Charge!

I have decided my elephant painting is done.  I'm not entirely happy with it.  I like the elephant but not the lions so much.  But I can't seem to make it better so I'm moving on to another painting.  I have three more that are nearly finished.

Here is my process.  Like the old masters I start with a contrast painting that is a simple drawing of  light and dark.  I learned from this painting that I should incorporate a contour drawing into that.  I think that will help me with composition and depth.

I had just finished reading Jodi Picoult's book Leaving Time.  If you have read her books you will know she picks a societal problem and spins a tale around that.  In this book it was elephants.  They are being slaughtered for their tusks and if this isn't stopped they will be extinct in the not so distant future.  They are fabulous creatures that have many wonderful traits.  Yes, they really do never forget.  And as mothers they put humans to shame.  I really enjoyed painting this.  Perhaps my fascination with the elephant is why I neglected my lions?

Reference Photo

The painting above took about two hours.  I knew at this point I had a painting that would look good simply because the photograph was a good one.

After adding the second lion I added color.  I actually like these lions better than the ones in the finished product.

I used a glazing medium to get some purple on the elephant.  I don't know why but just about everyone agrees that purple and elephants go together.

More contrast.

The elephant is floating.  I struggle with this for awhile and never really solve the problem.

Too Dark

Too Light

I gave up!  The elephant looks kinda sad but I do like the eyes.  I hope to learn how to portray emotion in my future paintings.  I missed the mark here but that's okay.  It is all a process.

More Paintings!

Once I just about complete a painting I start a new one.  I never know how long it will take as I get stuck one a painting and it just takes time to get unstuck and move on.  If it isn't enjoyable then that is reflected in the painting.

This is the first night  I started it.  Below is the reference photo.

Above I added the second lion then added some color.  Below I used a glaze for the first time!  A glaze is just that, a thin coat of paint.  I wanted the purple in the background for the elephant.

Last night I started with the above and I worked on the lions and started adding purple to the elephant.  My teacher tells me the elephant looks like he is removed from the picture.  When I put the "dust" on the picture I think that will cure the problem.  There is still much to do but I KNOW what to do so it won't take as long.

ReFox

Running Fox has been finished for some time but I haven't posted him because I wasn't sure he was truly done.  I thought maybe I  might grab a brush and touch something up a bit that was bothering me.  Turns out what bothered me was his eye.  You know the one that isn't quite right.  I decided to leave it alone because it is like the picture.

Original Picture of Running Fox

The goal was to paint this picture and make it look like what it is.  I think I succeeded.  In the future I will not confine my creative inner self and will take liberties as I feel the need.  But for now I am happy to present to you my very first painting of an animal.

Running Fox

I can already see several rookie mistakes in him!  Moving forward I've learned to exaggerate the contours to make the painting come alive and give depth.  His face would not look so flat if I would add some lines on the side of his snout.  Wait!  I said I was finished!

Next up are portraits of my neighbors dogs and an elephant charging two lions.  I'm having fun!

What Is In A Name?

I am sure everyone is familiar with that quote from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  I was just thinking about when I started this blog a couple of years or so back.  I had become bored with my job and was craving a creative outlet.  Writing has always come easy to me so I thought I would share my writings with the world via Blogger.

Perhaps I should rename my blog "My Life as a Painter".  I hesitate to call myself an artist.  Well, yet anyway.  I'm a fledgeling.  I like that.

This summer when I painted it was an escape.  One afternoon I picked up a brush and made strokes that felt good.  I  made more strokes and more.  I inadvertently left the painting out in the yard next to the gravel driveway.  That night it rained.  The paint had bubbled up in places and collected gravel dust in the ridges left behind.  Mother Nature decided to help me out.

I have always loved abstracts.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Have a great day.  Create something.

My Inner Jackson Pollack

While I was painting my porch I stumbled upon some dollar samples of  pastel paints and I decided to go all Jackson Pollack on my black mailbox.  The mailbox had been kicked around the bottom of the steps so my postal carrier didn't have to skate up the icy steps in the winter.  He'd suffered some scrapes and the loss of a handle so I gave him a new look.

I, personally, wanted to put some crimson on the last layer but alas, my better half said nope.  It's done.

My inner Jackson Pollack, however, was not done.  I grabbed my latex house paints and went to town on a piece of plywood.  I dripped with a random stick I picked up.

