SMALL THINGS

Full of resolutions and lists, I began my day testing a new ink brush. I thought I needed to put ink inside. I pulled on it to open it up so that I could fill the well. I pulled and pulled and twisted until, finally, with a jerk, the brush handle came apart and sprayed ink all over my hands and face and over the watercolor paper that had four small pencil drawings on it ready for my first attempt at painting in the new year.

My hands were spotted with black dots, so was my face. I quickly walked to the laundry room sink to scrub the ink off my hands, with little success. At least, the ink came off my face -- cold versus hot water? My hands will be stained for a few days, but what do I do with the watercolor paper that I had prepared? I decided to rinse the paper off. The black spots flowed into streaks across the paper. Maybe they would provide interesting texture. You tell me!

I like to make small paintings of small objects such as leaves and seeds.

I laid down a light wash of naples yellow and hansa yellow across the entire page, and then let it dry enough to begin the detail painting. 

What better time to paint these small objects  than in winter when the seeds have cracked open to reveal their insides, the leaves are dry and show various colors from green to brown, or are so withered that they lay like lace on the pavement -- whispers of themselves.