No Artwork Today - Just Glorious Sunsets

I will admit I have been feeling somewhat despondent. Not a ‘Woe is me” … and, so sorry if that is what I conveyed. Once I digested my health information and started getting downright annoyed I decided, as Jerry suggested, “this man doesn’t know me”, nor does he know what I am capable of!


And of course I should never have played Vivaldi’s Cello – a recent gift. Just a wee bit too somber!.. However I just had to listen to Yo-Yo Ma playing on a 1712 Stradivarius cello using a Baroque bow. Ask me if being in such masterful presence didn’t leave me feeling more than somewhat insignificant. I should have opted for a ‘Stomping Tom Connors”.

So I packed my bags and headed for my cousins. I really don’t know how such a small body contains the heart of this woman. She greets each day as a new day, full of spirit and anticipation of what the day might hold. Her generosity is bottomless giving freely of all material goods she may have as well as all her attention and love. When I am physically ill she arrives with her potions, lotions, vitamins, special teas, rubs and lots of TLC. She knows who I am and what I am feeling without speaking; she asks for nothing and accepts each roadblock as a challenge. We can talk, walk, laugh, cry and be silent together. Just to be with her and share the person she ‘is’ was all the ‘tonic’ I needed. .

So time to ‘pull up my socks’ with new determination and get on with the art of living!

Thank you for the encouraging words from all who commented. I really didn’t mean to sound so bleak!  Your words were so appreciated and will I am certain help me to stay the course!

No art work here today, just a couple photographs, while I work away at my next few blogs ….all about Hallowe’en … and take another look at this ‘humongous’ (sp) canvas weighing over me. This canvas had me feeling like the ancient mariner with an albatrose ‘round my neck – my own doing of course; it is a very large canvas …. But it is not a roadblock!

I truly am blessed in more ways than I can list. Friends and family and love. Blessed with a passion for art. There is no ‘leaking’ roof over my head, I have more than ample food on my table….I still have my mobility and my sight! Just need to fine tune the ‘heart’ a bit! Really, when I sum up where I have been, what I have been fortunate enough to experience …. I am indeed one of the luckiest people today!  And blessed to be able to view sunsets such as these from by balcony and from a Kawartha lakeside shore.

Sorry, not much of a blog today; will hopefully do better tomorrow.

Thanks to you who read and comment. So appreciate hearing from you.

A Day to Wander

No artwork today…just a day blowing off steam!

Several issues have cropped up in the past few days which have left me in an ill frame of mind! According to the medical specialist I saw yesterday whether or not I have a ‘mind’ or anything else in the future is questionable. His prognosis was indeed not positive and has left me quite angry. After a sleepless night turning over his words I’ve decided to accept his prognosis as extreme and alarmist. Will stick to my general practioner’s verdict and do my damnedest to think positive.

So that’s that.  A second incident occurred which is indeed most troubling. I received a credit card in the mail. Not a fake card with a made up 1,2,3 number. A complete card with actual assigned number, expiry date …. The works. I did not apply for such a card, would not even consider such a card. Why would I want to pay 29.5% to some company for using their card? I recently had my wallet stolen while in the local library; luckily I had little in the wallet; only a bank card which I immediately cancelled. In this day of identity theft the receipt of this credit card has left me with a very deep feeling of dread.

What else may turn up in my name without my authorization? Somehow or other 'my person' feels violated!

Another recent occurrence has also set me on edge. In Canada one has the option to invest sums into a Registered Retirement Plan; money to be held until retirement. This helps reduce income tax by about 30% for the year of contribution.  I took out such a plan, simply because I was earning very high dollars at the time and it was an opportunity to save and reduce taxes.

At a certain age the government insists the plan be converted to a RIF – in a RIF you are required to withdraw monthly sums; with the government getting their belated taxes back at the rate of 10% at withdrawal; and additional tax when filing tax returns based on the total withdrawals for the year.

Okay, fine, I know I have to pay the income tax. But now, the banking institution has levied a service fee of $56.50 for withdrawals that are not included in the monthly withdrawals. So, if you wanted to withdraw an additional, say $100. $10 would be withheld for income tax, the bank would keep their $56.50 and you would have the whopping sum of $33.50!

