The art of watercolor

A definite bonus of my research into the art of watercolor is getting a better understanding of what Dad went through in order to paint. He painted before the days of nylon packs and lightweight easels, all the multitude of handy bags and carrying straps to make things easier. And his preference for painting out of doors involved a lot of gear: the drafting board, the china plate for mixing paints, the canteen of water. Plus his paints, brushes, towels, paper towels, a folding stool. Everything lugged miles down the beach, or up and down steep hills to get to the perfect spot. I have memories of watching him carefully pack everything into a small canvas pack, each piece in its designated spot with not a bit of space left over.

I have the drafting board, the canvas pack, the army canteen, the stool, the small metal storage box, and the heavy divided plate from Seattle College, before it became Seattle University. The two small brushes didn’t survive the years, but one was a sable brush and must have been treasured. I also have a china palette made for the home studio, a monogrammed weight used to keep his sketches from blowing away, a rectangular plate with round depressions to hold a squeeze of paint, and shallow oblong depressions for mixing. It's crazed and stained. His collection of paints is the most precious to me, because it tells me what colors he preferred to use for his landscape work. Surprisingly, most of the paints are still pliable and could be used.

To my recollection, he never painted at home. Our small house was too small, perhaps... and once there were three small girls running around, there was no safe haven for an artist.