Groundhog's Day 2026

        It is Groundhog's Day, February 2nd as I sit down at my desk with a nice warm coffee on this -16 degree morning. No matter what Punxsutawney Phil has to say about it, I live in the Adirondacks and we have winter up here sometimes until April. It is a great day to create and that is exactly what I plan to do on this chilly day!

        Chilly days being stuck inside in the winter don't really bother me. I always see it as an opportunity to create something and make productive use of my time that would otherwise be spent outside when it it more agreeable weather.

        Over the course of this winter so far, I have been studying water color, which used to be one of my art nemesis. I have been wanting to come out of my creative comfort zone and learn something new far as art goes. I think part of the problem that I didn't like water color was, I never had proper paper. See, the thing with water color is, it's not the quality of the paint itself that matters, it's the quality of the paper, hands down.

        I've been studying and the more I learn, the more I actually like and prefer water color. I have more decent paper than what I learned on in school which makes a big difference. The painting above was done on a little card stock type paper that came in a bag of scrap papers from the Dollar Tree a couple years ago.  I'm not sure what gsm paper it is but it's decent enough for water coloring. I've got a 100% cotton water color sketchbook on the way from St. Louis Art Supply (not sponsored) which I'm looking forward to because I have never had high quality paper like that to paint on. I'll be making a post about my supplies and making a review of them when I get them. 

        If you're an artist comment below: do you only stay within your niche or do you venture out of your comfort zone to create? As a budding older artist myself I am curious: did you know what your niche was right away or if not, how long did it take you? I am struggling to find a niche. By the way, the painting above glows in the dark. I'm all about the glitter and glow and maybe that is my art niche? Let me know your thoughts on the matter.

        As always, it's a great day to create!