The bank fees really upset me. The money earned by financial instutions is mind boggling – and they need more! My 92 year old mother is right! I didn’t believe her but I do today. Her philosophy – for all the interest you will earn on a bank account; you will ultimately relinquish in some way either to the government or the institution. How absolutely right she is … think I will adopt her institution  “hide well in a safety deposit box!”.  Or do as another senior I know who 'stuffs in a sock".

Haven’t quite blown off enough steam to approach the artwork in my studio. I think this will be a good day to walk the trails and hopefully my walk will discover remnants of a time when 29.5% interest rates did not exist and 'banks' could, sort of, be trusted to be on your side; and noone wanted to steal your identity, they were busy enough establishing their own!

Art and Missed Opportunites

Do you ever have days when you know you should have, could have and didn’t and missed a golden opportunity.

Yesterday was such a day. The city was banked in fog and as I drove along I constantly saw pictures ready for the taking. Still some blazing trees softened and glowing in the foggy atmosphere. Corn stalks waiting in the fields dripping wet with a special colour only seen when wet, great burnt umber brown fields! The sky was a rich opalescence through the foggy mist dripping with hints of pale yellows, oranges and blues; a truly wonderful pearly shimmer!

No, I passed by. On my way to my son’s – the colours and fog will be just the same on his land I thought. To be honest, I was looking for easier fields to photograph, I wouldn’t have to reduce my speed (which I so love) and stop, constantly in and out of the car to snap the photos. Easier to take the pictures at his house. He lives on the river surely all will be the same.

The fog had dissipated by the time I reached his house and most of the trees had shed their leaves. So Missed! A terrific photo opportunity because I was looking for ‘greener’ fields as it were; a more convenient way to take photos.

My grandson and I wandered to the back of their property to snap pictures anyway, I snapped several and then passed the camera to him as he was right down the bank on the river’s edge. He had spotted a muskrat den and want to record on film. All done he passed the camera back, I missed the pass and the camera wound up in the water.  So again today.  The lower city is shrouded in a bank of  fog and I have no camera.  Looks like I'll miss the opportunity again today!

A hard lesson learned! There is no easier way, no convenient way, to produce a work of art whether on canvas, paper, metal or film. If we miss that magical moment of creation it is lost forever. So, to the easel today – don’t want to miss this moment. Oh yes, and have to shop for another camera, no hope for this one.

The painting included here was an opportunity I didn't miss.  Walking through a local conservation area I was taken with the special bronze of leaves remaining on the giant oak trees.  I snapped and produced this painting from a photograph.  I experimented with a 'bronze' colour oil paint and the painting is quite interesting with direct light, the leaves really do glisten bronze!

I'm off for doctor's appointments this morning and running short of time.  Will not be able to post on my other blog.  Have a great artistic day and ‘grasp the moment’ with enthusiasm.

Pinting en Plein Aire

I have three unfinished canvases floating around my ‘studio’ – spare bedroom. One I’ve shown here already, the glowing aspen – and it’s still on my easel; I’m waiting for the paint fairy to come in overnight and finish it for me!


A second one I include here today. I painted this one en plein aire while vacationing on an island in Georgian Bay. I hauled all my equipment over rocks and roots and trees. Siddled down the side of a steep incline and perched on the edge of a straight and steep rock outcrop high above the edge of the water to paint this! I have never been successful painting out doors but am so determined to become competent at this approach to painting. For me, photographs never adequately capture the spirit of the scene, they cannot seem to translate the living breath of the landscape one wishes to paint.

I’ve been looking at the work of other plein aire artists. They describe very adequately what they are doing and make it look so simple and they do it ‘simply’ and with confidence. I’ve even attended a week long workshop painting plein aire for six days!. The instructor went away with seven … count them…..seven wonderful canvases. I went away with seven discards!

I read and absorb, make notes to myself on ‘how to paint plein aire’. Ultimately when I arrive on site all is forgotten and I am fighting to capture a moment. Having written this I think I’ve just identified my problem with plein aire…I’m fighting my abilities and painting my fears.

