Kathy's house 2

Still learning how hello, picasa and bloggerbot work. Tried to post the first washes of this painting, but didn't click enough times I guess. At any rate, here is the more abstracted version of Kathy's house. The photo I took made it easy.

Things to adjust: roof color & shadow color.
Definitely want to paint this again and try:
1. large size version
2. realistic colors
3. corrected drawing; I made a major drawing error.
4. add some more red?

I loved this immediately. It has what I love about many of David's Maine paintings, the brilliant sun on buildings.

Doing the color work that has been done so far made difference between this painting and the first one of Kathy's house because of the fact that I did TRY to make the colors balance. Though I am not yet satisfied, the initial color group works a lot better than the first painting. I'm anxious to get back to it and see what it takes to finish it and then do another version.

When I scanned it in black and white, I was surprised that the bright yellow looks the same value as the shadows. Hmmmm.

Being New

People are friendly here and I can tell I'm back in the South. It is nice to have polite people in stores. No one seems in a hurry or stressed out. In the art center people make eye contact and say hello, even if they are just walking past you. I could get used to this. Sales clerks are nice and there are hardly any lines to stand in.

It takes time to make new friends, especially when you get poison ivy on your face and skip church. But the artists I have talked to have all been nice. Seems to be a lot of built-in comeradery. Nice. I don't know what I expected. People all on drugs and into weird stuff?

Artists I've met seem to assume we are all poor and are generous with hints of where to find deals on supplies and services.

All you see are strip malls, gas stations, grocers, apartments, condos, wide streets and lots of parking space. Where is everyone? Surely it gets busy in the summer.

At one church I tapped someone's shoulder and introduced myself on the way out. I'm new. Most churches ideally want to notice and welcome strangers, but many have trouble with this. We are happy to see our friends and get into conversations with them immediately and do not notice the new-comer.

Platform with Crane

So the place was begging to be painted. I don't know yet what it is, but there were great shapes and colors.

This is what I learned:

--bad dogs must be blinded from viewing other dogs who are merely walking by with their humans, unless you want claw marks on your legs and large amounts of sand in your paints.

--choose your colors ahead of time so as not to go looking for them in the middle of your painting

--too many lines on the crane, too thick , too dark

--don't try to paint every wave you see when a painting can only represent one instant in time.

--you needed your Viridian green

--the lavendar wet sand reflection is there, but not for very long, and it is worth recording

--bring lunch and coffee

--you don't need your camera every time...less is more

--buy a small butcher's tray pallet

--pack up the day before

--it can be warm on the beach in November

--parking is free and dogs are allowed during off season

--it's a couple miles farther by the Southern route

--surfers face the sea and get psyched before they surf

--there are lots of trash cans so I don't have to go far to discard the dog's poop bag. LOL

--the shadow of the rail cars are not clean enough

--the platform and pilons need to be unified

--the pilons need to be more rusty orange and varied

--I could use a tie out stake

That's all I can think of and I'm too tired to think any more.

The Plague

Time before last my skilled coach asked me what is this other mind set that plagues you? He referred to the idea I have firmly ensconced in my head that I will be successful IF I make a living painting and writing and can support myself all the way through old age, not being a burden on my children but leaving them a comfy inheritance. Where do I get this? From my Dad and Mom for sure.

Now then I am in a totally new place that my childhood values did not prepare me for. I grew up with this: the Dad makes a living and pays for the wife and children. The mom stays home and cooks and cleans and cares for the kids. The kids go to school and learn and come home and play and do chores. The girls will grow up and marry and keep house like their mommy. The guy will marry someone and provide money and security for her.

These things did not all come true. The guy only married once and for less than a year. No permanent relationship has come for him. The girls married, some divorced and remarried and as for me, I lost my husband through death.

What is that Helen Keller quote? security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a great adventure or nothing....

But he has a different outlook on success and I am glad to let him try to improve my thinking about success.

Are you successful only if you get money?

Or are you successful if you take the gifts God gave you and use them and share them with your family and then with the world?

I will remember

View from my former bedroom window.
Name: Old Gnarly

Reconnected

Little by little things are getting set up. I almost have money to spend. The bank says come in again and prove I am me. Then I can write my first check.

The sky here is cleaner than in DC. I don't know if being near the sea makes a difference. I should think it wuould feel more humid all the time, but so far I have not noticed that. Just the incredible strength of the sky, especiallly in late afternoon and evening.