There is something delicious about dripping layers of paint and watching the randomness blend.

I'm particularly fond of reds and greens.

And yellow!

One of my painting classmates doesn't use yellow and I'm constantly telling her to add yellow!

There is something I really like about action painting.  Next spring I'd like to get out in the back yard with a tall easel and attack a large piece of plywood with color!  It is exhilarating spontaneous creativity and it makes me joyous.  It is the kind of joy I remember experiencing as a child playing and not knowing what might happen next.

Fox

As the next challenge I decided topush myself even more and paint another "thing".  I wanted to take full advantage of having an artist as a teacher and learn as much as possible.  I liked this picture because the fox is running.  He looks happy.  The challenge, as always is to paint a "thing".  This also has shadows.  I thought it would be a real challenge and it was!  I proceeded with the value painting but this time I used green and orange.

The first thing I learned was green and orange trick the eyes.  My values were deceiving.  I kept painting and with help I finished the value painting then I made my next mistake.  Struggling with shadows I painted Gangrenous Fox.

As you can see I am doing fair with the value with the green areas.  The shadows on the fox are awful.  With some more help and advice  I painted on...

I made the nose bigger, added some teeth, did some work on the legs and got the shadows working!  I have been looking at Running Fox for nearly a week.  I want a block of time alone that is peaceful to paint uninterrupted.  It hasn't happened yet.

Painting is becoming a passion for me and I am happy when I paint.  It doesn't matter if I am good, or if anyone likes it, this is something I must do for me.  I don't understand how or why my life takes such turns as it has.  I don't understand why I end up where I do but somehow it is all interconnected and at the time I make a decision it always seems right.  24 years ago I left the arts.  I lost the muse.  Just as abruptly she returned.

I think it is no coincidence that the first painting the muse selected was a fox.  The fox is sly and cunning and can get around tricky situations where a direct confrontation would mean disaster with stronger larger animals. 

For example, I was once dog sitting for my brother and his dogs raced up and down a fence row on our walk.  Back and forth they went again and again desperately thrashing through the brush in the same area over and over again until their tongues hung down and they slowed to a lope.  I called and called and they refused to obey.  Suddenly I looked down the road and a grey fox trotted from the ditch onto the gravel road.  The fox turned and looked at me then trotted away. 

I haven't painted in a week.  I had too many other obligations.  I have looked at my fox.  I have dreamed about a fox.  It just seems right in a very new age way.

With a few more layers I hope to have Running Fox finished.  I will present him to you then.  The holidays are coming and I hope to have lots of painting time!

Sunrise Bird

Remember this picture?


Photo Credit: Don McClure Havre de Grace, Maryland

At my first painting class my teacher instructed us to pick a landscape that had some meaning to us.  The first painting she wanted us to paint a landscape because they are relatively easy.  I picked my friend Don's picture because it had a "thing" in it (a bird) and I had been playing with blending colors.

The first class we did a value drawing like the old masters.


Value Painting



Next I started to add colors.

 

 

 

 

Then I lost the bird.

 

 



But after many layers I was pleased with everything but the bird.  However, Sunrise Bird's new owner declared it finished and I condescended to her wishes.

Had I "finished" it I would have made the bird a bit more like the picture.  But all in all I am very pleased with the result.  Kudos to my painting teacher Christine Kuhn.  She is amazing.

It Has Been A Year!

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe it has been a year since I last blogged. 

It has been a long year with so much loss I can't even recall all the losses in one sitting.  I have had a lot of anger and sadness this year but mostly sadness.  I do not handle anger very well.  For me anger manifests as anxiety.  I am not an anxious person by nature and I'm ill prepared to deal with it.  I'm lucky to have someone that helps me along the way during those times.



Sunrise Bird at Havre de Grace, Maryland
photo credit: Don McClure

 

 

Since I have grieved the loss of my career I have done a lot of soul searching.  I reached the conclusion that I am a person that thrives on self growth.  When I reached the farthest I could go in my career I began exploring other options for learning and growth.  I wrote, I tried sewing, and a few other things until I happened on painting.  I dabbled and the muse left me.

 

July 4th in the midst of severe anxiety over an unsolvable life issue I started the process of painting my porch.  My poor porch had peeling paint from a previous owner and was in awful shape.  It was incredible!  For the first time I felt like I was in control of something that would turn out very very good.

