As a fun experiment, I did the same still life scene in oil and then I did one in watercolor.  My oil painting palette and my watercolor palette are pretty much the same and I used a few touches of white gouache for the watercolor.  I think the watercolor turned out better, but I also did that one a few days after the oil so I had the practice going into it.
  I painted this still life because I was really inspired by the light hitting the linseed oil bottle and the back light creating a shadow on the brushes.  Some have asked me if I prefer watercolor or oils and I really can't choose; both media have certain qualities that are beautiful.  I like the thickness of oil paint, but I will say that when a watercolor goes right, there's a certain feeling and luminosity to it that really is magical.
  Although I prefer painting, I also do a lot of drawing and sketching.  Remember that drawing is really the key to being a better painter; if you can draw well then you will be able to paint well.

  I recently finished restoring these two 19th century travel boxes and they're so beautiful that I had to share them on my blog.  They were in pretty good condition when I purchased them, but they needed a little care.  They're both from France and they have a very similar style to them.  They also both had working keys, which is really cool.  These would have been used for traveling or painting en plein air, which makes me wish they could talk and tell me where they've been!

  This next set of photos is of the oil painting box, which is larger and includes a beautiful folding palette (with some very old paint on it), medium containers, some palette knives and brushes.  The entire box is truly a work of art.

  These final two images show some of my working tools, which is an old set of flathead screw drivers that nest inside one another.  I love having high quality tools in my own tool box to work with.

  When I was working on these boxes, I actually got pretty bummed.  I realized, once again, that people really don't make beautiful things like this nowadays.  These boxes are over 120 years old and still usable!  I know there's still some true craftsman out there who really care about their products, but most of it is disposable garbage.  I understand why that is, but it still makes me sad.  
  Besides the high level of quality, another reason I love antiques is because of the history behind these items.  I wonder who owned these?  What paintings did they paint with these?  As I said earlier, I wish these boxes could tell me where they've been.  
  If you're wondering if I'll use these boxes myself: I'll admit that I find it difficult to imagine using them en plein air mainly because I don't want to mess them up or lose any parts.  I might decide to use them eventually, but for now I just enjoy having them in my studio.

  For my classes this week and last week, we investigated the play of light on spheres.  I love revisiting these exercises and really enjoyed teaching these ideas again.  Doing the watercolor spheres was especially educational.