Red Lilies at the Cumming Center

This is from a July 20th walk at the Cumming Center Pond here in Beverly, MA.  Lots of day lilies were in bloom, and I took lots of pictures.  Today I edited this one, cropping it to focus on this one central blossom.

Flowers for a Happy Surprise (Drawing)

Here is another drawing that I made with my new "Creative Sharpie Markers".  I decided to do a set of at least three drawings as a way to get to know this new drawing tool.* Of course, this is also a good drawing exercise. I drew this on July 26th, the day of the Olympics Opening Ceremony.  I was hearing good things about the ceremony, and decided to turn it as background while I drew. Maybe the celebratory atmosphere on the TV was infectious, or maybe I am just feeling more optimistic this week.  In any case, I became captivated by the ceremony and by Paris, and so I kept watching  and kept drawing, and so these flowers became more elaborate and more joyous. 

*(These are like my beloved Sharpie markers but they behave more like paint than markers:  no bleeding, easier blending, and supposedly can be used on ceramic, rocks, fabric.).  So far, I am pretty happy, though there are only 12 colors.  

Experimental Flowers (Drawing)

I made this little drawing of flowers today.  Like my other drawings of flowers drawn with Sharpie markers, I began with no preconceived plan.  But really the title is "Experimental Flowers" because this is my first time using Sharpies new 'Creative Markers."  I bought a set several months ago when I first heard about them, but this was my first opportunity to try them out.  I really had a good time.  The pens behave a lot like markers but coverage is easier and there is less bleeding.  As a bonus, there is a white pen that makes it easier to cover stray marks and mistakes (something that I have to do digitally with traditional markers). There are only 12 pens, so the colors are limited but no doubt I can combine these with traditional Sharpies. (I have a whole box full). The ads for these pens say that they work on surfaces beyond paper, but I haven't tried that yet.  

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project), Acrylic Painting

This is my painting ("The Whirlpool") as it looked on July 13, 2024.  At this point, I had sealed the edges, attached the wire, and signed it.  I had turned the painting round and round, making a lot of small, possibly invisible, changes -- which I now recognize as a sign that the painting is finished.  I painted this for a special "Moby Dick" show at Porter Mill Studios, and dropped it off over the weekend. At this point, the show is on display in the lobby. This is a representation of the whirlpool at the end of the novel that swallows up the Pequod and brings the narrative to a close -- apart from the epilogue.  Spoiler alert: only Ishmael survives,  The text is the final sentence of the last chapter: "And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project) as of July 10, 2024

Here is my painting as it looked on July 10, 2024.  This project is  for the "Moby Dick" show at Porter Mill, now on view in the lobby.  I decided to paint the whirlpool from the end of the novel, superimposed with the final sentence of the last chapter: "And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight." Over several days, I had continued to work on this paint, turning it round and round as I continued to revise the lettering, the colors, and the shapes.  And finally I added brush strokes to the corners to suggest the circular movement of the water surrounding the whirlpool.  This photo shows the painting in progress, but over the weekend, I delivered the final version to Porter Mill for the show.

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project) as of July 7, 2024

I continued to work on my "Whirlpool" painting and this is how it looked on July 7, 2024. This is my contribution to a special show based on Moby Dick, being held at Porter Mill Studios. I decided to paint a representation of the whirlpool that swallows the ship at the end of the novel.  The text that is superimposed on the whirlpool is the last sentence of the final chapter: *"And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."  On July 7th, I made the lettering darker, I softened the shapes in the water, and began to work on the background (the four corners of the painting).  At this point, my painting was still a work in progress, but over the weekend, I dropped the finished painting off at Porter Mill.  To be continued.. .

The Whirlpool (Moby DIck project) as of July 6, 2024

This is my "Whirlpool" painting as it looked at the end of the day on July 6, 2024.  This painting this for a special show based on Moby Dick, being held at Porter Mill Studios. This is a representation of the whirlpool that destroys the Pequod and ends the narrative. The superimposed text is the last sentence of the final chapter: *"And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."  On July 6th, I focussed mainly on the lettering, trying to make sure it was legible.  I had the idea of using silver for the lettering, but it was too light.  Then I went over the lettering twice with translucent purple, and that seemed to do the trick.  It is darker but still shines when the light hits it.  To be continued.

