The dinner table looks like this:

This cache of colours has grown far more rapidly than I anticipated and seems to be mutiplying daily.

The stash comes with a sharp ping of nostalgia: My beautiful mum would give me endless art-related gifts as a child, and I kind of feel like I’m buying stuff I used to have. She banned me from colouring books early on in the piece, telling me instead to draw my own pictures and colour them in. I have, over the years, tried tole painting, wood burning, quilling, papier mache, painting in acrylic, oil and watercolour, pencils, crayons, pastels, chalk and calligraphy. And a few things I can’t remember the name of – like when you draw a picture, then put it on furniture and varnish the hell out of it, and sand it all back until it’s a smooth surface. Can’t remember what that’s called.

I remember painting a Jabiru on paperbark with watercolours when we were in Kakadu.

Anyway.

So yesterday was a 44C day in Perth which called for a swim at the beach. This inspired by first watercolour in probably 20 years. I love the ships on Gage Roads, and include them whenever I can. The white posca came in handy again for the lights.

This one was, to be honest, a bit of a disappointment. It was fun to do but it’s basically overly amatuerish and looks like what I used to draw as a kid.

The upside is Daile has decided she wants me to illustrate a children’s book so it’s all good practice I suppose.

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