So, to fend off discouragement, I put down my
utility knife, ignored the boxes and cleared a table surface. I found my paints
and began to prepare a couple of watercolours for two different submissions.
Today is the deadline for one of them. The painting is not finished but I will
submit anyway and sometime today I will pick up the necessary glass to frame
them before next weekend…. There is a lot to be said about deadlines. The
watercolour on display this week has been done several times. I decided to make
an adjustment in the drawing of the figure in the foreground before I send it
to Vancouver for the Member Show coming up in January I believe. I will need
some more corplast and Styrofoam to build a shipment box. I do appreciate
knowing how to go about things with that part of the process. In the meantime
there are several other shows to which I have been accepted. One is under
control and the others are…. imagined! Priorising events will help get things
done as I weave in and out of personal and professional responsibilities.
Hahhhhhhhhah! Panic is not allowed.
I got home in the afternoon on Monday after
having slept in the Los Angeles airport for the night….long story. Choosing to sleep in the next morning did
not improve my mental capacities and I completely forgot to put out my blog. My
studio is slowly improving and I am about to embark upon my creative adventures
once again. There are a few other things getting in the way, nonetheless, paint
will hit paper this week. Life is good.
Well this is the last of my Cortes Island
stock…. I will paint something for next week. I do have some watercolours that
I intend to submit to a local show; they are not quite finished and I now know
where my palette is although I am still working on clearing a surface on which
to work. Unpacking takes a while. I was in the garden for this little painting
as you can see. I thought I would try a bit of abstraction on the water
fountain and ended up combining two images: the water and the nearby lily. It
needs work. I do like the composition, the colours are conservative and the
stamen is weak. There are possibilities and it is a good reference if I choose
to pursue a deeper abstraction of the image. Time for incubation. Creation
always requires a good deal of incubation, rumination and self-analysis through
the art of asking pertinent questions. Time to unpack another box.
Okay. My studio is still in shambles so I am
back at the work I did on Cortes. I am totally fascinated with warm and cool
grays. It was such a new realization that I could not help but do a little
experimenting. This one impressed the instructor…. I usually do not like doing
architecture. It is a precision endeavour that does not allow too many errors.
The perspective must be correct. I was uninspired with the flowers… I am not
sure why they do not excite me. Perhaps I find them too easy. In any case I turned
around. I was under the shade of one of the lovely trees that graced this
magnificent garden when I noticed the light filtering through the intricate
wood work of the balcony and glancing off the leaves and stems. I saw an
opportunity to use the grays, cool against warm, light against dark and within
the darkness, more cool against warm…. Such fun!
So how was I supposed to know? I thought north
meant cool, even cold. I had never been north of the arctic circle and I had no
idea what to bring to wear. I checked the weather averages, 15-16 degrees
Celsius for the high. Well, that is cool. So I packed my summer wardrobe and a
few extras for more layers if I needed them. Well, I never wore the layers, it
was glorious. So much for preconceived ideas. The weather man marveled at the
records hit each day, 22, 23 and 19. September in Whitehorse is breathtaking
too. The colours are spectacular, the water in the Yukon river is actually
turquoise. It looks drinkable! One of the fabulous forays into the surrounding
area included Miles Canyon. We strolled, sketched and compared notes. As usual
I picked something with sharp contrasts and negative space, so predictable.
Pencil does not quite capture the colours though and ink would have done more
justice to the deep shadows. Still, all in all, it is somewhere I would like to
visit again. Perhaps we will drive next time…. Life is good.
Lately I have been spending a lot of time at
airports. There have been great opportunities to observe human nature, connect
to strangers and paint. I like choosing subjects who are more or less settled,
unaware of my presence and engaged in an activity that will allow them to
remain in stationary position for a length of time, enough time for me to do a
sketch. Often I will begin several subjects so that I may return to the
previous one once they have resumed their original position. Memory plays a
part as well. Then there are occasions when I rely more heavily upon memory or
artistic license. Such is the case with this study as I waited in Vancouver for
the flight to Whitehorse. The young lady would eventually turn out to be my
roommate for the event we were both attending. She was blissfully immersed in
her book as I took out my watercolour pencil and began to draw her and the
surroundings in the five by seven sketch pad I always take with me. The
portable studio fits well into a purse that can hold water, brushes, spray gun,
pens, pencils, tissues, paint, pad of 140lb paper, warming blanket and a rain
poncho which serves as a tarp on occasion. It measures approximately ten inches
by eight inches by four inches. It has been through many scanners and will
continue to do so. I could not finish the sketch as some other participants
arrived and she chose to join them in animated conversation. The next time I
took out my paints was in Los Angeles. Instead of beginning something new I
decided to finish this one knowing that I had total freedom to choose the
colours I wished without regard for the original scene. It was good to get back
to brush to paper….
Well, I missed last week and I am late this
week! I am staggering from the information I took in during the training
program of Braveheart Women Resonate. In the meantime I am still waiting for
heat in my new studio so the boxes are still configured in Everest style and I
have little idea where anything is… Sigh. I am suffering from withdrawal. Today
I will do some drawing and tomorrow I will do some painting in preparation for
a class. Now let’s turn to yesterday. The two flower studies are from the
garden at Hollyhock on Cortes Island. A magnificent retreat, so peaceful, so
beautiful. The garden was full of flowers even at the end of August and it
produces much of their salad ingredients and herbs for their kitchen. It is a
wonderland of textures, colours and contrasts. Sunshine makes such a difference
as you can see. The hydrangeas enjoyed a subdued light under a cloudy sky, graying
the colours and forcing a look at a more abstract composition. The lily basked
in full sun. The exercise here was more about few strokes, clean colours, and
contrast. Yes, it is time to get back to painting…..