When I am in the sand dunes with the wind blowing, the grasses swaying and the waves rolling I feel a part of the landscape. My very being is consumed with the scene. I do not think of colours, paints, time or place…..just the vision I see and feel. Perhaps that is the first note I need to put on the top of my paint box when painting other than in the dunes …. Relax and enjoy the feeling of the moment and approach with confidence.

My second attempt is another plein aire of a golden autumn.

Maybe someday the two aspen kicking about will become paintings I can say are ‘not too bad’. Looking rather dim right now though; I think they both will wind up discards!


Visit my other blog for the continuing saga of survival in a Northern Ontario town: -turningpointsandidentities

Work In Progess - Reworking Canvas

Well here I am. A work in progress! Now that doesn’t sound right does it? I suppose I am a work in progress …. however I present here my painting in progress

This is the canvas of golden aspen I have decided to re-attack! And it is indeed a work in progress. Now there are many styles of painting as I am certain you readers are aware. Well, I’m inventing a new one here….it’s called ‘progressive painting’. A bit here, a bit there! Sort of a like a progressive dinner…appetizers at one home, main course at another etc. Remember those. Then you arrived home and finally cooked a full meal!

Sorry, I digress.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this canvas. It’s 40” x 36” and although I am trying to use the largest brushes I have I am finding it ‘Large’!

Also, painting basics dictate I should be painting the background first…then foreground. I am finding with this one I must paint the middle ground first….the evergreen forest area is where my darks are concentrated and perhaps if I resolve this area the rest will follow smoothly. We shall see.

Anyway here is progress of a sort. Hopefully more to show you tomorrow.



Enjoy

Artistic Foundations

I was reading a blog today posted by artist Bruce Sherman and I would recommend his post to anyone struggling with their artistic journey and to anyone needing a 'refresher course' in Art 101 through to 401's!  Having been away from the production of art for twenty-five years, I need all the refreshers I can get!

Although I have an art degree and have been trained in all the basics of fine art; I am struggling, not knowing where I am going with my art work. The vision, the spirit is always present but the translation lately has left much to be desired.

In his post, Bruce talks about laying the foundations. Looking at the elements of structure … whether line or blocks of interest and colour. I won’t repeat his post as that would indeed be shameful of me. But I do want to say his blog has prompted me to look at my artistic ‘foundations’.

Totally lacking! I’ve become lazy and ignored what I know to be the basic building blocks of a good piece of art work. Capturing the essence of the vision is not just slapping on paint and hoping for the best; although I guess some artists have achieved great canvases this way. It hasn’t worked for me. I am attaching a few sketches done when I actually paid attention to structure and form and movement….and this is where I need to return.

Thanks to the post, I hope I can make a return to applying the basics in my translations and will be spending much more time thinking and planning  what I am doing rather than just 'blundering' through.

The daisies were captured in a matter of minutes; freshly picked from the field and just a sketch but I feel one with a little 'life'!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

When I sketched this weeping willow I was taken by the mass of the tree and how it seemed to be segmented into different parts and the way it floated on the wind; I tried to capture the essence of the tree in the space it occupied . I spent the time and looked and tried to 'compose' the sketch.   Just a sketch ... more lively that anything of late.

Another approach I used a decades ago and abandoned, was using a 'block' approach.  Breaking the subject into flat planes and proceeding from there.  I had forgotten all about this until I read the blog mentioned here.









I have also posted today on my other blog; seems to be a time for remebrance.  Remembering art skills and youthful journey in Northern Ontario.:-turningpointsandidentities

Frosted Windowpane

I’ve always been fascinated with the frost patterns and when I saw this on my cousin’s storm door two winters ago, I just had to try and capture it.


So often the patterns resemble a forest of ferns, other times they just swirl and revolve. They are truly dream scapes.

This was painted on canvas first some acrylic texture then painted over.  The photograph of the painting is not the best; the colours are actually more vibrant and glowing.

It has fortunately, or unfortunately sold. Unfortunately because I had to part with my ‘dream canvas’.

Enjoy


This blog is linked to my other blog where I talk about winter preparations during my growing up years:-
turningpointsandidentities