Archive for April, 2010
Benefits of Walking
I’ve begun my walking routine again – and feel much better as a result. I became very lazy during the winter and walked only occasionally.
Tonight I was reading the blog of Cathy Woo (cathywoofineart.blogspot.com), a Seattle artist who walks in the Alki Beach area. For her, “It is not sufficient for me to be passively present in Nature. I have to walk it. Movement is essential to my well-being. It …provides insights more enlightening than any I could come up with by way of stationary concentration and effort”.
For me, also, movement is essential to my well being. I am just not happy unless I’m moving. I’m not sure that I gain as many insights as she as a result of walking, but it does give me more energy than otherwise. And doing landscape painting out-of-doors beats painting from a photograph by miles!
A Blob of Color or a Work of Art?
Impressionism was just one of the first purposeful departures from realism, which had held sway in the art world for hundreds of years. While impressionists added rich color and strong emotional responses to realistic objects and settings, abstract artists took a different, more radical approach.
Abstract art was born out of the idea that art needed to bear only a slight resemblance to its source material – or perhaps none at all. When one views a work of total abstraction, it’s impossible to get a frame of reference based in reality. Mark Rothko is one of the best known painters in the abstract expressionist school. Although his most famous paintings could be accurately described as horizontal bands of color, they do the job that all unique abstract paintings strives toward. They evoke a certain feeling.
The Office, Again
Well! There was to be no landscape painting today! It had rained in the night and more was predicted for the morning.
It was a good day for finishing the office. I filed a big pile of papers and then attacked the income tax. A while back I had brought a big box of my husband’s old income tax papers down from the attic. Each year was carefully labeled and put in its own envelope and all were 9-20 years old. Do you have any idea how long it took to look through those and separate the recycles from the personal parts which I shredded? Now, if I can just get the desk tidied, the room will be perfect!
The Office
My friends and I had planned to do some landscape painting today, however the weather was not just cloudy, it had a heavy cloud cover with no possibility for sun to come through, and rain was in the forecast. If it is just cloudy, the sun usually shines through occasionally, at least enough to see where the shadows are, but that was not the case today. So we decided to give it up for today.
I spent a long time working in my office and a while working on my web site. The office had not recovered from my trip from Florida, but looks much better now. Perhaps with another day’s work it will really be organized. I just can’t figure out how it can get so messy so fast!
A Respite
I just had to take a few days off from landscape painting and work in my yard. After driving from Florida to Maryland, there was little time to rest when the Snow Hill Paint Out began. Three busy days of painting and 1 day of framing and hanging – and hanging around – when last Monday arrived and it was time to paint again!
My yard was calling me. Of course, the grass was ankle high when I arrived from Florida, so I mowed it – and a week later, again! Then there were the flower beds – all 12 of them – from mail box size to 5′ x 30′ of so! Because I had used a mulch designed to keep the weeds out for 6 months, there were only a few weeds compared to other years. (Even so, there were still a lot!) At this point, I have 6 beds weed free and with granules to keep the weeds out for 3 months, I’m ready to paint tomorrow!
Painting on Sunset Drive
On Monday, my two friends and I met again to do landscape painting. We have a standing agreement that we will paint out of doors if the weather is pleasant, otherwise we paint in my garage/studio. Today, Betty had found a place new to us – the home of one of her friends who lives near the village of Bivalve on the Nanticoke River.
We met at a local restaurant aptly named “Boonies,” and caravanned from there. The owner wasn’t home, but we had permission to paint, so we set up our easels and began. Betty and Suzanne were over by the river because they like to feature the water in their paintings. I found 3 trees I liked a little distance away, but where I also could see the river and included it in my painting. What a wonderful way to spend a day!
Snow Hill Paint Out – Day 4
Last evening I finished my third and last landscape painting for the Paint Out. The background trees were just not the right color and some of the other paint was thin or streaked, so I repainted most of the picture. This morning I planned to frame the 3 paintings, take them to Snow Hill and hang them. But I had a big problem! The frames for these paintings are new to me and a different kind of wood than that to which I was accustomed. It was oak and needed a drill before a screw would go in! I hadn’t planned on that happening and my drill was not charged! Time was running out and the drill just did not charge fast enough!
A friend made several calls for me and Bill, the owner of the Auction House, was kind enough to use his drill to make the holes and put in the screws. I got to the show site on time and talked with many of the other artists, old friends and new, but didn’t sell a thing!
Snow Hill Paint Out – Day 3
When I asked Betty if she knew where there was a “gnarley” tree, she said, “Yes”. She had found one yesterday and it was by the river! We agreed to meet there at noon. (And, by the way, she never found a wisteria tree yesterday).
When I arrived, I found two other friends already painting. The giant cypress tree was close enough to the river that I could include it in my landscape painting. I found an appealing view and set up my easel.
Betty found an interesting setting with the river and a wisteria tree nearby. Wisteria has a lovely lavender blossom, somewhat larger than a lilac and looks lovely in a spring painting.
A picnic was planned for our group from 3-5 PM at Sturgis Park, also on the river. It was good to visit with other painters we had not seen since last summer or fall.
Snow Hill Paint Out – Day 2
I met my friends today in the garden of the Snow Hill Library. Both were working hard at their landscape paintings. There were a few trees there, but none really appealed to me, so we agreed to meet for lunch and I went to Byrd Park again looking for an interesting scene.
A while later they came by and we all went to the Palette for lunch. One of the specialties of the day was catfish sliders – and we all agreed they were scrumptious! My friends brought me back to the park and set out to find some wisteria to paint. I finished my painting but will have to report later about their day.
Snow Hill Paint Out – Day 1
The Snow Hill Paint Out is this coming weekend. Officially, it is Friday through Sunday, but unofficially, all week long artists are permitted to go to Snow Hill or the surrounding area and paint. The only requirement is that you register before the cut-off number of artists is reached.
My two friends and I met south of town. They drove together, but I drove separately because I paint larger paintings than they and it takes me longer to finish. Once parked, I joined them and we drove around the area looking for interesting scenery for our landscape paintings. We finally settled on Byrd Park, the local city park along the beautiful Pokomoke River, because it had something for everyone – water for them and trees for me.
After 2 hours or so, Suzanne had 2 paintings, Betty had one, and I had about 2/3 of one. Later, after dinner, I finished mine.