My New Hat's A Swimmer!

There was a warm up painting here, now it's not.
 I passed by it again on my way to the freezer; it
needed a few touches. Acrylics and a spray bottle are the best.
Always ready.

I grabbed this sun fun straw hat off a hook as I passed the display. It screamed: Buy me. Buy me. I plopped it on my head, cocked it and headed to checkout. It never left my head the whole day. I wore it on the rest of my errands. I wore it to a three hour lunch with friends. No headaches, just a gal with attitude.

The hat and I were meant for one another. Sunday, I wore it too to lunch with Honey to rehash the week that was; he had stood me up on Friday, our ususal. When we got home, he went to nap to the Olympics. My hat and I went to the lake.

 It was very windy. There were strong squalls. The trees were dancing. I very carefully tucked my precious find under the solid weight of my huge beach towel and jumped in. The ladies noodle club had already been called to order. I was noodling over to join the chat when the husbands on the dock started screaming Linda your hat, your hat!

 I looked over and was appalled to see it sitting atop the water in turtle territory. Fuck the turtles! I immediately noodled frantically into  nature infested waters where no condo owner goes to save my cocky friend. Seaweed brushed my legs.  I didn't mind; the hat was oblivious to his peril. It jauntily bounced along on the waves hardly noticing it was slowly sinking. Turns out, my hat was a fair swimmer! It pulled out of the water the same way it went in. As I knew from first sight, we were meant for each other. I plopped it on my head. Then got the hell out of there. God knows what was living under all that plant life. Yuk.

My Watercolor station is now my oil workshop supply station.
Not on the list was a smock. My one innovative idea was
a toothbrush holder for the smaller detail brushes.  Szabo like Masterson
air tight palette boxes too and freezes paints that haven't been used up; Good tip.

 Saturday I finally got my list of supplies for the workshop. I called. It's extensive.I spent Sunday morning assembling what I have and checking out what I needed. Vianna Szabo (look up her website, gorgeous, but do read what she expect from clients and what her payment schedule is) had several colors that the last expert I read did not. I put in my order to Utrecht, her favorite supplier. They were having an online shipping free sale in addition to a percentage off on a lot of things. I thought the prices were reasonable. Hopefully they're get in in the three to five days promised.

Next Monday is the first day of four; it's six and a half hours long. Sixteen portraits, 9 x 12, will be painted in that time. Charcoal is the warm up medium. That was relaxing news. Packing a lunch was not. I don't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

 Today, I'm off shopping again.I need to get a roll around suitcase as Celeste Bergin suggested. So I can comfortably pull these supplies up the steep hill from the parking lot. I'm thinking of painting it to make it recognizably mine.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE SUPPLY LIST I WAS GIVEN IN CASE ANYONE IS JUST GETTING STARTED IN OILS GEARED TOWARDS PORTRAIT PAINTING:

DRAWING GEAR: 11 x 14 spiral bound sketch pad; sticks of vine charcoal, knead eraser; O’Brian’s napkins. OIL PAINTS: Alizarin crimson Titanium White [Flake white] Ultramarine Blue Cadmium Red light Cadmium Yellow medium Cerulean blue hue Lemon yellow Ivory black Viridian Terra Rosa Venetian red Transparent oxide red Burnt Umbra PALETTE: paper liner for Masterson Palette Seal box CANVASES: Pads or boards; 8 x 10 0r 9 x 12. (2 100% cotton duck canvas pad (10 sheets) Utrecht. com. Or 16 canvas board primed with three coats of Gesso If “scratchy.” Foam core & tape if using pads. Paint thinner; [Murphy’s oil soap solution for cleaning]. BRUSHES: Thin glass jar for small brushes. (Tooth brush case) Filbert and brights- size 4, 10, 14 Hog bristle filberts sizes 2, 6, and 0.8; 1 ½” house paint brush