pulling out any fugitive colors I have in my sets. And I’ve been really picky about choosing paints with good reputations in lightfast ratings. Lately I’ve seen artists saying they don’t worry about fugitive colors because they are only painting in journals, it wouldn’t be hanging on walls, etc. I think my work will mostly remain hidden as well… it just seems to me there are so many lightfast colors available, why should I include those known to fade in my selections? But maybe I’m worrying about nothing?

Maybe I’ll accidentally create something amazing in a journal one day and want to display it? Shouldn’t I plan for any eventuality? What are your thoughts on fugitive pigments, and how do you handle them when they come in your sets?

(*Fugitive colors= pigments known to fade over time when directly or indirectly exposed to sunlight)

I have a lot of trouble keeping my studio at all reasonable because of my personality. I’m naturally creative* (*messy: I have trouble cleaning up after myself and tend to slide stuff over and just clear a little sad spot to work), pensive** (**lazy: I tend to find better, more engaging, more soothing things to do instead of cleaning), sensitive*** (***moody: I get irritable and dejected and try to find ways to boost my spirits, besides cleaning up after myself), and an aficionado**** of all things cool, ephemeral, and affordable (****a borderline hoarder: I collect things that should be tossed into a bin, and repurpose them… will buy a bunch of the same super cheap item on sale, instead of one expensive quality piece which will last… and REALLY enjoy a good yard sale, perusing other people’s rejected items.) … the combination of which creates chaos in my environment.

So, occasionally I spend a month or so immersed in anxiety about my studio, and the knowledge that its current state needs improvement, and stress about how to tackle it, feeling childish and disorganized and ridiculous because of the mess, and finding ways to procrastinate… before I finally just take a bit of time and fix things. Yesterday was that day. I spent most of the day trying to clean up my creative space. I didn’t complete everything, but am terribly impressed with my progress.

One project I actually did earlier last week, but I love it so much, and it makes such a difference, I have to show you.

I saw this idea a while back on Oto Kano’s youtube channel. Using small black binder clips and little black pegboard hooks , both purchased in bulk on Amazon (which was so inexpensive!), I organized all of my paint tubes.

(If you don’t have a pegboard, Oto offers a different suggestion in her video. I altered it for the pegboard above a little desk in my studio) No more digging around in bins to see if I have a color! I may also add a small color swatch to the side of each clip… I haven’t decided yet if that is actually necessary. (oh, there’s that pensive* quality again!) I ordered the wrong size clips the first time around, but used them for my acrylic tubes, and reordered the smaller size.