The cast came off yesterday, I'm now in a splint, and this morning, for the first time since I had my plaster changed a month ago, the arm and hand got a good wash in hot water - utterly blissful! Suki, who commented on my last blog post, was absolutely right; the skin has dried into peeling flakes, and a serious application of moisturizing cream is called for. Still having trouble cleaning my palette - any twisting of the arm is extremely painful; so it's not too late if you want to volunteer.... I've tried my hake brushes (incidentally, anyone know how to pronounce the word? I assume it should be "hak-ay", as they're Japanese in origin, but I'd be a lot happier, for some reason, if it sounded just like the fish) and am very impressed. Read a lot about them, and was slightly disconcerted to find that quite a few painters have absolutely no use for them at all; but happily, they've suited me well. The best way to use them seems to be to take up the water, but then squeeze the excess out before either wetting the paper or applying colour; and then to use a VERY light touch. Well, I've been used to this procedure with my old Dalon flat, so it wasn't quite foreign to me; the hakes, of course (I bought 4) hold far more water than any synthetic could. It would be easy to produce very wishy-washy paintings with them, which is why the excess needs to be squeezed out. I've produced 4 or 5 small practice pieces, around 10" by 7", and look forward to using the biggest brush on a larger effort. I've also bitten the bullet at last, and bought a size 4 Kolinsky sable (from Rosemary & Co); none of my watercolour brushes come to a fine point any more (if they ever did) and I was beginning to feel the lack of a w/colour brush I could actually make shapes with. So, in my enforced semi-idleness, I've made some investments - new brushes, a big pack of Bockingford on order, some Rembrandt watercolours, and some Chromacolour. I have my eye on a real Mahl stick next - in place of my old length of bamboo cane from the garden, topped with a ball cunningly contrived out of foam and cotton wool, held in place with a patch of old pyjama, and fastened with a shoelace; practical, but not elegant. Someone stop me before I bankrupt myself......