Study Hall

Finally on Friday I had "detention" with a writer friend of mine. She would work on her novel, I would work in my sketchbook.
The rain was pouring, so instead of walking to a coffee shop, we stayed in her kitchen. We talked while she made coffee. Then she turned on her laptop, and I got out my water colors and Ipod. And we worked.

It is has been a long time since I have stopped, focused, and looked at one thing for two hours.
A tomato in a bowl is much more of a challenge than meets the eye. I put the tomato outside the bowl, and just looked at that, then tried again with the bowl and tomato together.
Then back to just the tomato, trying to apply what I'd learned. Just where do the shadows and highlights fall? How does the paint fall on this paper, with this brush?
I was just using the tiniest of paint sets, a kid's party favor, really. Next time I will bring real water color paper and real paints. This felt good.