m. p i l g r i m (art)

 I joined a local group of plein air painters who goes to various locations around Albuquerque this past week.   It gave me a chance to test out my LEDER EASEL .  I bought this on Etsy, and it works pretty well, but you can save the maker the fees and buy it off his website .   Here's my set up at "Tres Pistoles" trailhead, or as the locals call it, "Three Gun".  This is the scene I chose.  I love the path, I love paths and roads. I love the shadows. I love the Sandias in the background.   I set up my board, pre-toned with transparent red oxide, and blocked in the scene.  For the sky, I chose magnesium blue. It wasn't a good choice. It's too transparent on top of that red oxide.   After roughing it in, I took is back to my home to work on it. Here's the end of the first day. Eventually, I felt like it was too "cool", including the sky, and decided I wanted to warm it up. I also felt it lacked some vibrancy, so I used some ...

 I like the silicoil brush-cleaning jars.  I do.  However, I'm not over the moon about them. They are not always leak-proof. When I travel, even if it's by car, I need more reassurance than that. The design is somewhat in efficient in that I can't remove the coil. I'm not 100% convince that the metal coil helps get the paint out from between the bristles as well as, say, a screen might. And then last week, when I was making cold brew coffee with my favorite setup I got to thinking about what a great brush washer that would make, if only it wasn't a quart large.  The screen would allow me to scrub the brush bristles gently.  Also, I like to dip my palette scraper in there from time to time and there's no room to do that with the silicoil jar. I was also thinking about all the canning jars I have.  I even have silicone lids for a number of them.  So, I purchased a very small cold-brew maker, one that fits into a pint or quart jar.  I also purchased...