Distractions and Detours

I let Leo, the neighbor’s cat, out to chase off the gray rats. (He visits every day.) I sit back down and movement-reflection in the slider glass has me turn to look out the window of the front door. The chickens are out across the street and flapping their wings in the sunlight. They make my insides smile. I like to see the chickens and ducks. They cheer me up.

Not quite the angle that I wrote about from my chair inside

Turning back towards the slider, sunlight filters down between hemlocks and bare trees creating a dappled play with light and shadow. A gaping, dark hole between the ice layer and water catches my attention. The caverns along the far edge of the brook are bigger today. One section of the top ice shelf on that side stretches across the water towards a shelf on the nearer side looking like huge yawning mouths … or toothless old men grinning at each other over a game of checkers.

It’s hard to look away, but it’s time to get in the studio. Yesterday, I received some tips on how to paint raindrops and want to put what I discovered to the page. But first, a detour outside for photos and a little fresh air. Leo joins me on the back deck. He jumps up on the rail and keeps brushing against me as I try to focus the camera. Silly boy. He likes it when I’m outside with him.

Back inside, I still don’t get to the studio. It’s lunch time, my big meal of the day. I peel potatoes and put them on to boil, and while waiting, I start editing photos taken two days ago. Yeah, I’m behind again.

I scoop the cooked potatoes into the big, round, yellow bowl that was once my grandmother’s. I love this bowl; it’s a perfect for potato mashing. (It was once a set with a shorter square bowl that my mother used to use for Jello.) I add a little milk and mash until most the lumps are gone, then cut up a stick of butter and shake salt and pepper into the concoctions mashing it all into the potatoes. I take my first taste to make sure it’s how I like them … add some garlic salt. Oh, my gosh, so good! Mashed potatoes are my favorite comfort food!

We had potatoes a lot growing up. Dad had a huge garden with one section a big potato field. My mother would either cut up the potatoes for home fries (sometimes mixing in hotdogs which I didn’t like at all), or she’d just peel and boil the heck out the ‘taters. She didn’t like milk, so we’d just ladle a couple of potatoes onto our plates and mash them with a fork adding margarine (we never had butter growing up) and salt and pepper.

The only time we had mashed potatoes with milk mixed in was on Christmas when Dad’s sisters would visit. They always cooked Christmas dinner, and Nellie would put milk in the potatoes and in the carrots. (Mashed potato in hot lunches in junior and high school back then was instant potato crap – awful, tasteless stuff!)

Talk about a detour! This was supposed to be about pastel painting!

I finally made it into the studio. I’ve been so involved with “After the Rain,” I’ve been ignoring this. Today I decided to poke at it and added more color. Sometimes taking artistic license from how the photo looks exactly brings on new challenges. I end up creating parts that aren’t in the photo to bring it all together, and sometimes I really struggle with that because I can’t always get a clear picture in my head.

I like to bring some of the foreground into play a little early to help give perspective and show where I’m going. It helps me see possibilities. There is so much foliage in the picture and it’ll be interesting to see how I deal with that.

Ready to Move on to the Next Pastel Painting

There's snow on top, then layers of ice. Between the lower ice shelf and the water, icicles hang down, some looking like fierce sharp teeth and others like they should be on a crystal chandelier. The water, what is visible, is dark and fast-flowing shooting out from under one section of snow-covered ice to disappear under another. 

Some snow/ice sections are shaped like irregular flying saucers with a wider white top and tapering down to a smaller-circumferenced ice stand or rock with dark cave-like openings along the shoreline. I can't help but look and get caught up in the minute variations. I finally edited and posted photos taken the past four days.

Driving home from breakfast with artist friends on Wednesday, the gauge in the car read 34 degrees. I went out on the back deck to take photos of the brook and the thermometer there read 42 degrees. Not that warm, but with the sun, it felt balmy. I took my time, put up a couple of bird feeders. (I only put them up when I’m sitting here and take them down at night.)

The ducks were out across the street and ran down the driveway to the edge of the road where snow melt was running. It was funny to see them trying to splash in the small stream and hearing their nasally “Quack, quack, quack,” and seeing their little tails wag. Soon they settled onto a bare section of lawn where the warm sun had melted the snow.

