soooo down to the wire and i've got writers AND artist block

and a materials problem....my paints keep chipping off the duralar
add to this all the rain, the spring fever etc
and we have one unhappy artist...with a gapping hole in her book

however knitting is going swimmingly! i finished the cream and sugar cowl in record time...out of sunna from spirit trail in a deep red/maroon color that works quietly with my charcoal wool town coat
now i'm back to the gold fish shawl
and beading
then i'm mopping up the UFO bag
in between drawings

i also had an epiphany.. about my art school and my education- i don't remember a watercolor class!
if there was one...... i didn't take it
so i have been learning stuff on my own through trial and error......
well i finally figured out that i needed to look up information on maskoid and boy was that amazing
turns out i was on the right track but i picked up a few tricks along the way- which saved me a LOT of money that i would have wasted on ruined papers
1) winsor newton makes a colorless mask that is good for 'soft' sized paper
2) frisket paper needs to have the edges sealed with white mask
3) soap a brush and then dip it in the maskoid
4) 140-300 pound paper resists the mask damage the most
5) there WILL be damage on the paper surface from the mask ( here i was kicking myself silly)

now some of the trial and error things....... the use of the toothbrush to splatter mask so it acts like snow... yeah i reinvented the wheel there.........
and i had an inkling that i could mask some colors out......say in the northern lights but i didn't do it
the ducks i ruined....... i should have used frisket...and sealed the edges with white mask instead of painting them all over with mask

so now i am wondering.....what else could i have possibly missed by not having a watercolor class in art school....
i remember we did oils
and got full instructions in etching ( gees i love etching...i would so love to do it again)
but we only got a smattering in 'water' mediums......and that covered acrylics at the time
they treated watercolor as paintings poor half sister
and basically ignored it
we did get instruction in gouashe... but only in commerical art

oye
either way it's all good right???

someone want to please tell me that?