[Aquanet] The colours of blue

[pat davis]

Hi, gang

Many, many thanks to all of you who took the time to respond to my 
query. Frankly, your answers leave me in a bit of a quandary. I am still 
pondering the fate of cerulean  and many other pigments in my paint box. 
My focus lately has been to purge my palette so as to force myself to 
get to know a smaller number of pigments a lot better, and I suspect 
that cerulean will not remain as one of the workhorses. Since colour 
accuracy is not important to me, I can do this.

At the same time, I think I am like most painters who occasionally catch 
the virus that says, "If you buy this (pigment, brush, tool) your 
paintings will automatically become masterpieces." (What!?? You mean I 
am the only person who succumbs to this?)

As usual in the fall after a long, glorious summer of cycling, hiking 
and chasing the wily trout (Brains about 1/2 the size of a pea) I am 
getting back into the groove of painting regularly- and it is painful as 
after the long layoff, I have to rediscover matters of paint 
application, paint mixing, brushwork, etc. I usually rediscover all this 
by making horrible mistakes, and I am doing this full-throttle this fall.

On the positive side, I am taking a life-drawing course to refocus on 
drawing skills and for the first time after about eight such courses 
over the years, I am no longer stuck near the bottom of the class wrt 
achievement. Boy, does that feel good... and strange.

:-)
pat