It’s been a while since I worked in watercolours, but I decided to revisit them and see how my handling of composition and the flow of the medium has changed since working with fabric paints and surface design techniques. A trip to the art store (M. Francis Kelly on Golf Ave.) yielded some new brushes (4, 6 and 8 in case you were wondering about sizes) and a few other goodies like gummed tape (the big brown roll you see in the photo above) and a few new tubes of colour.

When I unpacked the bag upon returning home, Katherine immediately honed in on the paints and the brushes. Now I actually have no real problem with letting her use my watercolours while supervised. She doesn’t put things in her mouth and is extremely careful, so safety and mess aren’t really a concern. My chief worry is the inadvertent damage she does to brushes. She isn’t particularly gentle being, after all, three years old. She has her own brushes (old ones of mine and a few junky kid brushes) and is generally happy with them, except when she sees something better. Like today.

So the ensuing dialogue went something like this.

K: What are those? New brushes!?! (said with the tone of a child who sees a tub of ice cream and a spoon left at kid level)

Me: Yup. These are Mommy’s good new brushes.

K: And mine too.

Me: No, you have your brushes. These belong to Mommy.

K: But you should share them, Vicky.

Me: Nope, not gonna happen. I don’t share my brushes. These are expensive brushes. You can use my paints, though.

K: (Shaking head) You are such a meanie Mommy. (pause) I’d still like the paints, though. Are they spensive paints? I like spensive paints.

Just finished stretching some watercolour paper, so tomorrow should be fun.