Reposting: School Picture of My Mother

I posted this photo before, back in 2005, but it is a classic, and I decided to post it again. One of my favorite family photos is this image of my mother. standing in front of Central Grade School, which I also attended decades later -- one of the ways that I have retraced her steps. The original photo is black and white, but back in 2005,  I scanned the image into my computer, cropped it, and added some color with Painter IX's digital watercolor. I am posting this again today in memory of my mother, who was born on November 2nd.

Above Snowmass Village (Reference Photo for Painting)

I recently posted my photo of Snowmass Village, taken in 1987 during a trip to Colorado.  (Posted here Oct. 14.)  After many unsucessful attempts to crop that image to use for a painting, I finally decided to divide it and make it into two paintings.  So here is the first of two reference photos that I created from the one  1987 photo. 

Near Snowmass Village (Painting Reference)

This is the second painting reference that I created by cropping my 1987 photo of Snowmass Village (Posted here October 14).  I used Painter to simplify the foreground.  The two cropped images will be references for two paintings that can be hung together. 

Cups and Saucers (Alice in Wonderland project), painting as of Oct. 16, 2024

Here is my painting as it looked on Oct. 16th.  This is for an upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" show at Porter Mill Studios.  The multicolored teacups and saucers and the quotation are references to the Mad Hatter's tea party.  I continued adding colors, and this time it was red. (There are nine colors, each going into five spaces: outiside of cup, inside of cup, outer ring of saucer, inner circle of saucer, and background.)  At this point, I was just putting down a first coat, to make sure all the colors would work together.  I still hadn't noticed two mistakes in the text: a missing quotation mark in the top row (after tea), and an incorrrect word in the bottom row (which should read "more than nothing."  I was still concentrating on painting those colors; it would take a long time for me to notice the errors in the text.

Here is the quotation, as it should be:

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter, "It's very easy to take more than nothing.""

To be continued. . . .

Cups and Saucers (Alice in Wonderland project), painting as of Oct 14, 2024

Here is my painting as it looked on October 14.  I am painting these cups and saucers for a special "Alice in Wonderland" show at Porter Mill..  The changing color scheme and multi-colored cups and saucers are inspired by the "musical chairs" aspect of the Mad Hatter's tea party,  where guests move around the table sampling (and not sampling) the tea.  I began adding one color at a time. (There are nine colors, and each color goes into five shapes: outside of cup, inside of cup, outer rim of saucer, center of saucer,  and background.)  This is just the first coat, trying to make sure the colors will work. (I was already noticing that the paint I was using was not opaque enough. . . )

The quotation is also from the Mad Hatter's tea party: At this point, I still hadn't noticed that I had made a mistake in transcribing the quotation. (The last line should read "more than nothing,", not "less than nothing.")  

Here is the quotation, as it should be:

"Take some more tea, the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter, "It's very easy to take more than nothing.""

To be continued. . . .

Near Snowmass 1987 (Photo inspiration for painting)

I came across this photo while looking for some mountains to paint for an upcoming show.  This photo was taken in 1987 during a trip to Colorado.  We drove into the mountains and stayed in Snowmass Village for a couple of days.  In the past,  I have considered using this photo as a painting reference, but was never able to come up with a composition that I liked  when I cropped it.  But this time, I had an idea;  I would crop this photo into two images, and create two paintings that could be displayed together (AKA a diptyche in art history classes).  

Cups and Saucers (Alice in Wonderland project), painting as of Oct 12, 2024

Here is my painting as it looked by Oct. 12th.  This is for an upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" themed show at Porter Mill.  My painting is inspired by the Mad Hatter's tea party, hence the teacups and saucers and the "musical chairs" organization for the color scheme.  The quotation* is also from the tea party.  The style is a nod to the flat colorfield painting that I did in college.  Because I didn't want to be trying to mix colors, I bought most of the colors premixed, individual tubes.  This turned out to have some drawbacks (more later), but at this point I was just laying in the first coat, one color at a time.  At this point, I still hadn't noticed the mistake in the quotation.  (The last line should read "more than nothing,", not "less than nothing.")  

Here is the quotation, as it should be:

"Take some more tea, the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter, "It's very easy to take more than nothing.""

Cups and Saucers (Alice in Wonderland project), painting as of Oct 11, 2024

Here is my painting as it looked on October 11th.  This is for Porter Mill's upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" show.  I began applying the first coat of color, beginning with hot pink.  There are 9 colors, and each color goes into 5 shapes, as you can see here: cup, outside of saucer, inside of saucer, elipse (inside cup) and background.  The cups, saucers, and  changeable color scheme is inspired by the Mad Hatter's tea part.  I also worked on the lettering for the quotation: 

"Take some more tea, the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter, "It's very easy to take more than nothing.""

And yes, I carefully lettered the mistake I had made. (The last three words should be "more than nothing," rather than "less than nothing.")  It took a long time for me to notice. . . .

October Hydrangeas (with Prisma filter)

When I took this picture a few weeks ago, I found myself thinking “I should save this to post it for Yom Kippur”. Wait, but why? I started thinking about it…

I didn’t know about hydrangeas until I moved to Massachusetts, where they are everywhere: big, spectacular blossoms  that change color with the seasons.  (Some varieties change from blue to pink over the summer and then turn purple in the fall; other kinds change from cream to pale pink in the summer, and then dusty rose the fall). In the winter, with leaves gone, they are discouraging collections of dry sticks poking up through the snow, perhaps with a faded blossom or two still hanging on.   

A few years ago, I finally planted some hydrangeas in my yard and here’s the what I learned: with hydrangeas, you have to think about the year ahead. What you do in the fall influences what will happen the rest of the year. Do you remove the fading blossoms? Should you prune and if so when? If you prune at the wrong  place or at the wrong time or even prune the wrong variety of hydrangeas, you may not have any blossoms at all the next year. And how you treat the soil may influence whether or not the blossoms change color like they are supposed to. (Some people put copper pennies in the ground nearby. Or coffee grounds. It’s a thing. There are Youtube videos.) And sometimes hydrangeas don’t bloom at all (which I found out) if there’s a late frost at the wrong time. Because you can’t control everything.

With hydrangeas, even more than with other plants, the decisions you make in the fall influence what happens the rest of the year. Which is kind of the point of Yom Kippur as well. So today I am sending out my October hydrangeas as a Yom Kippur greeting and to wish everyone a sweet year ahead. 

Cups and Saucers (Alice in Wonderland project) painting Oct 10, 2024

On October 10th, I kept going on this project for the November "Alice in Wonderland" show at Porter Mill. This multicolored collection of  teacups and saucers is inspired by the Mad Hatter's tea party.  The colors change in each square,  reminiscent of the the "musical chairs" organization of the tea party Alice attended, with characters moving around the table. The color scheme was determined by numbering the spaces: see my sketch posted here Sept. 20th.) And the images of cups and saucers are combined with a quote from the novel.* On October 10th, I finally started applying color to the text, dark blue to resemble ink.  The text came first because I needed to make sure it would all fit as planned.  At this point, the mistake in the last line is still there on the canvas.  (The last three words should be "more than nothing," rather than "less than nothing.")  How long do you think it took me to see it?

In case you can't read the quotation, here it is:

"Take some more tea, the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter, "It's very easy to take more than nothing.""