In the Studio: Tea Swatches!

         In case you are new to my humble little part of the web, My artistic practice is based on tea and it includes it as a medium at times. Over the past few weeks, while writing a grant, I decided I needed a guide for future works.
      Above is a start to this idea. I feel that I will need to get a small watercolor sketchbook to use just for this purpose. When I have notes like this in a larger sketchbook it gets lost when I no longer am working in that book. Pocket Moleskines are great for this kind of reference. They fit in your pocket, you can have them close at hand in the studio and they take up no space in a bag.
        So, why do I paint with tea? My main medium is Japanese Sumi ink, and it has a coldness to it. Tea warms it up and creates a balance. There are many different colours that can be achieved with all the varieties of tea out there. The only true problems I have run into is using berry/hibiscus based tea and matcha. Both change color after they dry and have been exposed to air for a while. Matcha changes to an odd brown and berry/hibiscus changes to  a blue/indigo.
   In this instance it makes sense why I should have this little reference on hand, especially when working into the wee hours of the morning.