Over New Year's break, I was browsing through old photos, and found some photo images I thought I'd put aside to use for practice sketching. Like everyone else, I feel like I've been so busy, and I haven't painted for a bit, so I am really out of practice,... and confidence, too.
My insecurities emerge when I attempt to draw, since I honestly can't draw, but I find that if I just pick up a paintbrush and sort of loosely sketch out shapes with that, and not with a pencil, I'll tend to be loose, because I feel like I'm just playing then, and I'm more relaxed.
It works for me--I'll never produce a masterpiece that way, but it gets me feeling like I'm having fun, and I'm more likely to keep trying if I do that.
And after all, fun is what it's all about in the first place, isn't it? (These were done in an old, small Arches HP block. It's always interesting to me to see the differences in HP paper vs CP.)
"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." (-Dale Carnegie)
Warmest wishes to everyone for a Very Happy New Year!
Doesn't it seem as if the first days of Christmas just arrived? They've surely taken wing and hastened us along. In the mere blink of an eye, here it is already time to herald in a New Year. There were family and friends' celebrations, visits, lots of eating, merry-making and nostalgic reminiscences... The gift-wrapping is over, the presents were enjoyed...
...but now even the "Jingle Juice" is gone for another year...
and 2010 is upon us, bringing an anticipation all its own. I, for one, am anxious to get on with it and find the possibilities in the New Year.
So grab a chair, settle in, and let's get ready for another 365-day ride around the sun.
And in the meantime, enjoy this: I love this beautiful, haunting version of Auld Lang Syne...grandma would be proud...
It's Christmas, and all the little nooks and crannies of the house are festooned with holiday cheer.
My mother's to blame: When we were growing up, she'd have us head up to the attic, to pull down a treasure trove of boxes just for that time of year. We'd watch in anticipation as all the objets d'art for the season would miraculously emerge on tabletops; festive curtains would replace the everyday fare; swags would grace the stairwells; wreaths and single candles lent their glow to windows and doorways.
The scents wafting through our home today are of cinnamon, cloves, ginger and chocolate. Baking is a ritual that carries with it the magic of the season. A fire's crackling in the fireplace, and we're snug inside on this chilly December night.
Some of the rituals are traditions every year. There's comfort in that, n'est ce pas?
Happiest of Holidays, all!
"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." (-Norman Vincent Peale)
Another Thanksgiving is safely ensconced as a warm memory, and the leftovers are still within reach when the urge for comfort food strikes.
So, today, in the warm, fall light, Joe and I ventured out in search of a place that still had tulip bulbs for sale. Not an easy task. I'd looked everywhere this past week.
Since I'd been on the road,and hadn't purchased any bulbs earlier, I was slowly becoming resigned to the fact that we might just have to accept a spring without tulips.
I know..
Qu'est ce que c'est? Incroyable! Sacre Bleu!
Granted, I suppose I could have ordered them online. But fear not: my favorite nursery still had some, and we hurried over to fill bags of bulbs that will gracefully emerge as glorious spring color.
Then, on our way out the door, bags in hand, we happened upon a beautiful white camellia bush that called to us. Mind you, camellias often call to us, and we already have five camellia bushes around our yard in various colors. In all honesty, I wasn't sure where we'd put one more camellia plant, but as luck would have it, we found just the right spot. So...now, we have another beautiful flower.
I head out tomorrow morning on my final fall trip. Now, safe in the knowledge that we're "covered" on the tulip front, I am gently cradling these bulbs into a drawer in the fridge, and after next week, I'll look forward to spending a day digging and tucking promising bulbs into the sweet soil for their burst of color in just a few short months.
Truth, like the burgeoning of a bulb under the soil, however deeply sown, will make its way to the light. (-Ellis Peters)
It's so good to have a few days at home. I know I have much to be thankful for...
I'm not heading off anywhere again until Monday, so I can breathe for a few days...and maybe rest a bit!
