EDM 157 - Towels

I love painting stripes and plaids...as long as I don't have to WEAR them. I also love woven fabric, especially homespun.

This is one of very few paintings I've done that has no ink lines. I don't know why I don't do more unlined pieces.

EDM 157 - Towels; 3x3" watercolor

The Basin and the Towel

More from the category, "Drawing in Church; Painting at Home." The sermon wasn't actually about this passage. I just wanted to draw some pottery and a towel to see if I could do it from my imagination.

Basin and Towel; Moleskine watercolor journal

EDM 156 - A Sandwich

If I were ever to open my own restaurant, it would be a vegetarian sandwich shop. All the sandwiches would be served on awesome, homemade bread. I would also serve simple homemade soups and, for dessert, I'd sell cookies, coffee cake, and lemon bars. The menu would be hand-drawn and fun. I'd serve my favorite sandwich and call it "Just-a-T. Sandwich"--a BLT minus the B and the L, with extra mayo and lots of salt. BUT, I'm not at all interested in running a restaurant. I would love to HAVE this restaurant nearby, though!

EDM 156 - A Sandwich; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 155 - Something with Steps

I grew up in a one-story house with no basement. I always thought it would be so cool to have a second floor and stairs. It was just a case of wanting what we didn't have. Well, I have stairs now! Our house has three floors and a basement. Here's how having a four-story house works: there is always a three-in-four chance that the item you need is on a floor other than the one you're standing on. The result of this phenomenon is that my house is my gym!

EDM 155 - Something with Stairs; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 154 - A Lemon

If life gives you winter, paint lemons...from memory. If I were serious about "Buy Fresh; Buy Local," I would never buy another lemon because I've never lived in citrus country. I can dream, though. Come to think of it, I would love to live in a lemon dream, with warm, sunny light driving away all memory of ever having been cold.

EDM 154 - A Lemon; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 153 - Something Wrapped in Plastic

I'm sure it was a fabulous day when chemists first discovered that they could cook up a synthetic, pliable, translucent, cheap, lightweight alternative to glass. But, as with all good things, moderation should govern us. We have been immoderate with plastic. It seems like the world will someday be wrapped in it. We were once enraptured. We're becoming en-wrapped-tured.

EDM 153 - Wrapped in Plastic; 3x3" watercolor

Hope at the Center

I've reached the center of my Moleskine art journal, and I decided to fill the spread with hope...literally.

HOPE; Moleskine watercolor jounral

Sow in Peace - Grow in Peace

I drew this in church and painted it later that day at home. Sunday is my fun day--the day I try to do some artwork just for fun.

Sow in Peace; Moleskine watercolor journal

EDM 152 - A Nut

I drew this last night while sitting at a practice where I was barely needed. Maybe I was feeling a little like a wing nut? It's hard to say. I was tired, and drawing this in a creative way kept me awake. The outline is one continuous line, starting at the lower left and ending in the "wing" of the nut.

EDM 152 - A Nut; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 151 - Free Choice

I haven't had much time to paint this week, which is why I went with something easy and fast. This is for my dad, who loves this saying. I admire my dad for being a lifelong student and lover of serious books.

EDM 151 - Free Choice; 3x3" watercolor & dip pen

EDM 150 - Candles

My son made these hand-dipped candles for me when he was on a field trip in the second grade. There is no way I'm EVER going to burn them! They are what you might call irreplaceable! Oh, and they're delightfully small, just like my son was when he made them. Fast forward to today--he's way taller than I am.

EDM 150 - Candles; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 149 - A Broom

It's hard to say if I was channeling Beatrix Potter and came up with a scene where naughty birds disobey their mother and venture too near Mr. McGregor's scary straw man, or perhaps it was Maurice Sendak and I couldn't shake the idea that there is a place where the wild (and brave) birds are. Or maybe I just indulged a longing I occasionally get to paint something too cute. Whatever it was, I'm over it now.

EDM 149 - A Broom; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 148 - Something Soothing

First on the list when soothing is required is music. It doesn't make everything all better, but it's a pretty good place to start.

Music has been very close around me my entire life, like a soft warm coat in a sometimes-harsh, often-cold world. Being able to make music has been good medicine more than once when my heart needed gentle healing.