One of the issues with living alone and being an artist is there’s no one else to pick up the slack of doing chores. I can’t devote the time on pastel painting or writing as much as I’d like. It’s necessary to take care of every-day living. Sometimes a few days go by before I can get back in the studio.

Interruptions to the creative flow can make it harder to return to a project. I deal with that by taking one day at a time and not stressing over what I’m not getting done. I strive to enjoy every moment and celebrate even the little accomplishments. And I do accomplish something good every day!

I managed to sneak tweaks here and there on the rose of Sharon painting and signed it. I decided not to crop it. I practiced more with raindrops, and after re-doing them, I called the painting done, let it sit for a day, then sprayed it with fixative.

As always, I question. Am I really done? Should I do more? Too often, though, excess tweaking doesn’t help. I need to walk away and leave it alone. And already, paintings on the other easels are calling, “Me! Me! My turn!”

Am I Done or Should I Do More?

A few light flakes were falling at 7 a.m. and it was only 21 degrees with a predicted day’s high of 35. The sky looked light, more so towards the east. I figured once the sun was higher, it would burn through any overcast and be sunny – and it was.

Once more there are decisions to make on the day’s projects: write, paint, chores, take photos … Lately, I tend to go with whatever I’m feeling in the moment.

Monday is laundry and after the first load was in the dryer and second in the washer, I went out to unblock the dryer vent. I prop a brick against the little door to stop rodents from getting inside.

While outside, I took photos of the brook. It’s fascinating this time of year because the snow, ice, and water flow is always changing, and the formations are intriguing.

 I now have four days of brook photos to edit and post. I’m falling behind on photo editing. I used to do photos every day, but lately, writing and pastel painting are taking my time – along with newspaper work.

I didn’t get in the studio until late yesterday. I’m still deciding if the painting is finished. Of course, I can’t leave it alone and I pick at it here and there. Too often I don’t like the tweaking and end up fixing the changes Sometimes I wish I hadn’t touched it.

The photo used for inspiration was taken on a rainy day and I’d hoped to capture the raindrops. I’ve been doing some practice, but the raindrops on the blossoms are small. It’s hard to get the right look.

The verdict is still out whether I’m finished, although I did sign the painting. I like it a lot and can’t wait for it to find a new home. I’m ready to move on to the next one.

Great Start to the Day

I go out to open the dryer vent and take photos. Odd tracks on the deck caught my attention earlier and I want a closer look. Some looked four-toed and others five. In the melting snow, the tracks are a bit muddled. I can’t see tell-tale hind foot tracks. When I let Leo out earlier, he stopped just outside the slider and sniffed at the tracks for a long time before venturing down the deck. I can’t see tell-tale hind foot tracks. A fat gray squirrel down by the brook watches me hang a couple of feeders on the deck hooks. The tracks on the deck are too big to be from her.

At 36 degrees, it feels warm after the days of bone-chilling cold. Instead of hurrying back inside, I stand at the railing letting my senses take in the beauty around me. A couple of tiny ice crystals land on the rail. I breathe deeply the fresh air. The morning is so peaceful! No human neighborhood noises. The only sounds are the whispers in the trees. The scene looking from the back deck is beautiful. I drink it all in. (And take lots of photos.)

Bright snow clings to bare limbs, angled tree trunks, and hemlock boughs. The brook is totally snowed in but for one or two places. The white puffs piled high on top of the layers of an ice-covered rock look to be 18-24 inches deep (as does the snow on my roof). Tracks through the snow leading to the bottoms of trees and circling around old vegetation sticking out of the snow mingle with other depressions in the snow created from clumps dropping from the trees.

A pale sun pushes white through the overcast as the sky begins to clear. Chickadees call, “Phoeeeebeee” in the trees. This is how I want life. Peaceful, with nature, and all the beauty Mother Nature has to offer.

Oh, if every morning could start this way … but there’s laundry to do, writing to get done, and a painting to finish. Oh, and the kitties want play time.  However, I am going to do my best to make each day be as glorious as this morning!

My intent was to get in the studio and finish today, but I also knew that was wishful thinking. I spent about 45 minutes picking at it. I’m close. I almost signed it. There are still things to tweak, though. I’ll have to look at it for a couple days more.

