Category Archives: Drawing

Reboot, Undo or Maybe Find and Replace

4 Replies

The year that was had its share of challenges for everyone. For some it was just impossible and heartbreaking. New Year’s makes it feel like we get a do-over, that we get to Reboot and start again without causing the system to crash. Life isn’t that easy or simple. Some things you can’t fix but there is always hope if you look for it. Right now, we need to look hard and long at the future and what is ahead with a greater understanding of the fragility of those things we’ve always held dear.

I’m an optimist but I know things can fall apart. I also know that when they do, all you can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. I’m hoping for a better 2021, though I know it won’t be all better once the ball drops in Times Square. I’m targeting 2021 as the year I have my first book published. I’m not sure how, but I’m going to give it my all to make sure it has every chance at success. Like painting, working at making my book the best it can possibly be is my first goal. When I’m satisfied with it, which will probably be never, the editing ends and the publishing begins.

Creating paintings of our boat trip from Maine has been a fun respite from my writing endeavors. Sometimes you have to step away and take a breather before returning with fresh eyes. Painting has allowed me to do that.

From Chapter 16:

“It was 8:30 a.m. when we left Barefoot Marina, and another pretty day on the water. The weather was finally cooperating, four sunny days in a row and more sunshine to come. Once the ICW fed into the Waccamaw River, the water was deeper and wider and beautiful. We made our way up to the fly bridge to enjoy the sunshine and the mild temperatures. Ahead of us was a row of sailboats. The sunlight pushed past a row of sumptuous clouds, creating a glistening spotlight for the middle sailboat with its sails unfurled. That was a picture that would definitely make a fine painting someday. Up ahead was the Ocean Highway Bridge which connects Pawleys Island to Georgetown, South Carolina’s third oldest city after Beaufort and Charleston. When we reached mile marker 400 where the Waccamaw River meets the Great Pee Dee River, Georgetown Landing Marina, awaited us, a perfect place to stay.”

Happy New Year, and let’s all resolve to be kinder to one another. If we try to understand someone else’s point of view instead of insisting on our own infallibility that which divided us only grows wider. Look for common ground and understanding and you’ll find it.

My Retro

Leave a reply

sunflower_marigolds

2003

No matter what we do in life we should always strive to do better. Being better human beings would be the most important place to work on ourselves. Putting that aside, for the time being, I am trying to push through to another level in my painting.  It takes time, patience and work. I do get discouraged. Every artist will tell you about the voices in their heads (no I haven’t lost it – not yet) that aid in that discouragement. I am persistent or perhaps just stubborn, so I push those negative thoughts aside and I press on.

Sometimes the best way to overcome doubt is to trace where you’ve been and see how far you’ve come. That’s where I’m going with this posting. It started with reorganizing my websites. With everything wiped out from my old site and starting over, I’m faced with a question of what paintings to post. At this juncture I’m going to go with a less is more idea. Before I do that I’m thinking a little retrospection is in order. I’ve posted two portfolios, one of watercolor paintings and one of oil paintings. I’ve selected one painting from each year that I’ve been painting as a full-time effort. That would stretch across fifteen years, but who’s counting.

lightingtheway

2018

Currently, I spend a great deal more time developing my paintings. Because of that, I don’t have nearly as many pieces in my current portfolio. It’s not a race though, is it? For quite some time I have felt as though I needed to catch up on lost time. My age is probably showing through when I say that I realize that I don’t need to rush or “play catch-up”. I just need to work on making better paintings. That’s what I intend to do. Looking back on where I came from, I think I’m doing just fine in the sense that I have improved. We are all perpetual students and as long as I see progress, I will continue to push on.

You can see my timeline of oil paintings by following this link.   My timeline of watercolor paintings is at this link.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

1 Reply

sign

Once the landscaping is done, the sign will go up.

Signs of Spring are everywhere. While the forsythia are not in bloom yet, they do have buds on them and that’s always a good sign. I have a cardinal among my guests at the bird feeder. Which I think is a very good sign as well, for a multitude of reasons. But the best sign of all is mine. It’s now complete and waiting for the hardscape work to be completed before it can be installed. I got the call last week that it was all ready and I just had to go and see how it looked. I’m very happy with the result. If you are wondering what the significance of the five colored lines are, beyond color for it’s own sake, since it’s more than three, the primaries and more than four, the CMYK for the print media types, it’s a musical staff. So stylized as it is and maybe not immediately apparent, it’s still there and it makes me smile.

Spring!Of course we can’t talk about Spring without mentioning flowers. Joe and Maryanne, my brother and sister-in-law, sent me tulips a couple of weeks ago. They were just beautiful and well, what happens when you send flowers to a painter? After they have a brief stay in the living room, off they go into the studio. It’s inevitable. So while I do have a painting in progress, it was set aside to capture these lovely bursts of color. Tulips are so graceful and simple in their beauty I don’t think there’s a painter out there that hasn’t taken a shot at painting them at least once. I must say these ones were particularly well behaved. Flowers, behaving you ask? Yes, tulips have a tendency to move as your painting them. First you have your quick sketch to figure out how everything will fit on your canvas and then you dive into your paints. Only to find the blossoms have moved. No, no no, the pink one was up here and the orange one, oh well. It’s almost like plein air painting – do not chase the light they say. Well, I guess it’s do not chase the tulips either!

Finally, I’m settling in on an opening date for the gallery. Unless something unanticipated happens, my target date is Memorial Day weekend, May 25 – 27, opening at 10:00. On that same note, I am getting great help with my marketing plan from Nancy Fox http://nancyfoxprojects.com/ in New Jersey. If you have an event you need help with, or you need a marketing plan, this is the woman to call. As the date of the opening approaches I’ll be providing more details so stay tuned.

By the way, if you’d like to receive a notice of the gallery opening in the mail, and you’re not sure I have your mailing address, please drop me a line and I’ll be sure to include you.