British? Who Me?

Last time I met Becky at Commonwealth for brunch (great avocado toast, nice quiet atmosphere), it was the day of the Big Give, and I donated a bit to the people who feed 75 homeless people a day, and the man taking the money (and giving me a Fiesta pin in return, which I will--as tradition has it--pass on to Jocelyn in the Spirit of Fiesta) asked me, "Are you British?"

I told him no, but I do watch a fair amount of British telly.

And I do also watch a motley bunch of British artists showing me how to make things on You Tube, so hey ho, you do pick up a bit of British that way, I guess.

I was flattered by his comment.  I used to get "You sound just like Rosalyn Carter!"--whom I also like but whom I didn't particularly want to sound just like.

But these videos by Dyan Reaveley and Mike Deakins and a few more--are so much fun to watch that I can look up and see it's midnight and I haven't done all the other things I intended to do.

I also watched a wonderful tutorial on Wanderlust showing how to make encaustics. (This one by Kasia Avery who's from Denmark but transplanted to England.)  I took an actual in-person class in encaustics once, but honestly I prefer to learn these particular lessons online, at my own pace, in my own space, rewinding and taking screen shots to remind me of certain techniques.  I now have quite a library of screen shots.

After spending a day with two good men, Edward and Evan, neither one British by any stretch, one doing my yard, the other my door and hanging of a couple of pegboards and mirrors, I needed a respite from dudes, even really nice ones, and spent the evening being inspired by one tattooed woman with purple hair and a few more.

One of my favorite techniques of the night (this for you, Nellie!) was filling water brushes with spray ink diluted with water and using these for watercoloring--which gives you super vivid colors.

Everything is tickety-boo at the moment, but I'm a bit snackered--in the British kind of way--so I'm going to call it a day.  In fact, I'm going to call it quite a good day and expect another one tomorrow.