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." (-John F Kennedy) (internet photo)
Yesterday, I arrived in Evanston, Illinois, ready and eager to visit Northwestern University in the morning.
As I settled in at the hotel, and glanced out the window, I realized that across the street, there was a Blick Art Supplies Store staring back at me.
I'm like a kid in a candy store when I can explore art supplies to my heart's delight, so needless to say, I high-tailed it over there and spent an hour or so lost in time.
On the way out, I was excited to head back to the hotel and play with my new Yupo pad. The Yupo polypropylene sheets are slick, and the paint just kind of oozes all over the page. It was fun to just slosh the paint on, and watch what it did on its own. I'll be playing around some more with this when I can.
"You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next." (--Frank McManus)
"All I could see from where I stood Was three long mountains and a wood;...
...So with my eyes I traced the line Of the horizon, thin and fine...
The sky, I thought, is not so grand; I 'most could touch it with my hand! And reaching up my hand to try, I screamed to feel it touch the sky. I screamed, and--lo!--Infinity came down and settled over me..."
(-- from Edna St Vincent Millay's poem "Renascence")
"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!" (--John Muir)
(photos from the plane window coming home this weekend, from Portland Oregon, through Utah and the Rocky Mountains)
Yup-- It's here: It's fall. The weather's getting cooler, and the trees are just bursting with flaming color. It's definitely my favorite time of year, for making apple pies and apple crisp. I'm heading home and plan to get right at it for the weekend, since I will be in my own kitchen!
Have a great weekend, all! Enjoy the brisk fall weather! (Today's my younger sister Claudia's birthday! Happy Birthday, Claudia!)
How'd that happen!? Seems like just yesterday I was about 8.
I remember once when my mom had a birthday in her late 70's, I asked her how she felt, and she said "I feel like I'm 25!" I remember we both laughed, and I said "Well, I've gotta' say, you don't really look 25!" But isn't that wonderful that she felt so young. That's what's important, I think.
I'm definitely at an age where I'm comfortable in my own skin.
"There are three signs of old age: loss of memory...I forget the other two." (-Red Skelton)
"The secret to longevity is to keep breathing." (-Sophie Tucker)
Have a great weekend, all!
As for me, I'll be flying to Eugene, Oregon tomorrow, and then taking a meandering drive to northwestern California this weekend.
I spent a good bit of time waiting in airports today...not much time for painting, but I did do a few mediocre sketches sitting there... I had a good bit of company, as you can see...all of us waiting...
"I am waiting for my case to come up and I am waiting for a rebirth of wonder...
"I am waiting for the Great Divide to be crossed, and I am anxiously waiting for the secret of eternal life to be discovered...
"and I am perpetually waiting for the fleeing lovers on the Grecian Urn to catch each other up at last and embrace and I am awaiting perpetually and forever a renaissance of wonder"
Excerpts from "I Am Waiting" from: A Coney Island of the Mind (-Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
"I took a course in speed-waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only ten minutes." (--Steven Wright)
Today, while I was visiting the University of Wisconsin in Madison, I stumbled upon the Allen Centennial Gardens, a beautiful, serene oasis, smack dab in the middle of a bustling urban campus.
It's my first day of hightailing it all over the country, and of course, when I hit this campus, I saw the usual rows of bikes lined up the way they always are. I smiled, as they made me realize I'm definitely "back at it." This campus in particular has a large number of students who navigate with their Vespas, tooling around town, and up and down the meandering hills.
I've been to this campus numerous times before, and I'm accustomed to the swarms of students and sounds of quads filled with people hurrying from class to class with iPods and cell phones in tow. The campus is situated partially on an isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Menona, and I'd seen the calm waters there before and the lovely trails that lie parallel to it.
But if there's ever a spot on a campus that suggests serenity, you can be sure I'm going to do my best to light on it as quickly as possible. I'd never seen this peaceful spot before, so needless to say, I was thrilled to discover it today.
