There's a challenge this month to paint "direct watercolor" (no or minimal lines first, just paint) from one of my favorite urban sketchers whose painting I admire, Marc Taro Holmes. I've got his book Direct Watercolor, and I've learned a lot from it. So I'm working on stretching my technique. Last night I took a gentle walk under a gorgeously dramatic sky with Mr. Darcy. I had tucked my small sketch journal in the pocket of my rain coat, but I was longing for real watercolor paper. I did my best with what I had, and I also took a quick snapshot (below), and this morning I decided to use real brushes instead of the handy but less fine brush pen and more absorbent paper and give this scene a second shot. It's such fun playing with clouds.