The substrate gave a very soft finish that is just perfect for this flower. I'm not sure if this is always the case or partly my painting style. That's part of the reason why I'll be doing more work on Aquabord.

One of the coolest things about the Aquabord is that the painting is sealed using a UV resistant varnish spray. You don't have to frame it under glass! The spray further softens the focus and adds a slight sheen to the surface of the piece. (It would look lovely on a small easel in lamp light!)

I have included a few of the cards I've received below, but I invite you to pop over to the ABC Blog, and look at the fantastic work these ladies are doing! I have learned so much about these cards, and I think the most important is that there is no end to the creative ideas that keep being posted.

The painting I am doing now has a close-up of part of an umbrella, and it was not until late this afternoon that I became sure that this painting was going "to work." It is the fabric of the umbrella that I have fallen for - and boy, did I fall! I wanted to paint a black umbrella that wasn't black. I wanted it to be violet, lavender, blue-grey and . . . . . peachy. That gorgeous pink-gold color you sometimes get early in the morning? Sometimes before a rain with the heavy violet, lavender and blue-grey clouds? That color!

And I did it! I've captured those colors in the folds of the umbrella! When I put down the first washes I thought to myself then that I would be repainting that painting as it didn't look anything like I wanted it to, but then I didn't know how to get what I wanted either. I kept at it, I'd let it sit for a while and then take another turn at it. Today, I put the final wash of the pink-gold color on it and it started to sing! The colors are soft and subtle, but they're there!

Tomorrow, I will finish up the painting, barring any debacles like I had with the last competition painting. I have to submit it by July 20th. Once I hear whether I'm in or not, I'll post it. Meanwhile, I have to think of something to paint with fabric in it, soft, flowing, sexy, fabric. Hmmmm . . . . .

Sometimes, I need to wait for a big wash to dry (and to keep me from getting impatient and messing up said wash) or I may need to gain some perspective on what to do next on the big painting, I'll paint a small piece to distract myself. This one has served that purpose well as the surface, Aquaboard, has kept me intrigued.

Something new that I learned today is that you can easily lift pigment. If you look closely at the center and some of the dark background spots, you will see that I have lifted the color. Almost back to the white surface, AND I could go back to the white with no discernible difference. It does NOT damage the surface - wow! Very cool! After learning this, I started lifting wherever I wanted to just for fun. Got a little carried away. But it's fixable!

This evening, I was talking with my husband about this piece and the unique surface properties Aquaboard has. I commented that "this little jewel sure was taking a long time" when I realized I had just come up with the new name . . . . . Summer Jewel. Is that acceptable, Teresa?!

The gold standard in watercolor paper is Arches and I have had a long love/hate relationship with the paper. The makers of Arches uses a vile, strong smelling sizing both in the paper and on top it, that makes it a true workhorse. The paper can be reworked and sanded and gouged and it will still take paint beautifully. There are other fine watercolor papers available, and they all have their own strengths and peculiarities as well, but Arches is hard to beat.

Whenever I try a new surface, it invariably gets compared to Arches. So it is with this Aquaboard. For something to become a staple in my studio, it has to offer me something that Arches does NOT. I'm still not certain what this surface offers me, but there is something pleasing about it and it's growing on me. It will take far more exploring than this little duck, but I will try it again. Perhaps with something more demanding to see what this surface can do.

Besides, I recently (last year) "inherited" a ton of it - I really need to find a way to like this stuff or I'm gonna have to have a big art sale instead!!!

This little sunflower is considered to be a piece of Small Format Art or SFA. It just misses being an ACEO which stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals, because of its size. To be an ACEO, the size must be 2.5" x 3.5". This SFA will be available on the blog until Wednesday for $20.00 plus $1.50 in shipping. Should the sunflower not sell by Wednesday it will go into the Etsy shop for $24.00. If you would like to own this piece of art, please click the PayPal button below.

I sat down today and went over my goals and so far I'm doing pretty good! I have checked off 2 goals as completed and added 3 more! I also updated about half of the goals I still have on my list. One of them was to put a little more attention towards my online sales - hence, the first paragraph of this post! I feel pretty good about being on target with most of my goals. There are a few that are going to be a bit of a challenge, and that's a good thing. Don't want to be getting bored!

Hope you had a chance to review your goals and spend some time with the favorite "dads" in your life this weekend!

It was to remind me that the summer solstice is nearly here! Sunday, in fact, is the actual day. If you've read this blog very long you know I'm big on goal setting, on challenging myself to constantly stretch, to reach for the next level.

This weekend, I will make some time to sit down and evaluate how I'm doing so far this year. I do this on each of the four solstices as a nice way to divide up the year. I look to see whether each goal is being met, has been met, why or why not, whether it's still relevant and what I may need to add, change, or delete. One recent goal I've added is to start painting at least one competition level painting each month. When I started the year, my focus was on building an online store. I wasn't thinking about competing, but in May, that changed.

When I first started with my goal setting, I would set big lofty goals like "Paint." Ummm, okay. Of course, it didn't really matter what my goals were that I so carefully wrote out as I stuck them in my day organizer, in the very back, and I didn't look at them again until December. No surprise, but I seldom met my goals. Now, my goals are broken down into steps. Some are daily, some weekly, and some are monthly or longer, but always broken down into steps. They are posted in my day organizer and my wall calendar where I can see them. At the end of each week, I do a review of my week to see if I'm on track and if not, why and what needs to be changed or adjusted.

This may seem counterintuitive to a creative life, but this allows my left brain and right brain to play together nicely. Having goals gives my left brain something to keep track of, something to strive for, boundaries to play within, and quantifiable measures. It gives my right brain the freedom to be creative, to create, to strive, to play all within a task oriented setting.

So now I ask you: do you set goals? when did you look at them last? Perhaps Sunday would be a good time to review them?