Bee and Rose of Sharon

 

After working with my daughter for a couple of hours on my website, I had a lovely stack of handmade paper waiting for me when I arrived home!  It is a heavy weight, rough textured, deckle edged handmade paper by artisan Bhoori at Leather Village!  It is so nice of them to send me paper to try that I switched my plans for painting small, and instead tried out this new 10x7 paper. It accepts ink very well, and I found several layers of watercolor were required to get the intensity I wanted.  I can't help but think this paper would be extra nice for ink alone, and I must try that on the next piece.  I love the weight of heavy papers like this one - I can hardly wait to use it again!  Painting number 3866 in 3866 days. 

Stavkirke Church

 

I LOVE using artisan handmade paper when painting in ink and watercolor!  This one is made by Bhoori, a junior artisan at Leather Village.  Each packet of paper that I order from them comes with a card from the artist with their photo, with a word of thanks and appreciation.  This paper is a little thinner and a bit more absorbent, causing it to really soak in that ink.  Every handmade paper has it's own special qualities, and it is my job to make the most of each one.  This paper is a particularly strong choice for using ink.  If you look closely, you can see the clip marks on the bottom where it was clipped to a line to dry!  This amazing structure is the Stavkirke Church on Washington Island, Wisconsin.  Full of historic character, services are held here still. Painting number 3859 in 3859 days.