The Allen Centennial Gardens is a stunning horticultural teaching garden that serves as an instructional outdoor lab, but it also enhances the campus with bursts of colorful flowers, creative landscaping and a graceful tranquility.
These trips take me forever to plan and coordinate, between routing trips and schedules, booking flights and rental cars, haggling with hotels, working around fairs I also need to attend, and making contacts at each school, and after months at it all, I definitely stress myself before I head out on the road, worrying that I'll forget some detail or other, even though this is my seventh year on the road doing this.
But at the end of the day, once I get out on the road, it invariably hits me all over again just how fortunate I am to see so much of the country that I might not see otherwise, and I marvel that I get to experience, firsthand, the beautiful campuses I see all over America.
"Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning." (-Thomas Edison)
Well, I'll be up before the crack of dawn tomorrow, and all of this week: it's Orientation for our new students at Duke's Nicholas School. It's been very busy these last few weeks. I'll be at Duke from very early mornings until night, so it will be a while until I can do much blogging. I'll be back as soon as I can, though, so I hope you'll bear with me! I can't believe that by the day after Labor Day, I'll be off and on the road, but I'll be busy here in the meantime...
Enjoy these late summer days for me! I'm anxious to start painting again!
"People may not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get." (-Frederick Douglass)
Well, it's about time I tell you just a little bit about my wonderful watercolor class experience last week in mid-coast Maine! I've been so busy back at work that I'm just now able to jot down a few notes--forgive me!
In a nutshell, David Dewey's watercolor class was excellent.
Not only is he a very gifted artist, but he's an extremely generous teacher as well: he pours his heart and soul into his classes, and you feel the passion he has--both for his painting and for the Maine landscape that he calls his second home. It's no wonder to me that his students gather again and again, year after year at his side, to listen to whatever enigmatic words might spill from his mouth:
"The palette feeds the painting." "Don't draw or paint the entire tree: suggest." "Use ranges of color." "Line doesn't define color; color defines line." "There's a harmonic juice to painting." "Put color down in anticipation of what's coming next--have a color plan or a color map." "Start with the color of light, and find the landscape in it."
David would continually emote on all sorts of painting ideas, and I'd frantically take notes so that I could let it all sink in later, as I read and re-read my notes.
He holds his classes near his home in mid-coast Maine, which is an artist's paradise, rife with landscapes and skies that go on forever. Since these classes fill a student's day, there's no time for wandering off or sight-seeing in the area, but David literally takes you on a journey to different locales each day, giving you insights into the winding coastal landscapes that creep up around every bend in the road, allowing you to continually see the beauty of the area.One day we're visiting a lighthouse, one day a beach, one day a park...(David's thumbnail paintings below:)
A day with David begins with his selecting a subject matter, and getting right down to business, doing a painting demonstration for the class. While he paints, he verbally walks you through what he's doing, and why he's doing it; providing commentary on color theory, mixing colors on the palette, learning to simplify your subject, keeping colors from going flat by varying what you pick up from the palette. Occasionally, as you watch David in action, you learn a new "technique," such as flicking the paintbrush on your leg to ascertain a tone that's just right, or smearing your index finger into the palette paint, to get just the right mix of pigment!
After David's demo, students are encouraged to head off anywhere, to find their own subject that inspires, and begin painting, while his words and painting are fresh in their minds.
It impresses me that he recognizes each individual's style, and he lets artists develop in their own way; he's not interested in cloning himself. He leaves artists to paint for several hours, but then checks back with each individual to see what they're doing, offering encouragement or suggestions about what they're working on.
In the afternoon, David gathers folks around him once again, all armed with sunblock, hats perched atop heads, and listening attentively, as he paints, emphasizing the importance of doing thumbnails. His quick, fresh thumbnail paintings are deliberate, abstract and full of life. At the day's end, everyone gathers at a designated meeting area, and David critiques the day's works and offers feedback to artists.
The class days are busy, but David and his wife also offer up their home to students, generously serving up desserts one evening, and the chance to browse through David's journals that are just filled with stunningly beautiful images of his travels.
