A bit of nature in the land of suburbia.
Actually, this is just one part of a creek which runs throughout my neighborhood and into the open space a few miles away. Rain water washes into the creek from gutters, and you can find breeding ducks and frogs in its water. I have even seen an egret there. After our rains, we have a fair bit of water in it, and I enjoy walking a few blocks to the park, just to hear its trickle and see kids and dogs having a bit of a riot.
We spent the weekend in the central coastal area of California. The drive up and back were beautiful, with miles travelled in the Paso Robles wine country. This is an oak tree, leafing out in a field alongside the road home. This has been an extraordinarily beautiful spring!
We spent a weekend in the wine country of the central coast in California . . . .
Today I decided to just paint and take it from there. No prelim sketch, some reference to this or that, but the point was to just paint and see what happens. It is really practice, and here I used oils. I just need to get comfortable with them and how they handle. That was the whole point of today’s painting. I think I will do more of these, just for practice. The masterpieces can wait.
Oil, 12×12, cotton canvas panel.
With the esposo off to Disneyland with a few old co-workers of yore, I am home alone, unsupervised, and bored. With that said, what else is there to do except get out with the camera, no dogs, and go for a brisk walk in fine, cool, clear winter weather?
I stayed fairly close to home and thought it would be fun to look for things that are part of my daily life and try to see them a bit differently than I might if I was just out for a casual stroll. Looking and seeing, taking time on the small bits of my environment, always give me a lot of pleasure. And this is one of the things I “found” – a bit of our neighbor’s yard. The light was gorgeous – later afternoon, but not quite evening – and by cropping to a square and enhancing the image a bit, I really liked what happened.
Taking time to look and not having a leash or two pulling me along, much less pulling me off my feet, was fun. Suburbia is quite boring at times, but other times it produces a lot of great visual gifts. I got a few today, and that makes me rather happy.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 