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This is the result of many things.

I was too tired the other night to paint, but was compelled to do so. The three paintings I was working were just not coming together. I should have gone to bed instead of painting, but… well you know.

I had grand visions for this one… and it started out bigger. I had drawn in the whole brush holder and painted it with the beads and the horsehair key chain. However, I could not get the brush holder’s glow or reflections… nor were the colors coming out. I stopped a couple of hours later and decided it was a bust.

The next day I decided to see if I could save it. I felt it would be better cropped (as I originally wondered) so that the focus would be on the beads. I cropped… added some darks…. lifted a lot of color from the brush holder and kept tweaking until I got this. It is much better than before! The moral is keep going. You might have to crop or paint over… or lift paint off, but you won’t know what treasure might be there until you try. Let it sit for a day, a week or a year even.

Now it probably measures 5 x 5 inch and fits in the card holder well. I am done with this one, but I do want to paint these subjects again!

We stopped this morning for breakfast at the Hopi Travel Plaza in AZ on I-40. We stop here whenever we can… the food is good and the people friendly.

There is a shop inside the truck stop that has rocks, crystals, jewelry, etc. that I like to browse. I don’t always get to look as often they are closed when we get there.

Sometimes the treasures come to you. As we were eating our breakfast a Hopi Grandmother came up to our table with strands of red beads in hand. She was dressed in the Hopi tradition and asked if I was interested. The first time I was approached at breakfast in this manner I was caught off guard and said, “Thank you, but no”.

This time my intuitive voice said yes. They are just glass beads, but it is a karma thing. I am sure she can use the money and I can use the beads. I can also use any good blessings that might come our way with the beads. How often in one’s life does a Hopi Grandmother appear at your breakfast table with beads in hand?? It is a connection.

I have a few other trinkets I have gotten along the way from the various natives. Nothing expensive… I have had that type of jewelry also… in the past. I will paint these and after we are settled I think I will make an abstract wall hanging with these little treasures.

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I was tired, but wanted to do something… so I ended up painting this while under the covers in bed. I don’t recommend this… well, try it and see what you can do!

This is rough paper and I was going for more sparkle, but it came out pretty decent.

5 x 7 inch watercolor.

Some times you breeze through a painting… other days they are struggles. I could not get the background as I wanted it… I could not get deep enough darks. I was tired, so that never helps. Also, we were at a shipper getting loaded, so there was bouncing going on and they loaded us fast, so I had to wrap it up fast!

Still… a cute painting!

4 x 6 inch watercolor.