Settling back in routines

As you can see above, the "dog children" are content that we are home.  Mack seems to like to hang over his bed instead of sleeping IN it and Chloe is the princess, as usual.

This afternoon after work, I spent time organizing my pastels in my easel.  I snapped the long Senneliers in half (stored the other half in the studio) and put all my Terry Ludwig darks in my easel, so that was one less box to carry.  I organized by value and color families, made sure I had plenty of neutrals.  I packed essentials to keep in my bag for quick travel, and I packed a separate bag to stay in the car that has paper towels, a hat, a can of spray fixative, spray bottle for alcohol and other essentials.  Now I am am ready to go at a minute's notice, much better than before.

I noticed that while I was slimming down some of the pastels, the Sennelier sticks are extremely brittle and crumbly and you waste a lot with crumbling.  The Terry Ludwig pastels are much better and as much as I am not a fan of the Unisons, they held up better than the Senneliers.  The Schminckes do well in my box, too.

After all was said and packed, I ate dinner with my hubby, stopped for Java at the Roast Coffee and Tea Co, and went off to paint.  The above is the result of this evenings outing.