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Prescott Inspiration

7/24/2016

Pitt and Micron pen sets, pencils and watercolor supplies

My father in law, yesterday, reminded me that I have not been painting. That is true and one of the hazards of returning from vacation; too many things to catch up on. I started this watercolor in Prescott but had not worked on it since.

This morning, I dug out the watercolor sketchbook with this piece in it, my box of supplies, and did a bit more on it with my Pitt pens (landscape set). Some of it I am happy with, other parts I think could be improved. Since I plan to use these for reference for other art pieces, this gives me a place to start and areas to redesign when I get there.

I took a LOT of photographs and will be using those for reference for future work. Some I have in mind for fabric, some I will probably only work in watercolor.

One thing I found very useful was a little spray bottle like they sell for travel kits. This held enough water to wet my paper, the watercolors and do brush cleaning for several sketchbook paintings. I never ran out of water but you could always refill from a water bottle if you are on a hike. I lightly spray the back of the paper before I wet the front to minimize page curl.

What projects are on your table for the rest of the summer?

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Trip: Prescott

7/18/2016

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David and I spent some time in Prescott for our summer vacation. It was fabulous, we had a great time doing a couple of hikes and eating pie from The Rustic Pie Company. Had to do the hikes to burn off a few of the calories. We made sure that we left home in time to arrive in Prescott before they closed for the day. Our first stop, even before we checked into our hotel. Yes, that good.

We happened to plan our vacation during Prescott's rodeo week. We made sure to get tickets and enjoy some bronc and bull riding (the bulls won, 8-0) as well as calf roping, barrel racing and bull dogging. Fun times and a great way to spend an evening outdoors. We also got to sample some of the local rodeo food and it was a fabulous pulled pork sandwich from .

We found some beautiful areas and I did some painting with my watercolors but I did not do the scenery justice. More practice is definitely needed. I am planning on using several of the photos I took as inspiration for some upcoming pieces.

We hiked Thumb Butte (easy side) and also Lynx Lake area. Thumb Butte has a memorial for the firefighters that lost their lives in a local fire. The Prescott Costco had the book about the Yarnell Hill fire (My Lost Brothers) and I purchased it.

If you are a Costco member I recommend visiting the local store for the vacation area. I picked up some 'local flavor' reading material and was very happy I did.

What are your travel plans for the summer?