#WorldWatercolorGroup - Day 25 - Christmas Toys - Doodlewash
By Charlie

Toys For Christmas

Written by Charlie O'Shields

We’ve reached Christmas Day, and I hope all of you who celebrate are having a wonderful one! For today’s prompt, we have Santa’s bag filled with toys since that’s what came to mind while we were opening our stockings this morning as they were filled with fabulously fun and silly things that we’re probably far too old to receive. It’s been a blast indulging my inner child this month and although all the gifts have now been opened, Philippe and I both have a full week off work to play with them, so it’s still the holidays until the clock strikes 2018! I once again got lots of fun new toys last night, along with Philippe’s annual foie gras and what I call Christmas cake which made for a totally magical night. I adore our yearly traditions and while it’s bittersweet to see things come to a close, I still feel happy knowing that they’ll be back again next year. It’s such a warm and wonderful time, filled with love and a little chance to spoil those we love most. Even our dog got a special dinner of roasted duck, parsnips, and carrots, prepared restaurant quality by Philippe. This might have been too overindulgent as Phineas spent the rest of the evening with “wolf eyes,” primally staring at every piece of food that appeared.

As a kid in the 70’s, I was a huge Star Wars fan, and one Christmas my parents bought me a remote control R2-D2. My mother still has it, but we’ve never been able to get it working properly again. Philippe bought me the updated droid that you can control with your phone and it’s totally awesome. The best part about gifts this time of year is that I get things I absolutely don’t need, cannot justify spending money on, but still really, really want. This, of course, was a gift reserved for the end of the evening as the first gifts are always small and just for fun. My very first gift that I opened was simply a set of 3 white ink gel pens and I was thrilled! I immediately trotted off to start sketching things, leaving Philippe to marvel at how easily amused I am and also question his decision to give them me that one first. I started this month with a sketch on toned paper and didn’t like the gel pen I had so this one, though still perfectly inexpensive, is an upgrade and works great. It also pairs nicely with my larger Stillman & Birn Nova Series toned sketchbook I received a bit later in the evening!

I won’t be converting over to toned paper sketches as I still love my watercolor paper best, but it’s fun to try new things. My final gift was a practical one, but unlike the nose and ear hair trimmer I found in my stocking once before, this still felt like a toy. It was an upgraded scanner in the form of an Epson V600 and it’s totally awesome. I’ve just spent the day playing with it, but it’s fast and has a much higher color depth than my previous scanner, including a setting that magically removes the watercolor paper texture from images for illustration. I can already say that I highly recommend it! Philippe’s final present, after the requisite Lego sets and comics, was a a Staub round cocotte oven, so we ended the evening as actual adults at least. But if I listen closely, I can still hear the squeals of glee from my inner child. He’s once again thrilled to have had the pleasure of enjoying that happiest time of the year. And though his adult self just keeps getting older, he knows he’ll always be the one back in charge when it’s once again time to give toys for Christmas.

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About the Doodlewash

Da Vinci Paint Co.: Quinacridone Red, Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Gold, Leaf Green, Terra Cotta, Cobalt Blue and Payne’s Gray.  Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with sepia ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book.
  #WorldWatercolorGroup - Day 25 - Christmas Toys - Doodlewash

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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45 thoughts on “Toys For Christmas”

    1. Thanks so much, Sandra! 😃💕 Yeah, the candy cane I started the month with was in a super tiny one I got for testing. The new one is a proper size to play! hehe Philippe’s oven is fantastic… I’m so happy he liked the color… I chose Grenadine and it looks amazing in person!

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  5. you handled the fur on the bag so beautifully. I absolutely love your painting and of course your beautiful description of your Christmas night and morning. SO glad to hear you get to play on toned paper. With that great scanner you’ll be able to show your work spectacularly! Merry Christmas Charlie. I got a few Da Vinci tubes and crossing my fingers I get to add that palette to the mix. I would love to test them all. :o)

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  7. May we never outgrow the love of toys for Christmas! Here in the midst of old age I still love them, hope that never changes. Love your bag of toys and can not wait to show Benjamin. We have been enjoying all your December posts immensely! Thank-you from both of us. Merry Christmas too! P.S. Benjamin got his first set of watercolors today!

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  9. Squeals of glee from your inner child – that’s the noise I’ve been listening to all day, trying to figure out what it is!
    I’m glad you had so much fun.

    I gave both my older grands art supplies, among other gifts, and taught my granddaughter how to make a “pinata people” ornament. Grandson and his dad made a house for the cat that adopted them – out of Fed Ex boxes. So there’s still a bit of child in all of us, no matter our ages.

    I want to say good bye tonight by stating how beautifully you painted Santa’s bag – he is glowing with joy.

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    1. Aww thanks so much, Sharon! 😃💕 I’m so thrilled to hear about your day… it sounds lovely! Yay to giving art supplies! And the cat house our of Fed Ex boxes sounds awesome! Well… I guess you shouldn’t call it a cat house and that means something else entirely, but still, sounds FUN!!!

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  17. After sharing your month of Christmas anticipation, it was so nice of you to share your actual holiday events and to hear about your surprise gifts. . For years I couldn’t wait until Christmas and was a pro at unwrapping presents I found before the actual date and actually rewrapping them and acting surprised when I opened them. Fortunately, I outgrew that rude habit and everything has been a surprise for many years now.(me bad).

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    1. Thanks, Jacob! 😃💕 Yes! This is from the new scanner… it’s really sweet and twice as fast so I’m thrilled. Still getting the hang of it, but as long as I don’t spend too much time playing with my R2-D2, I should get it figured out this week!

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