Tag: summer

On the Forest Floor

One of the things about following a track in the woods regularly, you see things that you don’t see another time. Where we were staying near Spokane, our daily walks took us out along the same track, under the pines, alongside the river. While the season didn’t change much in the few days we were there, what I saw became more specific, like this flower against the fallen tree. Different times of day, too, presented the light in different ways as it shone through the trees. This familiarity is one of the delights to be had with the familiar.

Tomato Season!

We can all agree that homegrown tomatoes are the best! I also have some lettuces.

Even with water restrictions in place, we are able to do some gardening. The drip system is working well in the front yard. This weekend we will install the emitters on the patio plants. Not all will get water as some are at the end of their lives. We also need to decide how much water to give each pot.

Yay! Tomatoes!

Coastal Fog, Morning

I am trying to lighten up my handling of watercolor. Very often my colors are far more intense than I really want. I think part of this is the result of impatience and perhaps pre-cataract surgery days. Watercolor itself lends itself to a delicacy other media lack, I think, and to not play into the wetness and what it can do perhaps defeats watercolor’s beauty.

There is something about fog and early morning that always fascinates me. The idea that a cloud is on the ground (my father’s description of fog when I was about 5) still intrigues me. After all, clouds are UP!

So, a morning along the coast. Wet, soft, blurry, and giving way to a sunny, summer day.

Arches CP 140#, 9×12, watercolor.

Road through the Hills

About six weeks ago I started this painting and then all the chaos of insurance and plan choices and lost mail brought most of my creative life to a screeching halt. It was emotionally exhausting in a lot of ways, but those details really are not important today. Instead, this painting is finished at last!

Details first: acrylic on gessoed 16×20 CP Arches 140# paper. Borders of paper taped down all the way. I probably spent about 10-12 hours on this painting.

There have been multiple iterations of this painting. In the original, a tree was in the right middle front foreground. That disappeared last night. Then the road, which disappeared dead center, was reworked and made visible through the trees this morning. The suggestions of vineyards in the background disappeared, too. Too many stripes – I was looking for a zebra.

To finish the painting, I decided to work in middle of the night last night, and from 10:30 pm to 2:30 a.m. I painted out nearly everything except the blobby middle that I knew was not what I wanted. My husband, who is no art aficionado, always has good advice on painting problems. He and I agreed on the issues. So, this afternoon, I spent a few hours working and reworking it until you see the finished result above.

I have not done a lot of painting in acrylics, but each painting I do brings new experiences. I still tend to be a dabber, but am working to think about how I move the brush more, such as long horizontal or vertical strokes, or suggestions of something with just a blob (not a dab!) of color. I need to work in acrylics more to build more confidence in my brushwork.

So, here you are, on a gravel road in the backcountry, enjoy vineyards and olive groves, somewhere in a Mediterranean country on a hot day in summer.