This is the latest version of the painting for my friends. This morning I painted in the changes on the upstairs dormer windows, and also worked on the trees. The tree on the left had been threatening to fall over; I decided that it needed another branch to make it balance, so I grafted one on.
Here's one more picture from our trip to Scotland last July. We stopped in New Abbey to see the Sweetheart Abbey, and I loved the little town. Tonight I cropped this image out of the original photo to eliminate a delivery van. Then I edited the image in Painter IX to move a pesky planter that was in the way. I call this image a fantasy because it is digitally modified, and because without the delivery van, it invites a little travel in time as well as space.
I took this photo with my cellphone a few weeks ago, on a more leisurely day than this one, and decided to post it tonight. This is an image of passing time, and for me, today is full of deadlines. I am very aware of the rush of time as I work. We tell time with clocks, but our eyes and bodies tell time with light. It helps me to look at the sky as a natural clock (like our little dogs do). The sky reminds us that time is moving, but it isn't moving against us; we can move in harmony with the sky's time, if we choose.
I took this picture in mid-July of last year as we drove through the Highlands of Scotland, heading for Sterling. Tonight I cropped the image for the sake of the composition. (Because I took this photo from a moving car, I had to edit out the car's interior!) The highlands were beautiful and made me homesick for the mountains of Colorado. The fog was very dramatic and the landscape was surprisingly empty, (no towns, nowhere to stop). And ever since that trip, a cold day in July is no longer a just an expression.
The raspberries are ripening outside my window, so today I went out to capture a photo of the berries as they change color from red to purple. I used both my cell phone and my digital camera. This is the best of the lot, from the digital camera, which shows a little more detail. (It's hard to get close to the raspberry bushes, which are all thorns.) Tonight I cropped this image to focus on the shape of the branch and the graceful cluster of raspberries. If you want raspberries, you have to put up with the thorns.
Today I worked on this painting for my friends. Before I got my paints out, I made a sketch of what I think the upstairs windows look like, based on what I can see in the photos, and e-mailed the drawing to my friends. I will use their feedback to revise those windows and then finish the roof. Meanwhile, I worked on some other parts of the painting. I extended the pattern in the brick, already painted on the side of the house, to the brick on the front porch. Then I made the trees behind the fence recede into the distance. I worked a little bit on the trees, pruning some branches and shoring up the tree trunks. More to come. . .
As of today, I once again have a working phonecam and I used it to take this picture, which I later cropped and edited in Painter IX. Tonight we went to a get-together in Durham, New Hampshire. The house is surrounded by trees and the late afternoon light was amazing. Impatiens was growing by the doorway. It is one of my favorite flowers. Impatiens thrives in the shade, against all odds producing bright color out of shadow.
This is a detail from a painting of my mother and my aunt. I did this painting several years ago, from an old snapshot taken in the 1940's, standing in front of our house in Pueblo. I used acrylics as watermedia on watercolor paper. I like to look at this painting because it captures the essence of my aunt's smiling face, and what I see of my mother when I look at my daughter's face
It's time for another picture of Portugal. This is an image from a visit I made to Porto a few years ago, but tonight I cropped it to improve the composition. I saw many vineyards like this around Braga and Porto. Although this is an "ordinary" scene in Portugal, it isn't ordinary to me.
Last July, we took the ferry from Belfast to Scotland and spent a week there exploring in a rented car. I wanted to see Loch Lomond, and finding the beautiful village of Luss right beside it was a bonus. Tonight I cropped this picture and did a little digital editing in Painter IX to focus on the cottages, the gardens, and Loch Lomond in the background.
Tonight I did a little work on this painting for my friends. I needed to shorten the brick wall on the side of the house and move a window on that wall. These changes were for the sake of improving the perspective, but as a bonus, now there is more room to show the side entrance. I was able to add the window on the other side of that door. I also added some shadow to the sidewalk and worked on making the iris easier to see. I wanted to do more, but time was short and I had to stop. But for me, it is better to make art every day, even for a short time, than to wait for a long stretch of free time to come by.
