Playdates are back -- it's official!

 

 

 

Quite a milestone!  As of June 14^th, British Columbia is officially in Stage 2 of our Restart Plan.  Right near the top of the list of the new allowables are playdates.  Maybe this is why the fourth entrant in "The Jury is Out" series hasn't been seen today and is missing a deadline.  We'll overlook it this time.

 

Of course, we all have our own ideas of what constitutes "play" – and our own collection of essential ingredients.  You can guess mine – and here are just a few of the funkier ones from my ever-expanding collection of art supplies.

  

Some of this is brand new – like the special markers that were part of my Birthday Bash,  courtesy of a beloved well-wisher in a far-off land.  Some, like the beautiful Chinese and French brushes, were things I couldn't resist long ago, even though I knew I'd rarely use them.

 

In my own playground, things started looking up in March when my local life drawing studio organized itself to offer Zoom sessions.  Gradually, I've been trying to reclaim my pre-pandemic ability to capture 1-minute, 2-minute, 5-minute, and longer poses.

 

Some typical full figures:

 

 

Some typical faces:

 

 

Now, with adventure on my mind, I decided to play for a few days.  I used one of my new brush markers – filled with my own watercolour mix –for a delicate touch-up to some of the life drawings.

 

Then I mixed the brew a little stronger and combined it with some fine-tipped coloured markers.

 

 

 

 Then, with some opaque gouache paint, I blotted out some of my less inspiring tries.

 

Luckily, this was not about measuring success – but I still had fun combining a special new-to-me opaque white marker with a black fine-tip pen on some lovely toned paper sheets, one tan, one grey

 

 

The sky's the limit in what can be done with all the past winter's pent-up energy.  So gather round with your favourite buddies and your chosen toys -- and let the good times roll (again)!