One night, all of us headed to a local outdoor eatery, "Miller's," where we had seafood and a beautiful sunset to welcome us. Several of us noted the analogous colors of our table fare (see below):
And of course, taking in all the beauty of Maine is a big part of the class experience, as we savored fresh Maine lobster and blueberries in a gorgeous landscape.
On the final day of classes, the group met again at David and his wife Kathy's house, for an "en plein aire" luncheon, leaving everyone to reminisce over the instructive week.
I spent most of my week feeling pretty much "unworthy" of being in the presence of such talent in this group of people, but I learned so much, and came away with much more than I brought to the class. I am going to practice so much of what I learned, and in the coming months, I'll push myself to explore a lot of what David taught in the class. I'll tell you more about the class as I go along...
"Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul." (-Van Gogh)
There's a watercolor class--in mid-coast Maine: a quaint, little place called "Owl's Head." My good friend Carol Gillott (of Paris Breakfasts fame) told me about David Dewey's class, encouraging me, back in February, to go for it this year, so I've been patiently waiting since then. I'll be gone for a week. His work is amazing, and I am looking forward to learning.
Along for the ride will be my watercolor paints and brushes, journals, papers, rain slicker, sweatshirt, portable stool, bug spray, sun block, and bien sur, my camera,...oh, and of course, a healthy love of lobster. (It just so happens I'll be there during Lobster Festival!) A charming B & B will be home for a week, and they're always fun--I know I'll meet some nice folks. Stay tuned!
I love to watch watercolor demonstrations, and since each artist is unique, I learn something different from every artist I see. Looking forward to practicing new things and stretching myself. I can assure you I'll take lots of notes and soak up all I can. I have had David's book for years, and a very talented cousin of mine also studied under him--in fact, one of her paintings is in his book! And since I've never been to Maine before, I'm excited that I'll get a little time to explore and see a new locale.
Supposedly there is an Andrew Wyeth museum somewhere in the vicinity, so you know that if it's at all possible, I'll be heading there!
So, wish me luck! I'll try to learn whatever I can, and I'll share when I return! Toodles!
"Those that say you can't take it with you never saw a car packed for a vacation trip." (-Unnknown)
If you've been reading my blog at all, you know that Joe and I do love our birds.
We watch them with fascination every chance we get. We see almost 30 different varieties of birds on a given day.
However, if you were here to see our deck, that would be no surprise to you whatsoever. We live in a quiet little spot with lots of trees and bushes, and we have our garden, brimming over with flowers. There are also 2 ponds, a bluebird house, and lots of perches and posts on our deck that make birds happy as clams. I'm sure they see it as an invitation, on a silver platter, to come join us.
What we call our Golden Corralbuffet of feeders sits perched right outside the french doors where we eat our meals, like a veritable Babette's Feast for the little guys--and so we'll very often sit and watch them, close by, and comment to each other on their hilarious behaviors. All lined up in a row, we have: a thistle feeder, a suet feeder, our "big" feeder (like the one I sketched) with sunflower and other seeds in it, a feeder filled exclusively with peanuts, and finally, hummingbird nectar in a feeder for those little guys.
When I sat to sketch this little finch, I had to smile, because what made him an attractive "subject" to sketch in the first place was the way he was veering around as if he was a nosy neighbor, trying to peek in and figure out exactly what we were up to on our side of the glass window.
"The best mirror is an old friend." (-Peter Nivio Zarlenga)
(AP photo from Telegraph.co.uk) Frank McCourt died.
He was the gentle Irishman who wrote the beautiful book we all know as Angela's Ashes, and he shared the gripping story of his childhood in a way that touched us all.
It saddened me to learn this news on my way in to work this morning. He died yesterday, on what would have been my parents' 57th anniversary, if my mom was still alive. He'd had melanoma, but contracted meningitis and was very sick for some time now. I knew that, and I knew he'd reached the point where he was in hospice care, but as always, when I heard the news of his death, it hit me like a ton of bricks.
