My Victorinox Luggages

My loud Victorinox 2.0 SwissWerks Wheeled Bording Tote & Luggage. Unfortunately, they are known for their toughness but not their thoughful compartment design. If you plan to get Victorinox 2.0 SwissWerks luggages, don't forget to throw in a few Eagle Creek packing cubes and compressors.

Also, because their unique curved, telescoping mono-pole design, only this bording tote can stay steadily on top of the luggages (more on 22" than 24"; the pole on the 24" is slightly too short to steady the tote).

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Yesterday I had an awful time painting Charles Reid's tomato and avocado (I swear that it's a green mango!) from his "Painting Flowers in Watercolor." (BTW, the content and the title don't really match; half of the book has nothing to do with flowers.) What really draws me to his paintings is his amazing colors and free style (and what turns me off is his sloppy, dirty splashes all over the bottom or even in the middle of his paintings). His little avocado looked deceptively simple, but it was impossible for me to get anywhere close and I had no clue why. *sigh*

One good thing came out of this frustrating painting exercise is the colorful shadows. He usually uses Ultramarine Blue or Cobalt Blue for cool cast shadows, and Raw Umber for warmer ones. This is an excellent idea! By avoiding gray, painting becomes more luminous and interesting. If I had followed my usual way, this drawing would be heavier and more somber. Painting is different from filiming; I can add my mood and imgination to it, while preserving enough reality to make it ring truer than photos. :)

Media: pencil, technical pens, watercolor.