 

 

 

Pressure Cleaning Said Porch





I was able to get so involved in this project my mind was blank.  It was lovely to be calm and peaceful.

 

Finished Porch

I didn't pick the color.  It was a mistake but for the better!  The first mistake I've made in a long while that worked out better.  I was such a painting fool I painted the old table and chairs too.

Table and Chairs on Said Porch

 

 

 Painting is therapy for some people so I went to Lowe's and bought different colors of sample paint and picked up some scrap plywood for free.  I went home and started to paint.  I wanted to turn all this sadness into anger.  I couldn't access the anger.  That was the plan anyway.  I got so much pleasure from the porch project I thought I'd give actual art a try.

 

Next I will show you some of my therapy. 

 

 

 



Squirrel Hunting

As many of you know I have a squirrel as a best friend.  It is a sad state of affairs when I love a squirrel  more than the majority of my co workers.  By majority I mean a very high percentage too!  It isn't that they are bad folks they are just so very different from me in most ways.  I pretend that they find me exotic.  I have no idea what they really think because my mind doesn't work like theirs.  They think it is very strange that I put bananas in the freezer for my smoothie.  Obviously, smoothies are too hippie for them.  Given this information it probably won't come as any surprise that they would be shocked that I would go squirrel hunting. 

Rest assured that the squirrels were safe from me.  I wasn't really hunting.  It was all for show.  When I visit my brother back in the woods I just have to get outside and in the last few years he's a bit offended that I don't want to spend all the time with him.  In the house.  In front of the TV.  Ugh.  Hunting gives me the perfect excuse to get outside for some tranquility.

I haven't hunted in 40 years.  But it is no different now than it was then.  I did a little target practice with my brother's .22 the night before just in case I decided to get serious.  Besides, I love shooting a .22 and this was one sweet Remington.   I could hit a 2 inch square at about 30 to 40 feet.  That isn't great shooting but for me after 40 years with an unfamiliar firearm I was satisfied.  It wouldn't hurt my feelings if I missed a squirrel anyway.


The next morning it was nearly freezing and not a living thing was hardly moving in the woods.  I saw two birds and heard 3 squirrels.  The squirrels laughed at me.  I sat and listened to the leaves and the laughing squirrels.  I was fine with that.  Naturally, since I was squirrel hunting a flock of wild turkeys appeared.  They were close enough I could almost see their eyes.  But since I didn't know if they were in season I just watched them walk over the hill.  Proud Tom followed by 7 or 8 hens.  They cackled as they sauntered away.  I smiled. 

 (The turkey below is the one I chased across the parking lot into the brush here at the office a couple of years ago.)

I scouted the woods out and found 4 places where the squirrels were eating.  The leaves were still on the trees and the nuts were still falling.  There were lots and lots of hickory nuts.  I think the squirrels are eating acorns for the most part and they'll be back for the hickory nuts later.  At least it looked that way to me.

The next morning was warmer and the sun popped out.  I saw lots of birds and just strolled through the woods with absolutely no intention of killing a squirrel.  I heard the turkeys.  I went to the shag bark hickory tree and listened to the squirrel eat above me fully hidden by the leaves.  On my way back to the house I saw a gray squirrel on his way back to his little home in the tree.  He seemed unafraid and moseyed along.  I tried to get him in my sights but he knew just how fast to hop.  Like I said.  The squirrels are safe from me.

Getting old is funny business.  I don't like to kill things and that is why I quit hunting.  But somehow being out in the woods by myself just being quiet with a rifle in my hands made me feel young again.  I've had a hankering for some fried squirrel too which is what got this whole hunting business started. Just sitting there waiting I felt like the day held so much promise like it did when I was a kid.  Of course, the rifle has nothing to do with that, but it is a link to my past.  As I get older I find comfort in these old memories of the things I learned.  Sitting motionless listening for the sounds of nuts dropping, the rustle of leaves and watching for a branch to shake when it shouldn't reminded me of the days when the opportunity to go into the woods and hunt was an event that I anticipated for weeks and weeks.  The day of the hunt we'd get up before daylight and head to the woods to find a spot and wait for the light of day. 

Next weekend I go back.  Don't worry.  The squirrels will be safe from me then as well.  I'm sure they will laugh at me again.

Aging and Self Defense

RATED R FOR VIOLENCE

Now that I have your attention (just teasing) let me explain the reason for the warning. 

