Thank you for all the kind comments I received about my fire experience this week. Luckily everything worked out just fine. Meanwhile this was the week of the Tin Foil Challenge at Daily Paintworks, you can check out the entries here What I have learned so far : 1. Mix all your grays using complimentary colors to unify the painting. 2. Leave the white of the paper so that from a distance the illusion of "shine" is conveyed 3. Simplify forms and find value shapes 4. Compare your colors with your grays using a value chart so that the subtle differences are consistent. 5. Be patient this is going to take time and deliberation
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Last night I called 911 for the first time in my life. My hands were shaking and I could not feel my hands or feet. I grabbed the dogs and got out of the house. There was no smoke but the woodstove was escalating in temperature at an alarming rate and I could not control it.
I sat outside waiting for help and it came quickly with sirens and lights and really really big men in uniforms that told me the professionals were in charge. They fixed the problem and assured me I had made the right decision to call them. When everything calmed down I realized I hadn't taken anything out of the house. There was a time when I would have grabbed certain things but not any more. Nothing matters in terms of possessions. It is stuff. I had the animals and Tom arrived soon after to calm my nerves and that is all that matters. What I have learned so far : You have a life time to accumulate things and as you age they become less and less important. Nothing I truly value anymore can be purchased. I feel blessed to have called for help and to be open to receive it. I am a nervous wreck in a crisis but when I knew help was on the way I sat out in the snow with the dogs with my head between my knees and did my yoga breathing and strangely I felt safer while waiting for rescue than I have in months. For the past month I have been painting at a table ( when I can) . I did finally receive a steroid shot in my shoulder and have committed to yoga on a regular basis. The result is I can paint a bit and I can touch my toes. Today I increased my walking and painted my first peonies of 2017. Perhaps things will be OK after all.
What I have learned so far: When you feel better you are capable of so much more. When there is less pain things seem possible again and the world opens up. Me me me! This week I put my efforts into looking at the planes of the face. Since my face was the most available one, I painted me.
The idea for this came from visiting the doctor about my shoulder. He had a pain chart with faces from 1-10 and they ask you to pick the face that most represents your pain. I thought I can create my own mood chart. I can pick one and in a moment pick another. Moods and pain are quite variable but I find it amusing that they use a "face" model to help you quantify what you feel. What I have learned so far: There is no way to quantify what we feel emotionally or physically. It is a moving target and it changes from moment to moment. So the next time I go to the doctor maybe I should take this instead and point to the face that most expresses how I feel about being there. It is Oscar Season. I haven't seen any of the movies people are talking about but I decided to give acting a try and to make silly expressions that might be fun to paint.
Since I don't have someone to pose for me my face will have to do. I guess I can say it is just an honor to be nominated. Isn't that what they all say when they are interviewed. Oh and "it was a real collaboration " and my favorite "The director is a genius". What I have learned so far : I do know that there are universal expressions that are in all cultures. The classic eye roll is one of them. I suppose even cave men had the eye roll . Now that is something to think about. Here are two paintings of my dogs. Fig Newton the collie and Maggie the hound . I painted these and am showing them here because they illustrate how the color of black can appear white when it is in direct sunlight. The opposite is also true,a white object can appear quite gray or almost black in the shade.
These tricks that the light plays on surfaces are what interests me the most about painting. How can you observe these relationships and translate them into value shapes? I think that is what the visual arts are about. It is about creating illusion. That's the magic! What I have learned so far: To establish the relationships it is necessary to squint until you can see relative shapes not surfaces. This makes your face hurt but it is important to do. This is where as you age there is an advantage. Take your glasses off and establish the relationships no squinting needed. Who knew that artists has a passion for fashion? This button down shirt was advertised this week and I have to admit it is marketing genius.
It got a lot of attention especially from those of us who have ruined clothes with a dab of paint here and there. What surprised me the most is the price. Wowzer! What I have learned so far: Everything will come back at you. This is just "acid wash" with color added. I also think it speaks to how many of us want to be creative or maybe it is just a big "goof". I hope it makes you laugh because it got me to giggle. |
About MeI am a watercolor coach, watercolorist, and author. Archives
September 2022
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