Pthalo, Phthalo, Thalo and Prussian

About this painting- and all of that gorgeous green grass! I learned a lesson about how SCARY pthalo green can be to a watercolor painting. Pthalo green and pthalo or prussian blue are staining, aggressive and 'yes' scary colors! I have those on  my palette as other artists have mentioned they make great darks. However, they have ruined 2 of my paintings this week as NOTHING I did to neutralize these colors worked. Yesterday I spent an hour or so emptying/discarding all of the colors on my palette (including those obnoxious colors) and squeezing out only colors I love and find workable. Time well spent!

Of course, this is NOT the painting - but the photo. The painting will be redrawn and started again (without staining colors!). Perhaps shown in a later blog.

Is this Des Moines?

This week I spent the a couple of afternoons sketching and painting in the Pappajohn Sculpture Gardens downtown Des Moines. I gave plein air painting a good run! The sun and slight wind enjoyed blurring my eyesight and tossing my easel or watercolor board around at times. Totally worth is as I watched and listened to all sorts of people enjoying this public space. I saw everyone from new brides to people enjoying a lunch hour, to kids tossing footballs. Was this Des Moines?!? It sure was! I am thankful for the donation and tax dollars that went into finding/procuring and saving this beautiful area.