Questions + Answers

From Alicia S.

Questions!

Do you have a favorite holiday/winter song?

And what kind of paints, paper, and brushes do you like to use?

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Dear Alicia,

Thank you for this fun question.

Hmm — let’s see — a favorite holiday/winter song? I don’t know. There are so many holiday songs to like and hold close to the heart. Y’all probably already know I’m partial to the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, which is always a favorite come Thanksgiving. But I do have two traditions that I keep for myself — the first is to wrap a gift for myself from myself and put it under the tree, because there are some things a woman needs to be acknowledged for that only she knows about and I think giving myself a gift at the end of the year (another survived, right?) is a good way to do that. The second is to choose carefully what music is played while the tree is being decorated — I find it sets the tone for the season. 2023’s decoration album was Barbra Streisand’s A Christmas Album. It’s a moody record, and it calms me into a contemplative and grateful state of mind. When the album finished playing this year, I wrote four words on a sticky note to encompass what I wanted my family’s holiday season to feel like. They were beauty, quiet strength, elegance, and peace. Maybe we didn’t get exactly that all the time, but those four words motivated me to reach for the full hearted, joyous, and safe feeling I wanted to create in our home.

As far as art supplies, I’m a real magpie about what I use to make things with. I’m always looking for the next tool that will take me to a new sort of creativity. I recycle things, I use kitchen items, things from the garden, and the list goes on. I have a pile of things in my studio I want to work in somehow — leaves, pressed flowers, shadow boxes, tiny trees that need homes in dioramas I’ve decided to create out of the planters that came with the now almost expired amaryllis we had on the table for the holidays. However, I do have some favorites. The paints depend on the painting, but I’ve recently discovered this Kuratake set and they are wonderful. I mix colors a lot, but most of these are lovely right out of the pans. I use different weights of watercolor papers, mostly cold pressed handmade cotton with deckled egdes, but lately I’ve been using 300 to 400 GSM. I like the weight with most of the heavily pigmented, opaque styles I’ve been painting. I also love Arches paper, though it is expensive. My sister and I just dipped some papers in indigo, and they turned out beautifully. They’re in the queue to be brought to their full potential and when they are, I’ll put them in the shop. My favorite brush for fine work, which is most of the work I do, is a Windsor & Newton round #0 sable Series 7. I use a mason jar for rinse water and an amber spray bottle to keep my paints wet when I’m working. I also use watercolor pens sometimes, and find that the empty ones filled with water do fantastic blending.

I hope y’all have a fantastic weekend.

PEACE. LOVE.

Allison

Send me a question at allisonmoorercontact@gmail.com

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