As a person with hobbies that require materials of varying sorts AND at the same time having a preternatural sensitivity to owning too much stuff, I often find myself having to make difficult decisions about said 'materials'.

This week, it has been all about the ink.

My SIL sent me a set of three small sample bottles of ink (at my request to be fair!) I loved one of them so much, I ordered a full bottle. But in order to get that bottle, I had to order it as a pair. One large and one medium bottle. Colorverse brand to be exact.

What a marketing strategy THAT is. 🙄

Anyway, what I didn't see coming was that this purchase would peg my 'too much stuff-o-meter'.

So, I lined up all my inks on my desk and over the next few days made some decisions.

I eliminated five. My current thought is to bag them up, along with a notebook and an extra fountain pen I had and putting them down in the Little Free Library to surprise someone. I would take them to our local secondhand store to donate, but the owner is on vacation until April!

Here's the before photo with an old swatch list I made months ago:

This only includes the ones I decided to keep.

Yesterday I sat down and connected to my Zen master mode and swatched them all. Please note, some of them are still just samples. And more than a few are custom colors that I mixed up myself. It took me an hour and a half because I had to keep cleaning off the pen I was using. Some inks would rinse off easily, others had to be coaxed.

This is what my inventory looks like now.

Evidently, I have a predilection for yellows, oranges, and golden browns.

My goal in all of this was to only have inks that I love to use.

I went through the same scenario with my watercolor palette.

Here's a closer look:

I love color. It evokes all kinds of emotional responses. It lifts the spirit or subdues it when that is what we need.

So, for now I am content.

I was going to write that I will refrain from ordering any new ink in the near future, but honestly, I know I probably will. So, let's not even say it so as not to have to eat my words later.

This was a very enjoyable exercise here in the gray of winter. My little defiance of the gloomy foggy days that are upon us.

And it's particularly nice that the meter is no longer pegged in the red zone.

(Which brings up an interesting point. There is no red ink on that paper. What's up with that?)

I don't know Sigmund. Though I did notice it myself.

(This wants looking into.)

Well, you get right on that. I have other things to do today.