...though some of you might be able to guess. :) However, I will say that I don't think I've been this excited about a pen since I discovered rollerball pens with ultra fast-drying ink*, and Rapidographs , though I'm hoping that my newest acquisition is not as diva-like as the latter (PROTIP: Do not take a Rapidograph up in an airplane. They do not like it). I am positively giddy with anticipation...

This is what I got myself instead of a pair of yellow wellies.

...the canvas, a box of watercolours other than the one I used in elementary school, a wide range of pencils from HB to 8B (with a bias towards 4B), french curves, rulers, glue, more than two paintbrushes, and, damnit, some rapidographs. I'm not one of those people who buy a big kit of colours and never use them. I use, I use, I use. And the better the stuff I use, the more fun I have. So here is me...

food for thought--michelle's submission

... a conversation with a client, or maybe sorting through the details of an illustration she might start later that night at the heavy drafting table pushed against the kitchen wall, where her off-limits rapidographs waited in their glass jars. Meanwhile, spotlighted by the oven hood bulb, a glowing wooden spoon trailed around the rim of the skillet, mesmerizing as a caress. From where I stood, in ...