I painted this shortly after doing the “Quiet River” watercolor yesterday. Still in a patient mood, which was good, as this painting, though small, needed a bit of thought and a bit of patience to complete. The effect of rain meant laying in heavy washes on damp paper and letting them run. In other areas, damp color had to dry only so far before a dryer brush could apply color. As you can see, I rather messed up with a second round of wet paint because of the bloom (aka cauliflower) in the middle right. Still, it works, catching the breakthrough of the sun and the scudding quality of a storm on a windy day.
This is a week for meeting up with old friends! After working in acrylic for several weeks, having eye surgery, and not doing much artwork of any kind, it felt great to do gouache yesterday, and this morning, watercolor.
It is interesting how some days just push me to the limit in frustration and dissatisfaction with what I do, and other days just move along in a calm and serene way. Why is this? My mood was patient and willing to wait today, whereas on other days, freneticism is the dominant emotion. I think watercolor especially requires a serene approach, more meditative than other media, simply because once the mark is made, it is there. With gouache and acrylic you can hide your messes a bit more easily!
Well . . . I haven’t painted in gouache for months, much less painted in weeks, all because I had my first cataract surgery several weeks ago, and my last two days ago. I think my scanner is way off as far as colors go as well as my monitors. This scanned image is not the picture I painted.
I pulled out a camera to take an image, but cannot find my card reader to fetch it. My whole computer needed to be reinstalled because of some bad software.
I suppose the good thing is to get some painting done, but it really feels dreary to look at this abomination. I shall be Scarlett O’Hara now and say, “After all, tomorrow is another day!”
I have been out of touch with a lot of my “real” and “normal” life because I have had cataract surgery in both eyes these past several weeks. It rather limited anything visual, but now I can see and do things without my glasses even though parts of the world are blurry. My eyes are certainly sharper than they have been in ages, colors are brighter, and in a few weeks I can get checked for new specs. Meanwhile, I have done some painting, and now, some post processing of images I took awhile ago. This is from a restaurant we ate at several weeks ago whilst up in the Morro Bay area of California. I would love to have this as my own garden!
I plan to find some photos I took in the last 6 months and re-edit them with my “new” eyes. It will be interesting to see if my editing has changed at all as far as vividness of color. This photo was vivid in and of itself and unedited prior to surgery, so no idea what is going to happen!
I had the second cataract surgery yesterday, on the left eye, and had the same lens implanted as I did in the right – closer focus vs. distance. The eye surgeon called me one evening to discuss choices, so I went with his recommendation.
Visual Pun?
Today, I had the 24-hour post-op check, and everything is doing very well! Eye pressure = 17 (normal is 12-25 per the optometrist) in both eyes, and I can see clearly between a distance of 8-24 inches. I used to only be able to see clearly if things were within an inch of the tip of my nose, if that gives you any idea of the change in vision.
The other rather shocking – but amazing! – thing is that I cannot wear ANY pair of my old glasses, and have to wear non-prescription sunglasses. My eyes are sensitive to the light, the left very much so, which is normal post-op. Currently I am using the wrap-around cataract sunglasses, and they really do help.
I have another post-op visit in a week, and then 2 weeks later an appointment for new glasses altogether!
I am honestly so pleased with the results so far. I have worn glasses nonstop since I was 8 or 9. Right now, none are on my face, and I can function well enough to probably drive without corrective lenses. In the mirror, I look very strange because there are no frames on my face. I will get them back soon enough – not as soon as I would like, but c’est la vie. Then the world will be even more perfect.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 