A Bit of Snow

It is this time of year, the end of October, when I dream of autumn fading away and the first snows of winter arriving. I was born in mid-October, and my mother says she went into labor with me on a warm, sunny autumnal day and came home in a blizzard. I always remember this story, and as a kid loved seeing bright autumn leaves and berries still on the trees and bushes breaking through a fresh layer of snow. Weather like this was always a birthday present from Mother Nature!

Covered bridges spanning creeks are still in existence in various bits of the east coast. I imagine they were welcome resting spots for those on horseback or in open carts or wagons, out of the wind and snow or rain. For me, they are part of my own nostalgia for “the good old days” – and really lovely bits of historical architecture.

It has been a long time since I have witnessed the autumns and winters of hardwood woodlands. They always linger as some of the most beautiful memories. The mid-west and eastern states of New York north are where I want to be this time of year. But, where I live, in sunny SoCal, this is not the case, even though the Sierras have much to offer this time of year. And, admittedly, I am glad I don’t have to deal with chains and mukluks and woolies and long johns. I will admire the change of seasons from afar, more so in my dotage.

Watercolor, unknown watercolor paper with poor sizing, 11×14.

On Gravelly Paths

Old age is not for sissies, so they say. I agree. Giving in to fear does not make for an enjoyable life. Falling and shattering my arm last year and smashing my heel bone in July have made me rather timid. It is very annoying. I have always had “sloppy joints” per the rogue orthopedist, and couple this with high arches and a tendency to supinate (turn my feet upwards on the inside), makes for high chances of a good tumble. And I have taken quite a few in my life time, but get back up and out. Now I do it with more conscientious feet movements after several rounds of occupational therapy and balancing instruction.

So, off to the local botanical garden to prowl along gravelly paths where stones easily skitter underfoot. (That reminds me I once had a cat I named Underfoot Ticklewhisker.) No dog, just me and a camera and a cell phone in my shoulder bag.

Come walk with me . . .

I keep thinking this may be a California Redwood, but I may be wrong. For some reason I really want to call it an ironwood, but, hell, I forgot to look at the tag! Nonetheless, it is a tree I always look at because of the deep red and shedding bark contrasted by bright green leaves. Today it was particularly delightful.

Not many flowers remain, and these California fuschias (again, “I think”!) were some of the few remaining flowers in bloom. Against the deep greens of rosemary, the pale green leaves and bright orange flowers are very attractive.

Oak trees fill the garden! Another perennial favorite of mine year round. There are a lot of them that I cannot help admire, and if I were a kid, I would be up in them, climbing as high as I dared.

At the far end of the garden is a path that leads around the hillside and down into the creek and woodlands. This is the beginning, but in my cautious state, I won’t do it alone. It is not a well traveled path and a fall could be very nasty. This also shows you how dry it gets here in SoCal in the fall before the rainy season begins.

One lovely part of the garden is the rare fruit orchard. Depending on where you live, these fruit trees could be common or rare. Here is a green sapote, in leaf and bearing fruit. It is a native to Mexico and is rather odd to my taste, but it is good. Also, there are signs to not pick the fruit, in part because of insecticide, but also to let others have a chance to enjoy the gardens. Locally there is a warning sign about invasive flies of some kind.

About here, I sat down. This is at the top of the hill and I was pretty pleased with my progress. A few stones underfoot, but I made it without a problem. Going downhill would be more precipitous, but I planned to return the same way I came up – the inclines are not steep and there are benches along the way.

Before descending, I had to get a view to the northeast, overlooking the city and into the mountains beyond. The sky was gorgeous with that deep autumnal blue as well as clouds – not a common site over our dry region!

And I made it to the bottom of the hill with rather irritated knees but not a fall at all. (Or perhaps, not an autumn at all?)

Ikebana

Ikebana – the beautifully simple and elegant Japanese art of flower arranging.

I don’t know if this would qualify as an elegant flower arrangement, but it is an interesting arrangement of lines and shapes, disguised as an ikebana painted on canvas. Colors, too. And a reflection on a semi-shiny surface. I wanted to explore open space in a painting and how to fill it fairly simply. Maybe an austere environment?

As with the gladioli the other day, I used fluid acrylics on a cotton canvas mounted on board. Many of the same techniques were used, too – vertical and horizontal brushwork using a 1/2 flat brush. When I had reached a point of needing to “finish” the painting, it just didn’t work. I wanted to add some swirls of lines, vetoed it, and decided that some softer shapes with a bit of curve might work. The flowers and leaves were dotted and dabbed in to take away the vertical and horizontal lines of the original ones. I think this worked. But, as this is so different than what I seem to do – a new area of exploration – I am not really sure about it at all!!

Fluid acrylics on cotton canvas on board, 11×14.

Gladioli

In seems to me that a “style” is not something I have. You can recognize many painters by how their work looks, but I am all over the place. This is not really by design, but more by learning by trying to figure out how they might do something. I started out here by trying to do an abstraction of a vase of gladioli, inspired by varied modern painters, but in the end I ended up doing most if it by shaping the flowers, background, and vase with vertical and horizontal strokes.

Using fluid acrylics, I painted with wet paint, and as time went by, used the brush to blend the drying paint. Some glazes were used, too. When I finished the vase, background, and bouquet, the background was pretty empty. So, simple geometric shapes – a bowl, a glass, a pitcher. I wanted them pale to blend into the background but still distinctive. The results seem to work.

11×14, cotton canvas on board, fluid acrylics.

Composition & Direction

I have my acrylic pear painting sitting on my easel. It is tilted to the right. I rather like it!

This is how the painting was painted and presented here the other day. Now let’s look at different directions and see how a 90 degree shift impacts the painting for better or worse.

Rotating the painting and adding a signature in the lower right of each image lets you know where the bottom of the image is supposed to be.

The image on the top of these four is the way it is tilted on my easel and what started this idea. I think of the 4, it may be my favorite. The original is conventional, the 2nd is my next; the bottom two are a bit odd for my eye.

This is my preferred variant.

Art for thought! Or, artsy food for thought?