the arboretum pond

PC and I went to the Arboretum on campus yesterday for a couple hours. We sat in front of this pond (which has huge freaking fish in it, by the way. and also frogs. lots of frogs) and he drew in his sketchbook and I painted with my watercolors.

We watched the geese meander up and down the hills and in and out of the water while we sat with our shirts off (and some of us in a swimsuit) on an old blanket in the warm sunshine.

I think it's kinda cute for a quick study of water (which I'm not at all good at painting yet, but maybe with some more practice?). But anyways, we both decided it was a good use of our time. We got to spend a couple hours in the sunshine flexing our artistic muscles. Even though we are both very different, we have some very neat similarities.

i didn't promise you a rose garden

I love flowers. There are so many different colors, shapes, sizes and smells of flowers that I don't believe you could ever be bored of them. I love vibrantly colored flowers the best, and there is a garden on A street that is full of bright reds and yellows and pinks that I simply cannot get enough of! I would love to have a garden that colorful, but I think my distaste for weeding overpowers my appreciation of fresh flowers, so I'm more inclined to just relish in your flowers than try to grow my own.

These flowers are Western Irises, and they are beautiful. These particular blossoms live in the Arboretum on campus, which, coincidentally, is also where we ended up painting today. I have not ventured into the Arboretum except for once last September with my new roommates in the dark. Therefore, I had no idea the wonders to behold when walking around the luscious green pathways. Did you know there are ponds down there? Ponds! With turtles! And frogs!

There are lilac bushes bigger than China and huge willow trees that look like they could swallow you whole.

We walked and walked and walked until we came out on the other side next to a big red barn. I love barns, especially big red ones. And this barn was behind a big garden with Western Irises, Bearded Irises (of every freakin' color you can think of!), Daffodils, more flowers that I can't remember the names of, different types of grasses and lovely, lovely trees.

Unfortunately the weather felt like being really uncooperative (how rude!) and rained for a majority of the time we were down there. I don't know if you realize just how difficult that makes trying to paint with watercolors...since it's water falling from the sky onto your paper and messing up your colors. Plus, your paper can't really ever dry if it's being constantly sprinkled on. My first paintings of the Bearded Irises turned into splashes of color instead of beautiful flowers.

But then around 3:30 the rain began to lighten up, and I moved on from the beards to the westerns. The gorgeous purple flowers were practically just begging to be painted, so I set up shop in order to record their loveliness.

Squirrel Hair

So, I bought a new watercolor brush. It's made from squirrel hair and it set me back $27.50. I know, right? Cheap.

My friend Rebecca said that she would send me a squirrel from the side of the road and then I could just make the brush myself. But I opted for letting a professional build my brush, and this is the one I got:

Although, it might have been cheaper to go with Rebecca's plan, you think?

This is a size three brush. I wanted a four, but they were all out. Plus, a four would have been even more money (because it would be bigger) and well, I'm a poor art student. It works wonders though, this brush of squirrel descent. Much better than my mop brush.

Theses are the brushes that I had been using. The red one came with my watercolor paint set, and the yellow one is my mop brush made out of goat hair.

See how these brushes have stray bristles? There's not really a nice point on them, so they can potentially make marks where I don't want there to be any. This is because these brushes are really inexpensive and low quality.

My new brush is the best of both worlds, it's big to cover the space the mop brush does, and it has a nice tip on it, like the finer brush. I can cover a vast area and finish it with some detail all with the same brush. And it keeps the pigment longer than the other brushes. It's amazing the difference a high quality paint brush makes.

This is what I did today. I didn't use my mop brush at all, just the squirrel hair and my cheap little red one. But I like the way it turned out. It's surprisingly a lot easier painting with the new brush, but I still need lots more practice with it before I feel comfortable using it.

I just hope it doesn't start demanding peanuts and snack bars.