Category: Blitherings

Potted Flowers without the Pots

I wasn’t interested in the flower pots these potted flowers are in, so I left them out. Now they are unpotted for your perusal.

Above are what are supposed to be little daisies and some lobelia. More negative painting practice, which didn’t really work out, but I did try it, both around the daisies and then painting green onto green in the greenery.

Venery in the greenery anyone?

I am much happier with this painting than the first one. Some negative painting, such as in the leaves and in the lavenders of the sea lavenders. With both, but particularly the sea lavender, I also tried to merge colors in the wet washes. There was a cauliflower which occurred in the far right sea lavender, but too much working on it made it a bit more messy. My mind was on painting colors, not really on patience of waiting for things to dry a bit – hence the cauliflower.

I worked on these this morning, painting on the patio in a bit of a gloomy day, but it was certainly pleasant enough. Being outdoors while painting certainly is beginning to have its appeal; now I think I might take a handcrank sewing machine outside to enjoy more of this summery now sunny weather whilst I sew!

The Value of a Local Bookstore

Yesterday I did tasks and then ran away from home. I went exploring down roads I know and then went further. I found some hidden parks in the hills, covered in the remaining bright colors of the season’s rain. I will need to go back to investigate soon.

Before I went exploring I went to the last local remaining bookstore, part of a chain, complete with coffee and magazines and places to sit. There is a children’s section, music section, audio books, crime and SciFi fiction, manga, and novels old and new. Of course, there is history and politics and travel and nature and art and crafts. Lots of stuff.

I haven’t been in a bookstore for awhile. I tend to head to the local library, and that in itself is a wonderful resource, and ours is especially nice. However, what does a bookstore have that a library does not? A bunch of new books recently published. It’s a feast for the brain and the eye – wandering around and looking at notes posted on the shelves with thoughts from staff and buyers about them, spying colorful titles or interesting titles.

With the onslaught of online buying, the bookstore is facing extinction, whether national chains or locally owned. Libraries are also being challenged with some US states authorizing the persecution and prosecution of librarians who allow books deemed unfit by a few for the delicate eyes and ears of children to be purchased or checked out. School libraries face the same issue.

Nothing like censorship to ruin good things. Some places have also had to ban the Bible, which is funny and ironic, because most of the censoring is being pursued by the religious right. I am surprised that bookstores aren’t being boycotted and persecuted, too. Or Amazon.

So, back to bookstores. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to just wander and look, and think, and consider what is currently out there. Bookstores are a valuable community resource and should be supported. It’s a blessing to live near one as well as to have libraries – cherish them while you can as they could disappear in your lifetime.

A Baby Cup and a Lily

Today has been one of those days when daily chores fill up life: laundry, housework, and so on. While there is still time to do some creative things, I need to get out of the house before I scream! Playing domestic goddess gets really old really fast, and the best cure for that is a bit of a change of scenery. Even though it is grey and gloomy outside, it is still better than 4 walls and one more load in the dryer.

I have a baby cup – a sippy cup – on my desk, filled with water which I use to dilute my iron gall ink as needed. It is a very important item of stationery intent. Certainly it warrants memorialization.

And then there are lilies. I have gobs of these orange lilies all over the place in pots. They get pretty rangy if they are in semi-sun conditions – like over 3′ tall. The yellow ones I have are shorter. Neither are fragrant like Asiatic lilies, which are a definite favorite, but they do endure and bloom over a long time period. Still, they are a lovely flower, bright and cheerful, and rather fascinating to look at – they are just so orange or so yellow it is hard to believe. In pencil, they are certainly more subdued.

The sippy cup had some subtle shadings which were a challenge. What I was especially intrigued by was how much I learned about the lilies when I started to draw them – the petal shapes, number of stamens and pistils, and colors of the same. Observation is rather surprising at times.

Negative Painting and Ear Kisses

Outside this time, sitting near our picnic table, looking at a pot of pinks on the patio and some backlit orange lilies. On the table, a sudden plop, and who is there but our athletic dog, Smudge. A few licks on the ear, a number of turns on her cushion, and she is sprawled out in her favorite spot. She loves to jump up onto the table, in part to get away from her sister, Inky, and because she likes to get up on stuff. She used to climb a tree in our backyard . . .

But, I digress. This time I decided to work from real life. It’s gloomy and overcast here in California, typical for this time of year along the coast. Even inland, we still enjoy (or not) the May Grey and June Gloom. Perfect for being outdoors – comfortable. And good for plein air.

First up, pinks or dianthus, members of the carnation family. I worked on these with two goals – large washes of color to become defined in shape by negative painting. I did the drawing with a Micron .oo5 pen, a waterproof pen with a delicate tip and good, dark ink.

While that dried, I started the next painting on the opposite page in the sketchbook. Here I used much the same approach – drawing in waterproof black ink (this time using one with a thicker point) and then working on colors and shapes, and giving more shape to leaves and flowers with negative painting.

Both of these are painted on 100% cotton paper and I am much happier with the results. The paintings are a bit fiddly, but it is also the result of trying to capture the flowers and leaves in light and shadow, painting from lighter masses to more detail, trying to indicate stems, leaves, and individual flowers to some degree which is identifiable but not like a photograph.

Today’s adventure was more to my liking than yesterday’s with the not very pretty pale waterproof ink. I feel a bit more successful about the end results. And I certainly am a lot happier with the paper.

Boring Waterproof Ink

I had hoped to have a nice dark ink on this paper, using a fountain pen filled with waterproof ink. The ink is waterproof, but it is so pale I fell asleep. If you are going to do a line drawing and then color it in, you need to have a dark ink. The ink was definitely waterproof, but so what if I don’t like the result?

I also used my cellulose paper sketchbook for this, and once more I am not happy. All these blobs of unabsorbed color and a few more than many times using the hair dryer.

Maybe I am not being realistic about the paper, but I am realistic about the point of this study – is the ink waterproof? And that answer is yes. Goal met.