Watercolor detail

For you watercolor students/enthusiasts/patrons, here is a detail study (from the same painting) showing some brush-work and the beautiful texture achieved with the paper. The transparency of the paint is evident here. I have said it before ~ the quality of materials used is worth the extra cost. I am using Winsor & Newton tube pigments, Kolinsky red sable brushes (from England) and fine French Arches paper. I have use a limited amount of opaque pigment for some details, but very sparingly.

Easel

A couple of small studies sitting on my easel. I have dragged this old skeleton around the country for many years. Notice the brand burned in the upper right? That is the 7V ranch brand from when I lived in the bunkhouse at the Chimney Creek Ranch in West Texas. That story could fill volumes. I heated the iron in a mesquite fire in the bunkhouse hearth and burned it on the easel for memory's sake. If that easel could talk!?...it might say some things you wouldn't want to hear.