Apple Boats

Now really, is it that hard to slice up an apple? Yesterday I made my way as fast as possible through Costco's refrigerator room. Grabbed some carrots. The weeds did not look fresh enough. Weeds are my daughters' name for Spring Mix Salad Greens.

So now they have a package of apple boats, apples that are already cored and cut into slices. Well, I never! (As Mom would say) I was almost tempted to buy them. 8 packets all ready to stick in your lunch and go. Then I thought, how brown and mushy will they be by the time I eat them all?

My husband liked apple boats. I learned early on in our marriage that he was used to having his apples cut up for him. Personally I eat my apples with my teeth and throw the core out when I'm done. Don't you? So I remember the tiniest glimmer of annoyance upon learning that he wanted me to cut up his apples for him. And that man loved his fruit.

I'm wondering if it had anything to do with his mustache. But I think it had to do more with the way his sweet mom served him apples. He liked his orange slices with the points left on so he could pull the flesh away from the peel and somehow it kept the juice away out of his mustache. How would I have known? Do I have a mustache?

It is another little ripple in the ever widening circle which started when his death made a big splash in my lake. Huge boulder crashes into the water. Giant cannon ball splash and big rocking waves. Years later the rings are almost inperceptible but they are there and I suppose they always will be. It made tender thoughts come up, that ripple.

Finishing Ship 2

For lack of a better name. After my first painting en pleine aire in Maine, I took many photos of the scene, different angles, different compositions. So I did a 16 by 24 version on drawing paper in about an hour. The French Ultramarine was too bright and thick and the shadows in the water were not correct, but when I stood back across the room, the painting had a powerful impact. The water moved, the values were there, you could move into the space with your eye. I had turned the photo and the painting up side down to paint the water and the reflections in it....to discourage getting fussy about accuracy.

so that spurred me to get a piece of good paper, 300 pound Arches cold press. I lay in the water and the basic shape of the ship and its baby boats hitched to its side. Learning: the key to my loose style is using brushes that are bigger than you think you ought to be using. don't downshift to smaller brushes until you must. To release excess pigment, touch the sponge or the paper towel.

I did a lot more lifting and changing of colors than I wanted to, to the point of losing the sizing, which takes away the ability to get that nice crisp edge. But I will learn from practice how much value to lay in the first time so that I won't have to lift and repaint. Now to finish: move the black water shadow over to match the ship so that it doesn't shout DRAWING ERROR. Even if you lift it again, there is such darkness in this part of the page that I don't think it will make a difference.

Questions that come up while painting. What does he mean about keeping the colors balanced the whole time in the painting? How do you do that? How does he know WHERE to put that touch of color. And how do I place the colors on the plane so that they lead the eye intentionally around the picture. I know there are answers to this question.

Where to sign? Finish the shadow around the pontoon, and define the motor on it just a bit more. Frame it and bring it to the Gallery next week.