Where on earth did January go?  I'm taking some time to slow down a bit!  Aside from the cold I'm fighting right now it has been all good!

I took part in Leslie Satea's, 30 in 30 Painting challenge. Although due to some travel I kind of petered out a bit towards the end.  My goal was to not do 30 paintings but to paint every day on some work I need to finish. Which I was happy to say I did, and made progress on a larger painting.

One weekend was spent in Ocala where I was officially appointed Third Vice President of the Florida Watercolor Society.  Let me just say I'm beyond thrilled to be a part of this fabulous group.  I consider many FWS members as some of my dearest friends and I love the chance to spend time with them in person!  This is going to be about a six year commitment being on the board!  There will be lots to do planning each of the annual conventions from now until 2021! My task this year to to line up all of the demo artists that will be doing demonstrations and presentations at this years convention, as well as work on the social media, mainly the Face Book Page for FWS.

The following weekend I headed to Savannah to meet my fellow WAM Member Helen Beacham in person!  After meeting in cyberspace for almost a year and a half now, we got to spend some time together enjoying each other's company.  We spent the day at the Jepson Center to see the Monet and the American Impressionists Exhibition on it's last weekend. Just as we finished the show the fire alarm sounded and we had to evacuate the building!  Many people were swept out before getting a chance to get their coats! It was that same weekend the blizzard had struck Virginia and Savannah was getting the rain and some really cold temperatures from the storm.   I snuck in the coat room and got ours before we bolted out. We found out later it was a sprinkler system malfunction. Lets hope it wasn't in one of the galleries!

Of course while in Savannah I got to  spend time with my daughter, who goes to SCAD (The Savannah College of Art and Design)!  She took me to a used art store, where all the SCAD students take supplies and get money for them or shop for supplies at a discount.  Here I am pawing through the watercolor paint bins.  I scored quite a bit for a $1 to $2 a tube!

I go to life drawing one evening a week and can't tell you how much I feel I have improved.  Figures are not my forté so I feel like if  I can get a few decent drawings from the evening, I'm doing pretty good.  Since art stores abound in Savannah, two Blick stores and the SCAD book store Ex Libres,  I got a few goodies for life drawing as well.

• Going to try out the Derwent Grahitint Pencels, tinted graphite pencils, which are water soluble.
• The tin is water soluble graphite that I use like water color and draw the figure with the brush.  This is my second tin of this stuff, I love it!
• Also trying from top to bottom some Derwent Ink Intense pencils in various colors also water soluble.
• At the bottom my favorite life drawing tool, the Stabilo Aquarellable Pencil # 8046.

Are you seeing a trend here?  I like to sketch then come in after and get value variations  and washes by melting the pancil lines with a brush and water.

Can't wait to try the new stuff out!  What do you like to sketch with? Feel free to leave a comment!