Hmmm, there is my neighbor throwing something. He really should have a shirt on if he has any self respect. Ew. Throwing rocks at a pesky muskrat or fox? No, looks more like bread to geese in the way he's tossing, not pelting.

It will be warm again today and we really must get to the beach to paint.

It was lovely to have my 2 daughters come see me over the weekend. I put out the pumpkins we carved but no one came trick or treating. I'm glad, because all I had was fireballs. I don't know how many kids would want fireballs! They'd probably say what are these? Halloween is a holiday I could do without.

So I wondered, did they come to see me or the dog? Yes, the dog, but still, I think they would have come to see me even if there were no dog. I think.

Hugs, laughter, relaxation, trying to eat our sandwiches on the beach without eating sand. Windy. They still like each other and they told me their throats were sore from screaming all the way down. Can't make it 2 weeks without their mom, they said. Well, I love them too and I'm glad they came and yes, it was hard to say good-bye again, but as daughter the third said: It will get easier each time, right? Yes, it will.

We visited their brother's church again. We ate lunch with his sweet wife and the grandpuppy and the girls got to see the house now that it's finished. And a lovely house it is.

There goes a school bus and Mr. Michelin tire man is STILL feeding the birds. He must have quite a supply of bread or maybe he went to the Farmers Market and has a bucket of Indian corn. OK, my curiosity got the best of me. From the bedroom window I confirmed that it's geese he is feeding. I bet they come every day. Now then, those geese. I'm glad they are here because I miss seeing the ones at the lake a lot. You feel acquainted after 11 years.

And the little birds in the tree outside my window. It is warm enough to leave the window open. I like to sleep in pitch dark, but if there is the option to hear the night sounds, that wins over darkness.

This place is far more luxurious than any place I've ever lived. I would never go looking for a place like this. But now that I'm here, I am simply blown away by the presence of LIGHT in this place. Full sunlight indoors, like being outside as much as you please! An artist's haven.

Yes, I think my son has a good point, if you are going to make a home improvement, you may as well do it now while you yourself can enjoy it. So I'm thinking hardwood floors, get rid of the carpet. The carpet is nice for lying on the floor with pillows and dogs and falling asleep in front of the TV, but that is not why I'm here. Hardwood floors would mean, no worry about spilling paint on beige carpet, and dust mop easy clean. Yes, it would add significant value to the place when we sell too.

Anyway, I am glad I'm doing color charts even though no one is going to pay me for them. I am learning about my paints. Transparent. Opaque. Intense. Chromatic. Saturated. Unsaturated. Why didn't they teach me anything about color in my so called great art school? These are basics, for Pete's sake.

I shall visit a new church this week and I shall try to go to the Thursday evening group at Cathryn's. Curious.

It feels great to finally have email again and be able to communicate with my loved ones. We get so used to the way things are. I felt so detached with no email and even no phone for the first week. I am anxious to catch up with friends.

My sister sounds much better and that is like a drink of cold water on a hot day.

I told my other sister I moved. Have not told my brother yet.

Oh, yes, I wanted to scan my latest work of Kathy's house and publish it. Now I understand why I don't like the colors in some of my paintings. I had NO REGARD WHATSOEVER for which colors looked harmonious with other colors. I want to paint the house over, once in values only, then choose specific yellows and purples and blues from the color wheel and see, yes, that's much better. Her painting is definitely overworked now. Seems I've been doing a lot of that lately.

On one of my color wheels I made a mistake and made 16 slices of pie instead of 12, so that when I went around about 2/3 of the way, I realized I didnt have enough colors. Oh brother. I should do that one over. There are pigments in David's book that I do not own and since they are not on his Maine Masterclass list, I don't want to go buy them just to make a color wheel. I probably will in time, use lots of different colors. I wonder if he chooses those colors because it's Maine in summer and whether his classes during the year require different colors.

So far, it is working somewhat. I have been able to spend hours every day painting. I started keeping track by making squares and setting a timer, but that means getting up every hour and resetting the timer and I got lost in my work and forgot at times. Did I paint 8 hours yesterday? Probably more like 6. And I wrote, which counts. I need to make my SMART goals and send them to Ron. Oh dear, my excuse was I had no email, but that is not an excuse not to do it. I did type up my notes and highlight things which needed attention.

Moving is like dumping out all the puzzle pieces and starting over putting them back together. The more careful you are when you "undo" the puzzle, the easier it is to put it back together.