My first finished painting!

jess' first finished painting!
Originally uploaded by bburbank

Since I wrote last, I did end up finishing the essay for the contest in Real Simple Magazine and completed my first watercolor painting! The scene is from a photograph Ben took while we were in Maine. I'm pretty happy with it. I really love the sky and the dock, especially where the water is lapping up on the dock. I feel so-so about the mountains and the water and wish the colors were a bit more vibrant . I bought some Arches paper and a different brand of paint, so I'm going to see which, if either, makes any impact on that. This painting was done on Strathmore 140 lb. cold-pressed with Winsor and Newton Cotman paint. I want to improve on color mixing for the next painting. As for the essay, I thought it was worth sending in though I didn't love it. I was just glad to have completed projects. I hate when I start projects and never finish.

Jhonen's birthday party was really fun. Now it's time for Ben's birthday. I've had fun planning his birthday, too, and will report on that later. Speaking of birthdays, mine is coming up and I've already gotten my main present which is going to be a huge topic on this blog from now on! Ben bought me a Nikon D40 Digital SLR! It's beautiful and takes amazing photos. I'm excited about it for many many reasons, but mostly because I'm always so desperate to remember everything and my camera will keep such a special record for me! Ben gave me a system to catalogue my photos and keep them organized, too. My camera makes me want to go to new beautiful places so I can practice. I started browsing people's flickr galleries and it's really inspiring. So many beautiful, captivating images! I have photo-taking envy, so I have to learn to take better pictures!

My twitter poems are fun. Some of them are terrible, some have potential to become something bigger, I think. In any case, it's fun to do and a good way to brainstorm for future writing.

That's the dabbling update! Hopefully I'll have some gorgeous photos to post next time! Maybe I'll get some good shots at Fort Myers Beach this weekend. Ben and I are going down there for my 10-year high school reunion. I'm excited to see my old friends. They are such a creative, intelligent, fun bunch of people. Should be entertaining!