I've recently been painting a lot of watercolors and one of the many things it has taught me is that it is very difficult to paint watercolors.  I was long under the spell of how easy some artists make it look (particularly Sargent and Sorolla).  But the truth that I'm discovering is that painting and drawing requires tremendous effort.  By the end of a painting my palette (and mind) is usually a chaotic mess as I have pushed paint around to get everything juuuuuust right.
  Now the problem is that I don't want my paintings to look overworked and tortured, but I've learned that I need to keep pushing and pushing until the painting looks as good as I expect it to.  I was looking for something to paint today and decided to step up my game and see if I could paint two liquor bottles on this red table cloth that I've been liking recently.  One of the bottles is a round glass with a golden sort of cage around it and the other is a bottle of Jack Daniels Honey Whiskey (my favorite drink on the rocks).  I've been painting a lot of these liquor bottles recently because I find the play of color and reflections to be quite fascinating and challenging.
  The painting required a lot of pushing until I finally got it to a level where it almost painted itself.  I think of it like pushing a car up a hill until you reach an apex and then the hardest part is done and you can guide the car back down the other side of the hill.  The downslope is usually enjoyable, but the pushing can be hellish at times.  
  Painting, to me, is like alchemy or magic because I'm trying to turn one substance (the paint) into other substances (bottles, whiskey, shadows, reflections) using only some brushes and medium.  On a deeper level, I'm trying to tell a story and have some emotionality in my work.  All of this is under my control based on my skill level.  The thing that I also realized is that the difficulty is what fascinates me.  I've always loved fixing things and solving problems and I see no greater challenge than creating an accurate visual chronicle of my reality on white paper with some paint and a brush.

  Nothing can replace practice and sweat.  I'm realizing that more and more lately.  It's not easy and there's no shortcuts.  Always working from life and trying my best.

  I had my watercolor class tonight and I brought in some of my paintings for my students to see.  One of my students really liked the watercolor that's pictured below.  I told him that I set up a christmas cactus in some sunlight because the cactus had just bloomed and I only got to work on it for about 10 - 15 minutes before the sunlight disappeared.  I started the painting boldly and by squinting and it actually came out really well.
  I like to work free from "techniques", but I have tested the value of squinting at the beginning of the painting process and I find it extremely valuable in my own practice.  Squinting enables a certain boldness and freshness that acts as a great base for further detail.
​  I'll be painting a bunch more and sharing more thoughts soon.

  This past week, I decided to look at some easels from a company that my friend recommended called En Plein Air Pro.  I checked out their website and decided to buy The Professional Series Oil and Acrylic Easel and the Traveler Package with Sunpak 2001UT Tripod.
 For plein air painting, I have always used my Jullian Classic French easel, which I love, but it's pretty heavy and doesn't fold down easily.  The En Plein Air Pro Easel's are very lightweight and fold down very easily.  The watercolor easel even fits into a backpack.  There's a lot of small touches that I also really appreciate about these easels.  For instance, the watercolor easel comes with a collapsible water cup (made by Faber-Castell) that fits into the palette shelf.  The oil painting easel comes with a turp cup that fits into its easel palette shelf.  As a side note, the oil painting easel can hold canvases OR panels.
 Both of the easels have sturdy palette shelves that have holes for standard brush sizes to keep your brushes upright and organized.  The palette of the oil painting easel also has a value scale built into the palette.  The palette itself is made of plexiglass glass and can be upgraded to tempered glass as an addition.  I didn't upgrade because I prefer a wooden palette instead of glass or plexiglass.  
  One of the main reasons I chose these easels is because most of the pieces (aside from the tripods) are made in USA.  The tripods are made overseas in Asia, but they're still good quality.  All of the other parts are made in USA (Texas).
  Another nice part of this company is that the shipping was super fast.  I placed my order on Tuesday and got my easels on Sunday via Fedex.  I field tested my watercolor easel today and I have to say it worked great.  I plan on using my oil painting easel very soon.  I definitely recommend these easels to the modern day artist/adventurer.  Check them out and order one.  
*This review was not sponsored by En Plein Air Pro.  I'm simply a fan of their products.