This is how it starts.....

This technically should be the very first post....oooopss, my bad! Oh well....it's a learning curve. This is how I begin each time I sit down to paint. You may see my "chicken scratch" for handwriting above, I assess the painting, which colors I see both light, dark and in between, and then I hit the art store to buy materials! You don't have to buy every single color, most colors you can blend to make the colors you want. For instance, here I have a beige-y tone that I'm trying to capture, so as you can see, I've mixed a bit of all those colors to achieve that hue. And once I've mixed the colors and say I want to continue on another day or maybe a week later, I cover this palate with some plastic, or even a plastic bag and pop it in the freezer. Then the paint doesn't dry and when I'm ready to paint again, voila! I'm sure Martha Stewart already knows this trick....that B* knows everything! ;)