I have been having the best time lately, in and out of the studio.
Airport people
I never go anywhere without bringing some sort of art supplies, even if just a colored pencil and a tiny sketchbook. On our trip to CA earlier this month, I learned just how easy it would be to bring along my gouache and accompanying materials.
The center flap of this case flips over and has 6 pen straps on the other side which holds all my brushes. The numerous zippered & elasticized pockets assure I have plenty of room for everything.
I bought an inexpensive travel palette that has a silicone cover which keeps the paints moist and leakproof. It nestles within a generously sized collapsible water container which, along with all the rest of my gear, fits neatly into my 4″x9″ pencil case. Together with a lightweight Holbein 7.5″ x 6″ watercolor/multi-media sketchbook, I have a very compact but complete travel kit.
Note the palette with its silicone cover in place.
That said, makeshift studio space while traveling can be a bit of a crapshoot. Luckily, our Berkeley Airbnb not only had terrific natural light, but a lovely little desk looking out on the garden.
You may laugh, but with no IKEAs in VT, wandering through the maze of the Emeryville store was more than a planned activity – it was an inspirational treat.
This boldly patterned duvet cover was a real eye-catcher. The calm of recreating it later with paint was equal to, if not better than, any meditation app.
This little exercise was a great way to use up leftover paint that I didn’t want to waste.
A subsequent field trip to the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek was just as fruitful in the inspiration department.
You have no idea how hard it was to choose just 2 photos among the many I took, to show here
This dry garden has been on my to-see list for a long time and it was worth the wait. So many wonderful layers of color, pattern, and texture.
The bottom line is, pretty much anything can serve as input to brew in the back of one’s mind and eventually lead to new ideas. This trip got me thinking about ways to incorporate pattern within my worktable still lives — sometimes as a last layer, but also at the beginning of a sketch.
I used some Neocolor I’s for the under-layer of this experiment. Unlike Neocolor II’s, they aren’t water soluble, so didn’t bleed when I washed a thin layer of gouache over everything, followed by the contours of objects, again with gouache.
It’ll be interesting to see how pattern might affect a push and pull between the fore and backgrounds. Because of its opacity, gouache gives me the freedom to try this in a way that isn’t possible with watercolor. And that is a game-changer!
2025 Elizabeth Fram, Gouache on paper, 9″H x 5.75″W As I go along, bits of the original pattern poke through, which I can obliterate or enhance with subsequent layers of paint
Before I go, you may remember that last year I took the month of December off from posting to Eye of the Needle. It was such a successful way to recharge my batteries that I promised myself I would do it again this year. With that in mind, my next post will be on January 1, 2026 — which will be here before we know it.
Dots & Dashes ©2025 Elizabeth Fram, Gouache on paper, 9″H x 11.5″W
Till then, wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays ahead!
PS: I want to give you a heads-up that there are changes on the horizon for Mailchimp (the platform I use to send out blog notifications to all you lovely subscribers). Looking into other options is one of my December chores, so there is the very likely possibility that I may send you a test in December and that my notification emails may have a new look when I return for real in January. Thanks for your patience.