This photograph was taken with a nifty little macro lens, embedded into a wide
rubber-band. It's called a CelLens easy macro. You just pop it onto your iPhone like ski goggles. It has a VERY short depth of field, so the bokeh effect is easy to get. I had a hard time keeping it steady, so a little tripod will be in order next time.

Cabbage Compulsion

I've been at it again with the cabbages. They are so rich and lush and exuberant, not to mention hardy.  It seems that every week they come up with whole new visual themes.

Here is the pastel station in my studio. The natural light isn't great, so there is a full-spectrum clamp-on lamp above the easel. I like to have the  pastels selection right in front of the painting for finding the right color. The cabinet is a Stanton Cart from HomeDecorators.com. They no longer carry that particular configuration, although they have many others. It is only 14" deep, so I don't have to reach very far, (I'm short), which reduces shoulder strain. It's on wheels which occassionly comes in handy, although it is quite heavy full loaded. There is a little dust catcher tray that I made from foam-core under the drawing board.

Some Pastel Sets
Here are a few of the sets I've put together. The one on the far left is the one at the studio painting station. The one on the lower right is my smallest travel set. The trays are made with foam-core. You can see that they are all arranged with the same color configuration, so that no matter which set I'm using, I know where to go to find the color I need.

At this point I have far more pastels than I will ever use up. I still want to get more, of course, just to make sure I have the right color. It's like getting a brand new box of crayons.