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project) as of July 5, 2024

I continued working on this project, a painting for Porter Mill's special exhibit about Moby Dick.  This is a representation of the whirlpool that destroys the Pequod at end of the novel.  The text seen in the painting is the last sentence of the final chapter: "And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."  At this point, I was a bit more confident about where this was going, but I was still figuring things out as I went along. I added more color: dark blue for depth, white to suggest sea foam, and a softer blue in the middle. The tricky part was making sure I would have sufficient contrast with the lettering. To be continued.  

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project) as of July 4, 2024

This is my "Whirlpool" painting as it looked at the end of the day on July 4, 2024.  I am painting this for a special show based on Moby Dick, being held at Porter Mill Studios. This is a representation of the whirlpool that swallows the Pequod, bringing an end to the narrative. Although I am not attempting a realistic painting, I continued to look at videos and photos.  I had made a beginning with some dark blue shadows around the circles.  I added some lighter blue and some white to suggest the movement of the water. I decided to try using breaks in the water coincide with spaces between the words. The superimposed text is the last sentence of the final chapter:

  *"And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project) as of July 3, 2024

Here is my "Whirlpool" painting as of July 3, 2024.  This is for the upcoming art show based on Moby Dick at Porter Mill Studios.  After looking at lots of images and videos, I finally began to apply more color, trying to suggest the movement of the water.  Although this is not an attempt at a realistic image,  I do want to suggest a whirlpool. The text is the final sentence of the last chapter of Melville's Moby Dick, describing the whirlpool swallowing up the Pequod.*

  *"And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project) as of July 1, 2024

Here is my painting for Porter Mill's upcoming Moby Dick show as it looked on July 1, 2024.  I had spent a lot of time working on placement of the text,  the last sentence of the final chapter of Moby Dick, describing the Pequod's disappearance into the whirlpool.*  It was time to start painting the whirlpool.  I didn't really have much experience painting water until I moved to Massachusetts, and I certainly have never painted a whirlpool.  I didn't expect to be able to create a realistic painting of a whirlpool, but still wanted to make a representation that would communicate the idea of a whirlpool. So I looked at images and videos of whirlpools.  There were a lot of ways to go.  Still uncertain, I decided to begin by creating blue shadows to indicate the concentric circles. To be continued. . . 

  *The text is: "And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project) as of June 30, 2024

I continued to work on my painting for the upcoming Moby Dick show at Porter Mill. This is how it looked on June 30, 2024.  At this point, I was still focussed on placement of the text, which is  the last sentence of the final chapter of Moby Dick, a description of the Pequod's disappearance into the whirlpool.*  But as I worked, I was also starting to paint, using white to clean up my mistakes, and beginning to add blue brushstrokes to suggest the movement of the water.   *The text is: "And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick project as of June 29, 2024)

Here is my painting for the upcoming Moby Dick show at Porter Mill as it looked on June 29, 2024.  The text is the last sentence of the final chapter of Moby Dick, describing the disappearance of the Pequod into the whirlpool.  You can see here that I was working on placement of the text, which is important to the composition.  As I fiddled with that, I was also beginning to paint. The text is: "And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight."

The Whirlpool (Moby Dick Project) as of June 24, 2024

This is a work in progress, a painting I am working on for a show at Porter Mill with the theme of Moby Dick.  This is a representation of the whirlwind at the end of the novel, and the text shown here is the last line of the final chapter.*  I had already  sketched this onto the canvas with conte crayon the day before.  So here I am refining the composition, starting with the spacing and placement of the words, trying to straighten out the circles as I go.  I used some white paint to cover up mistakes, sort of easing my way into painting this.  It did strike me that the writing between two blue lines looks a bit like notebook paper.  To be continued. . . .

"And now concentric circles seized the lone boat itself and all its crew and each floating oar and every lancepole and spinning, animate and  inanimate, all round and round in one vortex carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of site."