tools of the trade

I am delighted to have been invited to teach for two of Southern California's calligraphy societies.. One in San Diego and another in Orange County.

In preparing for this class and putting together my supply list, I decided to give the participants some visuals of a few of my tools. 

I have to chuckle when I look at some of my brushes. For some reason, I am attached to my oldest and nastiest brushes. I do keep my brushes clean, but I am far from fanatical about it. The brush on the right is just an ordinary inexpensive household brush from Home Depot or the like. Its original purpose is to prepare paper with gesso or acrylic medium. It surely has seen better days and if there's nothing else in my view when a whim strikes, I even use it to paint with!

I like to recycle containers and such. These are plastic egg cartons that I absolutely love to use... and use.. and use. Especially the lids.. LOL! I keep the egg sections because, well... I just like looking at the colors! But it also gives me a future reference for color ideas. Playing color is such a fascinating thing, I don't think I will ever tire of it!