ps. I’ve dreamed of taking a hot air balloon ride for my 30th birthday for years and years. My birthday is this January 28th! I hope to take to the skies in a colorful balloon sometime in 2012.

I’ve updated my shop with all sorts of new work- paintings, sketches, bird blocks, as well as a set of greeting cards. I’m offering free shipping on everything through Saturday, Dec. 17th. Check it out!

I’m delighted to be part of the group show Ice, opening next week in Port Townsend, WA at the lovely Artisan’s on Taylor gallery. The show will feature images that depict ice and a sense of winter… right up my alley! Other exhibited artists include Helga Winter, Barry Connolley, Jesse Watson, and Christopher Mathie. The reception is Saturday, December 3rd, from 6pm-8pm. It should be a great time and is also the town’s gallery walk as well as holiday tree lighting! I’d love to see you there. 911 Water Street, Port Townsend, 98368.

While Lil’ Jack enjoys the crisp autumn afternoon, Grumpkin looks on with abject disapproval. Have a great weekend!

Most of furniture either folds up for compact storage (check out my Ikea table in action here), or is on wheels, including my new shelf made with Storable’s Industrial Post Shelving. Now that I’m all set up, I’m busy preparing work for the show, Ice Stories (icestories.org), opening November 9th at the Washington State Convention Center, and in collaboration with artists Anna McKee and Cynthia Camlin.  For the show, I’m continuing to develop work from my 2010 Greenland expedition and remain fascinated by Arctic Terns. With their annual bi-polar migration (44,000+ miles!), they are true global citizens.

P.S. I’ll be sending out postcards for the “Ice Stories” show in a couple of weeks! Let me know if you’d like one. 

The sketchbook/binder is my solution to having too many partially filled spiral-bound sketchbooks taking up room on my bookshelf. I much prefer to fill a binder with a mix of paper that I can easily re-arrange and archive when I’m home. The 5″ x 7″ standard sized pages of the kit also fit easily into frames or photo organization systems.

Art Toolkit components

• Cordura zip cover, measures approx 6.5″ x 8.5″ when closed
• 6 ring binder that holds 5″ x 7″ paper
• Niji waterbrush pen, Sharpie fine pen, pencil, ruler, and two binder clips
• Inserts with 8 sample watercolor paints and field art techniques
• Palette (approx 3.75″ x 2.24″) with 14 removable pans on a magnetic base
• Reusable towel and two binder clips
• 10 pages of Arches 140lb bright white watercolor paper
• 10 pages of Lenox 100 vellum paper
• Paper refills are available in my shop, or cut paper of your choice at home! The Franklin Covey compact hole punch is compatible with the binder.

I’m especially excited about the palette. Over the years, my pocket watercolor palettes have ranged from Altoids tins with clay mixing wells, to tins and small boxes with plastic half pans. My main complaint with them was that they were bulky and I couldn’t fit everything in one kit. Here’s an overview:

My new palette is a prototype of the one included with the Art Toolkit. The design is slim, compact, and fits nicely into the back pocket of the cordura kit cover. A fantastic feature of the palette is the magnetic base that strongly secures the 14 pans while also allowing them to be removed and rearranged. The empty pans can be filled with tube paints of your choice. Eight samples of my favorite Daniel Smith ExtraFine watercolors are included with the kit. After adding fresh paint to my pans, I typically let it dry overnight before using it:

Here’s my own Art Toolkit in use during a hike I took around Stehekin last month:

One more sketch from Stehekin, completed with supplies included in the Art Toolkit:

Feel free to contact me with any questions about the Art Toolkit, and happy sketching!