Nearly everyone I know loves the beach, but there are exceptions. Mostly, they don’t like sand! To me, sand is one of the best parts of the beach. Barefoot, sinking into sand as the tide goes out, walking on warm sand. Watching the sand skitter across the beach with the wind, in lines or swirls. Hearing the waves come in and out, a whisper to a roar. Walking in sand can also be hard work! And then, the plants. Grasses, strange sea radishes (that are rather tasty), sea weed and other flotsam. All these make a beach.
Time of day gives a beach character – blinding high noon, subtle dawn, fiery sunset. All these add to the experience. Weather, too. Wind, rain, snow.
Where you live also adds character to the beach. Northern, southern, tropical. Rocky, cliffs, sand white as snow to black as night Birds, too, and other animals live along the shore. Beaches are magical worlds wherever they are found.
This morning I awoke to the sounds of birds and the rustle of leaves in the breeze. The sunlight was dim through the windows, with hints of blue, presaging an incredible day. Now the sun is up, and all that seemed promised is true. New leaves are appearing on the tulip tree and the redbud; the birds are still singing. Robert Browning wrote, “all’s right with the world.” On mornings such as this, it is best to believe it, and so I shall.
So, what to do? We are having family over for Sunday dinner, so there are things to be done around the house, a bit of shopping, a bit of cooking. It is a simple thing to do – marinated lamb roast, salad, bread or rice or potatoes, tzatziki. The company is to be enjoyed, and hopefully all invited will be able to join.
Life – and time to finally live it – is grand. No more “return to work” dates; I choose what to do and when. The Puritan side of me espouses “pain before pleasure,” meaning, get the unpleasant stuff out of the way ASAP! That means chores, like cleaning. I like clean things, but the cleaning process is not exciting – I’d rather be outside digging in the dirt or drawing or reading. The satisfaction of a chore, to me, is when it is done. Putting it off dulls the joy in other activities, but as I like an orderly and relatively clean house and studio, it makes sense. Doing the unpleasant first makes the rest of the day move into infinity.
Yesterday I bought some plants -peppers, alyssum, dianthus. Bulbs were on sale half price since it is past their season. Potting soil, too. Before I start the dinner shopping, but after housework, I shall begin work on my little front yard flower bed. My gardener worked in some soil for me, and now I have some ideas as to what I am going to do with it. Its a sunny – shady area as it faces west, with the house to the east. Afternoons find it quite shady, and as summer comes along, I think it gets shady earlier. Alyssum and dianthus will be along the outer borders of the plot – see below – bulbs sporadically distributed depending on their sun requirements – and the peppers will be placed in their own pots out on the sunny southern patio (aka “the dog-free zone” or the “DFZ”!)
Along with gardening, planning for my next painting is on the way. I have been following various YouTube painters – as you have seen in earlier posts – but I have also been working my way through a book on perspective and contemplating spartan photography. (Huh? Wuzzat?)
And, Josh and I spent 3 days in San Diego, which was something wonderful to do – get away from it all to enjoy coming back to it all!
This morning I went out and bought plants for the flower beds, had lunch and a nap, and then decided what I wanted to paint. Rick Surowicz just posted a new video on his YouTube channel called “Waiting for Spring.” On his personal website, he posted a sketch of the study as well as a photograph of the actual barn, and his final watercolor. If you haven’t checked out his channel, you should. He has so much valuable information. When I am feeling more focused, I want to try out his two classes as they are more detailed than his YouTube presentations, although they are detailed enough for anyone who wants to learn.
This video appealed to me for a number of reasons. One, perspective. This is a frontal view, so the roof line is pretty much a straight line across the top, parallel to the top edge of the paper. I got out my ruler and made both straight horizontal and vertical lines. From there, I roughed in the trees and shadows and bushes.
The palette was pretty simple – Rick posts the colors he used at the beginning, as well as mentioned that his Cerulean Blue is PB36 as opposed to PB35 – PB35 apparently is more greenish than PB36. This would be either DaVinci Cerulean or Daniel Smith Cerulean Blue Chromium. Of course, if you don’t clean up your paints, you could have just about anything.
What I learned from this video were a few things. One, mix colors on the paper as you move along. Specifically, on the roof, I moved from one color to the next, picking up paint and working it into the paint on the paper. This gave a nice effect. Another important thing was to realize that while I have flat brushes, most of mine, if not all, are rather stiff. Painting with them at times created problems as a softer flat brush would be a better choice in some areas.
I also realized I need to sort out my brushes better – put rounds in one area, flats in another, and riggers and other specialized brushes in another. I have a stand, and perhaps I shall use that next, or else I may just get individual holders – like jars or tins – to hold specific brushes in specific areas. I continue to learn!
As I look at this painting, I can see my confidence in handling color has come a long, long way. I plan to do a few more barns in the coming week, using photos from Pixabay. This way, I can practice perspective, use my ruler, and try to paint more confidently than I seem to do when I don’t have a video to follow.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 