I touched up almost everything and practiced adding raindrops. Not sure how to do those and I just made notes for touch ups the next time I’m in the studio after looking at this progress photo.

What it would look like cropped.

Now I’m also debating whether to leave it this size or crop it. I like the leaves on the left, but is it too much background? And, the thing is, here I’m looking at it close-up, but standing five or more feet away, it looks pretty darn good.

Stealing Moments Here and There to Paint

Friday rolled around and although it was an editing day, I found a little time to get in the studio. I added more leaves on the left side and some woody background stems. Those need some work and I need to figure out how to tackle that.

I pretty-much finished the first flower except for highlighting the rain drops. I’ll probably save those for last. I started work on the next flower down. I had taken a couple notes from the in-process photo I’d taken after the work on Wednesday.  The in-process photos show me elements that I don’t notice on the actual painting. The photo shows me where to touch up.

It’s nice to have options in viewing. I realize, too, I’m still lacking in the purple department and green. I have a lot of greens, but sometimes I just don’t have the right shade. It’s still coming along, and I’m pleased with the progress.

The Muse had me by the throat on Saturday, however, by the time I had my work done and could spend time in the studio, she was gone. I stood at the easel for about 15 minutes, made a couple of hen-scratches, but my heart and head weren’t in it.

Today was one of those days when I was talking to Carol on the phone while painting … or rather, I painted while talking. These times are interesting because my hand just moves while my mind is preoccupied with the conversation. Working like this, I don’t overthink what I’m doing. (Which is a good thing because my overthinking brain can send me into confusion.)

I added lighter color, more highlights and more leaves. I changed the shape of the top right flower (blossom 3) because it didn’t look right. It’s much better now.

The purple and blue-violet pastels I have are not the exact color of the photos, but it doesn’t matter. The painting is not about being an exact match. No one will know unless they see the photo. And it still won’t matter.

There’s lots to do, yet. I need to soften dark lines in the blossom 2, but I’m pleased with how it’s coming along. I’m enjoying this one. Maybe this means I should do more florals.

Challenges in the Latest Pastel Painting

Rose of Sharon, 10 3/4 x 14 on BF Rives print paper

At the end of January, I felt the need to do another floral. I’m not good at getting the right perspective, contours, and depths of flowers, so on Jan. 30, I printed 5 x 7 photos of a couple of rose of Sharon pictures I took last year.  I laid a sheet of BF Rives paper on the kitchen counter (it had the bigger, cleaner space), got out the transfer paper and, using two photos, traced the flowers onto the paper creating a new scene.

I put the sketch on the big easel on Feb. 1 after removing the finished painting and cleaning up. I took measurements, labeled it 19-005 unsure what to use for an actual title. I started laying in the underlayer with pan pastels. I realized I didn’t have the right color blue-violet for the flowers. That entailed placing an order to Blick.

I returned to Rose O’ on March 3. I wiped away the wrong color on the flowers and added other colors. I know I was done the background and leaves which are under the flowers, but adding some subject colors helps me see determine how to proceed and gives me a semblance of how the painting will come out.

I added browns to the background scruffing up the colors to create a textured look. I’m not following the photos closely. I’m eager to get farther along, but there’s still a lot of background to build.

I was back in the studio this morning. I intended to start a pastel for the cover design of my poetry book now that I have a vision of what the cover should look like. However, instead I walked over to Rose O’ and began working on that. I didn’t even stop to put on a mask … but I did turn on the air purifier.

I added some background, then began adding definition to leaves. I concentrated on the area around the first flower in the upper left. It’s hard because there are overlapping leaves and I can’t tell with the photos where one leaf ends and another begins.

I moved on to the flower itself. Now that the leaves are in, I can make the petals overlap. I tend to lay the soft pastels in a little thick which creates a challenge when I want to put in detail lines which is best with pastel pencil. Unfortunately, pencils are usually harder which only pushes a groove in the soft pastel without adding the pencil color.

I try using edges of broken pastels, but I have difficulty telling where the point/edge is and end up getting the line in the wrong place. Some work better that others. What works best is a soft charcoal pencil. I’ll soften the line using a pastel tool.

For the most part, I’m happy with the first blossom, but work is still needed on the right side. I have an idea for the next time I’m in the studio. I also need to do the stamen (the yellow part).