Bex Hall

Bex Hall > watercolor

watercolor

I love new art supplies

Portable Painter Micro

New art supplies! The Portable Painter arrived yesterday and I haven’t traveled with it yet, but used it to create a mixing chart and I love it. It holds six half pans but will accommodate full ones. It fits in the palm of the hand but opens, slides together, and provides a water well and mixing trays.

On the Scratchmade Journal website, I downloaded a free color mixing chart template and followed along to create a palette from my six colors. She has other charts available as well. 

Portable Painter with color mixing chart

Here’s to new art supplies and newfound artists, cheers!

Practice and learn, practice some more

Practice, practice, practice!

Today’s Squareathon was a learning experience. I learned the union of cobalt and magenta form a pretty plum color. And I learned (again) how difficult it *can* be to get what I “see” onto paper. What a mess!

If at first you don’t succeed…
This isn’t what I wanted.
This isn’t what I intended…

Practice, practice, practice. Learn.

The one below still wasn’t what I “saw” in my mind, but I’ll take it.

Still not what I intended, but I’ll take it.

Squareathon, my favorite chill art challenge!

Anything goes as long as it’s in a square

Mel’s Squareathon Chill Art Challenge

This is such a fun art challenge. Mel Doty, an artist in Charleston, WV, (near my hometown!), loves to paint geometric squares and other colorful things in a square format. Once a year, she hosts Squareathon on Instagram for the art community. 

Every day for three weeks, follow along with the prompts. You can use any medium and any substrate. The only requirement is the work must be in a square format. Any size.

Squareathon Day 1
My Day 1, warm colors, painterly, rainbow, sort of…

The chill part is you make it fit in your life. If you miss a day, that’s okay. Want to start in the middle or just pick a few faves to do? That’s great, too. She’s just happy you’re taking part. Create your work in a square format and post it on Instagram with the #squareathon hashtag.

Squareathon Day 2
My Day 2, mustard yellow, polka dot, bird. No dots and I almost made Big Bird, but went with a chick instead. That’s Mia, my studio cat.

It’s September 1-21, 2021. I’m going to post here as well in small batches. If you’re on Instagram, find me @thecreativ1 and find Mel @melissadoty.art

Squareathon Day 3
My Day 3, lilac, stormy, mountains. Patience is key to drying between mountains/layers.

I’ve wanted to improve my watercolor skills, so I’m using this challenge to practice new techniques. These aren’t what I consider outstanding works of art because I’m learning. This is practice. But I’m posting, anyway.

I’m taking the chill approach. 😊 Hope you’ll join the fun.

Everything that’s right for you

will make you feel at peace

Moon dance

Brianna Wiest seems to know exactly what I’m feeling.

She writes: Everything that is meant for you will feel like a deep exhale, as though you are returning home to a place you forgot existed. We so often yearn and want for the things that help us escape who we are, but the things that are actually meant for us — the ones that arrive and stay — they make us feel a sense of steady calm. We do not need to be swept off our feet, but grounded through them. In the moment is where love really exists. In the moment is the only place we can come alive.

Everything that is truly right for you will make you feel at ease. Everything that is truly right for you will seem so simple, so obvious, so comfortable. Everything that is truly right for you will choose you as quickly as you choose it. Everything that is truly right for you will happen serendipitously and spontaneously. It will come to you when you expect it and when you don’t, as both a surprise and a certainty. It will seem like such an obvious fact of your life and yet entirely new, all at once.

The truth is that we often come to believe that the things that are most right for us are the ones that give us the biggest emotions, and that is a mistake. The things that are truly right for us give us the deepest emotions. Love is a pervasive, steady presence, not a heart-pumping dash of lust. Destiny is a subtle coincidence, it makes you stop and say, well, isn’t it funny how that worked out.  

The truth is that what’s right for us isn’t a harsh declaration, it isn’t something we have to force or wonder about for too long. It isn’t something that leaves us looking for signs, it doesn’t require us to poll our friends to gather their opinions. It doesn’t leave us questioning, grieving, self-doubting. It doesn’t put us on hold. It doesn’t feel as though we have to grab it before it is gone, but rather, that it will always be waiting for us when we are ready.

The truth is that the things that are most right for us are also the easiest to miss, because they are often subtle at first.

Little things become big things over time, we just have to give them a chance. We just have to stay the course. We just have to realize that life will magnetize to us what is meant to be ours.

Our only job is to step out of the way.

Day 55/100 Day Project