Sandy,
Your comment about the wooden palette is so true! I just bought a French easel that came with a palette and do you know I went out to paint 6 times with paper palettes before I finally broke down and used the wooden one!
Painting full time for the military was an incredible experience. To travel to a location at a moment's notice (sketchbook in hand) and observe/record, in art, images that portray the sacrifices that our armed forces make every day, was inspiring. Plus, I was a part of it, so I knew what they were going through. At times I was intimidated and felt like I needed to fill "big shoes" knowing that the work that I was creating was part of a long line of artists that had contributed to the Army's visual story dating back to the Civil War.
The assignment definitely had its perks, being near the National Gallery and other galleries in Washington. Plus, having a collection next to my studio of 13,000+ military artworks that included some works by artists such as Norman Rockwell or Peter Hurd to look at, really helped to get the creative fires brewing.
If you get a chance, I have some of the work I created during my time as an Army artist on my old website at:
http://www.geocities.com/myartworkz/.../military.html
All comments are welcome.
I've had Baltimore's Inner Harbor on my list of "things to paint" forever.
Take care,
Gene
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