It's been raining all day, but I took this photo with my phonecam about ten days ago, on a sunny afternoon at Long Hill Gardens in Beverly. But I never got around to posting it. Then two days ago, my cellphone broke. Luckily, the preceeding day I had loaded all my saved images into my computer with Blue Tooth, and I am waiting for my replacement cellphone to arrive. Meanwhile, today I found this phonecam image saved in my computer. But there was a reflection in the water that was distracting. To fix it, I opened the image in Painter IX and darkened the reflection with digital watercolor. I'm glad I saved these waterlilies for a rainy day.
Mel took this photo of me at the British Museum last year, and today I cropped it and adjusted the contrast to get it ready to post. After far too long a wait, I finally got to London for far too short a time. I rode on top on the double-decker buses and minded the gap in the underground. I was delighted by the London Eye and I winced at the Gherkin. The people who live in London come from all over the world, and so do the people who visit. None of us had to pay admission to get into the British Museum. I was there. I will be back. . . .
Here is the latest version of the painting I am doing for my friends. Today I did some major renovations to correct some problems: worked on the roof, moved the upstairs windows, and actually moved two chimneys. Not a bad day's work. I also worked on the trees, trying to get them to leaf out more. After all, it's already July.
Two cousins are visiting, so very late this afternoon, I showed them some of the beaches and ocean views on the North Shore: Singing Beach, Hospital Point, and Lynch Park, where I took this picture of beach roses with my phonecam. (Tonight I cropped it just a bit to improve the composition.) Along the way, we ran into two open-air concerts, one near the gazebo at Manchester-by-the-Sea, and the second amazed us as drove up Route 127, right on the edge of the water near Endicott College. Very nice coincidences for a very nice day.
I made this little drawing of fireworks with digital pastel in Painter IX for a quiet little Fourth of July, and I can set them off now, even though it isn't dark yet.
After dinner, Mel suggested ice cream at one of the terrific local ice cream stands on Boston's North Shore. Two treats in one! I love ice cream, and I love to go out when the sun is going down (or coming up for that matter). I love to see the effects of the light and the colors in the sky. In anticipation of some early fireworks displays happening tonight, many cars were parked on the shoulder of Route 128. But a spectacular light show was already going on overhead, the kind that is available twice a day. So I starting taking pictures of the sunset with my phonecam. Some might ask why bother to take pictures of something we can see all the time. My answer is that when we travel, we photograph things we notice or want to remember, some of which are spectacular and historical, and some of which are ordinary to those who live there, but not to the traveler. Well, life itself is a kind of journey, with amazing things to see. Taking pictures of what is around us, whether we are close to home or on the road, reminds us to pay attention. Art can make us travelers every day.
Today I went with Mel to take a peek at his new office at the University of New Hampshire. What makes the campus unusual is its setting, with paths between buildings criss-crossing the woods. I took out my phonecam as we explored a path or two. I like this image the best. Would you think that you are in the middle of a campus? At UNH, as students walk from a classroom to the student union, they can walk across a footbridge over a little stream.
This is the latest version of the painting for my friends. The shingles on the back part of the house are new, and I planted the iris today. I also corrected some problems I had noticed, fixing the size of the windows on the side of the house, and the structure of the front porch, and even moved a column. I want to correct anything that might bother viewers over time. I want my friends to enjoy looking at this painting when it is finished.
This is a color exercise from a watercolor class. The class members worked from a still life set-up that was created from objects brought in by class members, with the idea that everything people brought would be included. So depending on the luck of where your easel was, the composition was largely predetermined. I didn't mind as I began to paint, because, well, it was just an exercise, but later I did mind. I was happy with the clarity and strength of the colors, but frustrated with the composition. (And with myself, for not speaking up, for doing the assignment instead of making art.) A few weeks ago, I photographed the work and loaded the image into the computer. I tried cropping the digital image left, right, and center to fix the composition. Nothing worked. So today I staged a little rebellion. I pulled the image into Painter IX and quietly eliminated a votive candle (I am not kidding) that had no business being in my painting and was causing trouble near the corner. I tried to do more (move the pink wineglass, for example) but I couldn't pull it off. But in any case the composition is a little better, but more important, the experience was very satisfying even though the original watercolor is unchanged. I am posting this little rebellion tonight for anyone out there who has ever been frustrated by working on a predetermined still life set-up.