Last summer I had an encounter with a man I hired to do some work that led to a confrontation (details on that another time).  Just a couple of weeks later an armed robber was on the loose in the neighborhood where I work.  He was finally caught after pistol whipping a guy at the Red Roof Inn next door.  By next door I mean I can throw a baseball and hit the place.  I often arrive at work before daylight and am the first person here.  The office is "conveniently located" next to the interstate.    No wonder The Red Roof gets so much action.  Hmmmmmm.  I don't want to be paranoid but I also don't want to be stupid.  It is a reality that I could be a target.

If you do not own a gun, are opposed to owning a gun, or are just simply terrified of guns you probably don't want to continue reading.  But you should.  Especially if you are an American.  Just sayin'.  These are my thoughts on aging and how I choose to protect myself.  We have the right to bear arms in this country.  It is as simple as that.

.32 Beretta Tomcat

I am a country girl and here in Kentucky guns are a fact of life.  Women and guns go together.  Women hunt and learn to shoot.  It is our heritage.  I first shot a gun at the age of 4 or 5.  Under irresponsible adult supervision, I might add  (do not try this at home).   Yeehaw!  Check it out.

I am getting older and with that comes the decline in strength and agility.  I don't like living in a city and I never will but I must.  Once you have been attacked you never really ever let your guard down and now I am no longer able to out run the bad guy or really even fend him off.  What to do?

For me there are really only two choices.   I can arm myself or not.  I chose a long time ago to arm myself and have always had a gun for self defense.  Thankfully, I have never had to shoot anyone and the one time I really needed it for self defense it was not on my person.  I have, however, had my gun cocked and loaded on multiple occasions within my home and once outside my house.  The question for me now is what level of protection do I choose.

9mm XD s

I still haven't totally answered that question but I'm getting closer with each day.  If you have never been the victim of a violent assault you might think this is way over the top.  If you have, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.  The predator in my case, and many others, is a man you trust. 

We live in a great  country where we have the right to protect ourself with a deadly weapon if we choose.  I refuse to ever be a victim again.

I am a potential target each and every day I arrive at work.  The area isn't dangerous but the location is perfect for travellers through the state.  As I mentioned before the office is located at the intersection of two major interstate highways.  I have seen suspicious behavior in the parking lot, a coworker found a crack pipe and the parking is located at the back of the building and is partially enclosed by a fence.  Our building is separated from the Red Roof Inn by a hedge.  There are plenty of opportunities for a predator to hide.  These are facts.  What would I do if someone approached me?

These are questions I must answer.  After all, a homeless man was murdered across the street a few years ago.  A woman was murdered by her boyfriend a half mile away this winter.  He stole her car and fled in the early morning hours.  What if he'd come down here to steal my vehicle?  The office was broken into once and just this weekend someone tried to get in again.  A few years back a disgruntled ex employee of the place threw a bomb into the computer room and tried to set the building on fire. He had a gun in his truck as he sat outside and watched.

I don't think I'm paranoid.  I think I'm being sensible. 

 

Random Garden Photos

Feast your eyes on these........


I SOOOO wish I remembered what these bulbs were called.



Squash Blossom!

The most beautiful bean blooms..

The Enchanted Onion Forest!
 (I admit I only added this picture so I could say that.) 
Say it with me!
THE ENCHANTED ONION FOREST!!!

Peppers and Beans



My First Dahlia



Baby Black Eyed Peas



A Columbine lurks amongst the pole beans.  Can you find it?

 Have a great day!

Failure

I started this blog out of boredom.  No kidding.  I'm paid to sit in front of a computer a minimum of 8 hours a day.  Many of those days I'm busy.  Many I am not.  Just two years ago I would have been hesitant to put those last two statements out here in cyberspace.  I have always been an eager employee willing to do whatever task needed to be done.  I did not work in an office for any extended period of time until I was nearly 40 years old.  I had always had jobs where I could work independently and excel through hard work.  I naively assumed that would be the case when I changed careers and moved into the white male dominated field of civil engineering.

My goal when I entered the new field didn't change from any goal I had at a job previously.  I endeavored to learn the new job to the best of my ability, work steady and meet internal project goals.  As a teacher this taught me discipline and flexibility. A stern task master keeps her students moving forward learning along the way.  A flexible teacher accomodates each student's personalities and moods to keep them on the learning path.