We lost a beautiful soul today.
"When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." (-Angela's Ashes)
"Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manner." (-Hugh Blair)
I'm heavily in the throes of trip-planning for my fall hejira across the nation for Duke. It occurred to me that I'm always taking photos of other campuses, and I never take photos of the Duke campus, which is quite beautiful in its own right.So here are a few I snapped on our campus yesterday as I was walking to my car.
Every summer about this time, I start the excruciating process of planning my fall trips all over creation. I will be gone from right after Labor Day, on September 8th, until early December with only a Thanksgiving break. I will only be home in North Carolina for a total of 8 days, (5 of which are weekend days.) I'm usually gone three or four weeks at a pop, and then I'm only home a day or so and right back at it again.
While I wind up seeing some fascinating parts of the country, I do miss home. I'm essentially a home-body, so I have to muster up my strength to get myself psyched for this peripatetic lifestyle that awaits me.
This year, I'll be traveling to some familiar places, but I'll also see some new sights which I'm excited about: for example, I'm building into my trips this year some good forestry schools, and so one of them I'll be seeing is Humboldt State University, up in the far north coastal region of California, where the redwood trees live. (It's also earthquake and tsunami territory, mind you!)
I'll be visiting Washington state, Oregon, California, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Alabama, Louisiana, Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia and Tennessee this year.
I have never been to Alabama or Louisiana before, and I'm already primed for new adventures. It should be a wild ride, and I hope you'll stay with me for some of it. I'll try to take photos as I see interesting things. I will also try to sketch, nights in hotels, when I can.
In the meantime, I no longer work from home when I'm not on the road--I'm commuting in to Duke every day, so here and there, I'll have to try to take some Duke campus photos when I AM home! It's a lovely campus, and deserves my attention.
When my son Eric was looking into colleges, I arranged for the track coach at Duke to meet with Eric, hoping I could entice him to go to school here in North Carolina. Eric was a strong cross-country runner, and I figured if he liked what he saw, maybe it would convince him to stay here nearby. They did hit it off, and Eric really loved the Duke campus architecture as we wandered the campus, but ultimately, he decided to go to Williams College in Massachusetts, which is a wonderful school. It was a great choice for him, but I did my best to keep him near me, honestly, I did!!He's very smart, and I knew he'd get in wherever he applied, but Williams was a great "fit" for him.
I really do get to see many beautiful places in the course of my travels, and I'm fortunate, but I will be exhausted by the time Christmas rolls around again this year.
And every year, as I see the day lilies stop blooming, and the end of my hydrangeas, I get a knot in the pit of my stomach, realizing it's all starting over again, and for me, at least,--summer is almost over. I am definitely in "Trip-planning Mode." Bear with me!
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." (-Robert Louis Stevenson)
Some singers sing of ladies' eyes, and some of ladies' lips, Refined ones praise their ladylike ways, and course ones hymn their hips. The Oxford Book of English Verse is lush with lyrics tender; A poet, I guess, is more or less preoccupied with gender. Yet I, though custom call me crude prefer to sing in praise of food...
...Some painters paint the sapphire skies and some the gathering storm. Others portray young lambs at play but most, the female form. "Twas trite in that primeval dawn When painting got its start, That a lady with her garments on Is Life, but is she Art?"' By undraped nymphs I am not wooed; I'd rather painters painted food. Food, Just food, Just any old kind of food...
...Never mind what kind of food. When I ponder my mind I consistently find It is glued on food.
(-Ogden Nash)
(practicing exercises and using an image I painted from Anne Abgott's book on watercolors: "Daring Color'
It works for me--I'll never produce a masterpiece that way, but it gets me feeling like I'm having fun, and I'm more likely to keep trying if I do that.
And after all, fun is what it's all about in the first place, isn't it? (These were done in an old, small Arches HP block. It's always interesting to me to see the differences in HP paper vs CP.)
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