And, one more thing: I love how music can be a bullet train ride to a precise time in my past. How does it do that?!

EDM 148 - Something Soothing; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 147 - Something Made of Wood

This is the top of a hand-carved wooden display pedestal that I have had since I was a teenager. It was a gift from a friend who traveled a lot as a young girl. I'm guessing this piece is from India. I don't know if my friend remembers where she bought it, but if she does, I'm sure there's a good story involved. She's a wonderful storyteller! I wonder if she even remembers buying it or giving it to me. We've both lived lifetimes since this piece was new.

When I posted this on Facebook, an EDM group member who lives in India confirmed that it is the kind of thing that is very common in handicraft shops in India. I love that there are handicraft traditions in regions of the world. You see something, and know, "That came from ________" (fill in the blank). Regional craft traditions are still very much alive in many places in the world, especially less industrialized countries. I've seen it in Asia, Central America, and Europe. It is harder to find in America.

I suspect that the success of cheap and reliable industrialized goods in this country has contributed to the demise of genuine regional handicrafts. So much so, that we tend to see something homemade and judge it by how manufactured it looks. We compare similar items and think they're better if they all look uniform and exact, which store-bought goods do. Machines are good at producing large quantities of identical, soul-less goods. And, why do we call them "goods"? We should call them "sames."

I would love to see a revival of regional (or common) craftsmanship--items that aren't perfect, aren't expensive, aren't fussy. They are REAL souvenirs of a place--not mass-produced in a factory somewhere else and sold as regional. It seems that this would lend to that place an ounce or two of authenticity and uniqueness. It goes beyond "quaint." It is honest production. And, it is hard to find.

EDM 147 - Something Made of Wood; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 146 - A Favorite Food

What can I say? Sometimes I just get the urge to overthink a piece. This piece's only salvation is its color palette. Have you ever noticed that you can study Tuscan colors by just looking at a pizza? My advice: stop studying and eat it before it gets cold. And, if you don't like pizza, I don't understand you, and I doubt you can be trusted! :)

EDM 146 - Favorite Food; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 145 - A Tree in Autumn

I don't spend enough time looking at or studying trees. I tend to paint what I call generic trees--a little difficult to pin down the exact kind--because I usually paint them from memory. Here's one I saw in or neighborhood on my way home from church. It's one of the most amazing shade trees I've ever seen, and right now it's brilliant yellow. Soon, all its wonderful shade will be lying on the ground.

This painting is done entirely with two paint colors. They happen to be my favorites on the palette: WN quinacridone gold and WN intense blue. They mix together to make a wonderful green. The quinacridone gold is an amazing color. It does brown, orange, gold, and bright yellow all by itself! And, the blue does all the rest.

This was a fun challenge.

EDM 145 - A Tree in Autumn; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 144 - Something Square

Said the square candy bar, "Does this chocolate make me look fat...or just chunky? Or perhaps it's the wrapper. They say foil adds 10 pounds!"

I just want to go on the record here: I did NOT actually have a Chunky bar. I have plenty of leftover Halloween candy from all the trick or treaters who did NOT come to our door. We had exactly six little children all night! I over-bought candy.

And, I also want to go on the other record: I have BEEN drawing many square things. This piece makes 144 square somethings to be exact. I think I deserve some candy....

EDM 144 - Something Square

EDM 143 - An Herb (or Four)

Okay, this is a bit of a cheap shot, as in, I didn't spend much thought on it. What can I say? I was born in the 60s and fed my ears too much S&G.

EDM 143 - An Herb (or Four); 3x3" watercolor

EDM 142 - Something Hot

I don't keep black, gray or white on my palette. On the rare occasion that I need black, I enjoy mixing my own. Everyone has their favorite recipe for black. Mine is based on the Winsor Newton colors I always have on my palette. My black comes together with intense blue, purple lake, and burnt sienna. The intense blue is extremely rich and saturated and makes my black almost completely opaque. It's like painting with thick ink, and it's kind of odd for watercolor, which is the transparent paint medium.

So, about how I got to paint with black and orange on Halloween.... Completely unplanned.

EDM 142 - Something Hot; 3x3" watercolor