what to do with leftover colorburst

but first let me essplain: yes, colorburst can be used in its powdered state and you can do many fun and interesting things to get serendipitous "bursts" of color... hence the name. but one of my favorite ways to use it is just to put a small amount of each color into a compartmentalized palette --ideally with a few empty pans between each, so i can mix in the adjoining ones to get more shades-- then wet each color separately and use them exactly like regular watercolor paints. which is how i wind up with leftovers. because once it's wet, you have to use it up. so i do.

another cool thing about it already being wet is that you can get awesome "wet into wet" blendy techniques. on the other hand, you can add the colors one at a time, let them dry, and layer over with another color later. i did a little bit of both on these fish:

but most of the time, the "using up" process is happening at the end of the night when i've already worked on my primary project, so there's a pretty good chance i will not have another GREAT IDEA or the energy to embark on one. so sometimes i just paint lines. does that seem boring? well, maybe, but it's the good kind of boring, imo... the kind that's just repetitive enough to be sort of soothing... which is awesome just before bedtime. plus, just as the majority of drawing is about line control,a big chunk of painting is about brush control and knowing which brush to use when. and lines are great for that. they make nice backgrounds, too:

sometimes i only have a little colorburst left over, or only a few colors. i've been known to paint squares or circles (or wedges or stripes or... whatever) on a big piece of watercolor paper over several evenings, until it's full. it can take a while, but there's no statute of limitations on watercolor, lol. when it's finally finished, sometimes i stencil over the top, or use it as a background. sometimes i just go crazy with a really juicy pen and call it done. :)

speaking of done, i think i am. so i bid you a fond farewell and a happy artsy day, darlings! ♥