While in my last semester of engineering school I quit my teaching job at the local community college and took a job in the field of engineering.  It seemed a perfect fit for me as the owner was the nephew of John Jacob Niles.  I love folk music and working for the family of a famous folk music collector and composer of the Christmas song "I Wonder as I Wander" seemed fortuitous.  I leaped into my job and learned as much as I could cram into the six months I had there.  I loved the job, but the pay was low with no benefits so I moved on.  My hard work paid off and I quickly found another job where I applied myself in the same fashion. 

I quickly found lots of interesting projects working both for our local office and another in West Virginia.  My computer skills increased.  My natural ability to assemble information in an organized manner and meet deadlines found favor with upper level managment.  Then I met my nemesis, Mr. Petty, otherwise known as the Project Manager.  As punishment for my success I could no longer work for anyone but him.  The next two years were an excercise in futility and frustration.  I could only do work he assigned.  If I were to work ahead  I incurred his wrath which usually resulted in a total revision and ridicule of my "inexperience".  I soldiered on with my shield thrust forward.  My goal to win this war dangled like a precious prize before me.  I would not accept defeat.

One Monday morning I sat horrified as Mr. Petty informed our superior that the project failed to meet the deadline.  Why?  Mr. Petty's right hand man, Mr. Passive Aggressive explained.  All eyes turned to me.  My work required so many revisions the deadline had passed.  Three months of revisions on a task that usually required days.

I'm no idiot.  I can see clearly when an obstacle is in my path.  I quickly found another job.  This time, I told myself I would carefully research and select a new firm.  I quickly found a small outfit specializing the type of work I knew.  The president hired me on the spot due to my answer to the following question:

"Why do you want to work here?"

"To make money for the company." 

As crazy it may sound this was spontaneous and true.  I knew my place as an employee unlike Mr. Petty who had wasted valuable resources and money.

I shall spare you the gory details but incredibly Mr. Petty and his sidekick, Mr. Passive Aggressive had followed me to the new place of employment!  I had the usual six months of success.  Nearly thirteen years have passed and with some shame this weary worker admits that she gave up.  I lost the battle and I lost the war.  I failed.

The trick now is to turn this failure into a learning experience.  Most of my silence as a blogger relates to this predicament.  I did not want to be negative in my blog.  No matter if no one reads it.  In the event ONE LONE READER strays across this post and generously gives me the time to read this far, I did not want to chance filling them with the negativity that surrounds me most of the day.  There.  I've broken the silence. 

My life as a writer started as a child.  It continues.  Now I must set another goal.  I shall remain true to one of my earliest lessons from my mother.  When I fail I must learn  and try again.  Knowing this gives me the strength to soldier on, yet again, when the enemy outnumbers me.

Calumet Farm

Probably the most photographed farm in Kentucky is the Calumet Farm located on Versailles Road right outside of town.  It is world reknowned and if you are lucky you can go on a horse farm tour and it will be one of the stops.  Like me. And yes it is the Baking Powder Family (for you US folks).

Quite a few years ago the farm was sold to some family from Poland (I think) and it is for sale again.  I don't know if it has been sold or not.  So as you enjoy these pictures please know the farm has been neglected (by Kentucky horse farm standards that is).

I'll start with the quintessential central Kentucky photo.  Everyone takes this picture.



Mare



Horse Barn



Inside





Cemetery



Tombstone



Yes, they even have obituaries in the paper for famous horses.  Nijinsky is buried somewhere around here but I had to hurriedly snap my pictures.  The guide was watching me closely, no doubt wondering why I wasn't hanging on his every word about the great drama of Alydar .  He's buried here too.

Here is a nice serene spot you can reflect on how dang wealthy you must be to have a manicured graveyard for your horses.  Note the white jockey.  30 years ago he would have been black and lots and lots of people would have had the black jockey statue in their yards.  Kinda like the pink flamingos in Florida, but they have remained the politically correct color.

I liked this horse and she liked me.  I would have taken her home, but I didn't have a couple million dollars handy.  And that lady?  She kept popping up in my pictures!  I was tempted to photoshop a moustache on her to disguise her identity so I could uphold my standards of not publishing photos of people without permission.



Stable Boy



Frisky Foal Being Weaned



The Horse's Ass





Watering Hole




Calumet Office



Tobacco

 This photo above was just to date the trip.  Tobacco hangs in the barns in the fall, and it smells heavenly when it is curing.  Nothing like you would expect.

Bye Now!