What color do you wish wasn't there?
I put together a new palette for each painting so I rarely wish a color wasn’t there. That said, I paint with liquid acrylic and there are lots of times that I accidentally squeeze too much out, resulting in WAY too much of one color. 

What is your favorite brush?
My absolute favorite is Robert Simmons' short handle Sapphire series 1/4” Angle Shader. When these brushes are brand new, I’m able to get really precise crisp lines and smooth edges with them. They are also beautifully responsive and lovely to work with when building up thin layers of paint to create gradations of color. Finally they are relatively inexpensive brushes, which is important because I go through A LOT of them. Since I really need the bristles to be in near perfect condition for the kind of detailed painting I do, I usually can only get 3-4 solid days of painting per brush. I periodically donate 50-100 gently used brushes to my kids’ schools and after school programs so they can continue to be used by others.

What is your favorite paper/surface to paint on?
I begin each piece with a photographic image that I print onto one or more pieces of archival paper. After cutting away parts of the print and reassembling it, I mount the paper to a panel and then paint over every part of the printed image as well as all exposed parts of the panel, including the sides.

What is your favorite color to work with? 
That’s a hard one for me to answer because it’s mostly the relationships between colors that really excite me - especially where cool and warm colors meet. One of my favorite pairings: Prussian Blue shadows on a surface warmed by a (very wee bit of) Pyrrole Orange. 

While this break was much longer than I anticipated it did provide ample time for reflection. I came to some conclusions about my blog & the direction I want to take: 

1. I had become a slave to the deadline. It didn't matter if my work was not up to my standards. If It was Thursday a new painting had to be posted, even if it was a slapdash effort. Sometimes I rationalized this by claiming it as part of the process, but I knew that was just not true at least half of the time. 
2. I am a private person. Most bloggers share the intricacies of their lives. I am not the kind of person that does this. Yes I will share process, materials, & scenes from nature, but I will not be telling you about anything else (relationships, what I had for dinner, a current moral quandary). And this stifles the blogging relationship. Blogs have that very personal element that I would share if we are in a face to face relationship, but I am not going to share across the internet in that way. 
3. I love the #PaletteProject. Collecting & curating other painters palettes has been one of my joys in this past year. I love seeing the process & diversity of responses. I am thinking about ways to expand this project & welcome input. Many more #PaletteProject posts to come.
4. The blog will continue. There will be blog posts, however they will not hold to the previous 5 day a week schedule. In fact, there will be no set schedule. I will share when I have work of value & not when I feel I must. 
5. Thank you! To those of you that have liked & commented, encouraged & critiqued.