MID SUMMER

I'd better get with a posting here before the summer is over. The internet is still slow as molasses and new scanner is giving me difficulty.

Since I last posted, my granddaughter, Alyssa, came to visit, the 4th of July happened and I've continued to open my gallery every day but Sunday.... well all but one Monday when Alyssa and I went to the beach and picked wild strawberries, picnicked and sketched. Van has been home a bit, but left a couple of days ago to fish cohos until the August closure.

Its been raining a lot.... making up for the dry warm May and early June. The slugs are out in droves.... I spoon up dozens everyday and still my poor cabbages are full of holes. My lettuce and arugula are in a galvanized tub and so far the slimy things haven't ventured in.

Brown bears have come to town. Black bears are common here, but only rarely a brown. One was killed last week, sparking a State Trooper investigation as to who shot it. Another one was seen today and there is fresh scat near my house. I don't worry much about the black bears, but the brown ones are a different matter.

I haven't been very productive painting. It seems I'm just getting ready to get started with something and its 2 p.m. and time to open the gallery. Some days no one comes and other days I'm talking to people most of the afternoon. I've put a table out there and have been able to do some sketching.

A few weeks ago, I got a small Guerilla paint box that I had ordered last month. It goes on a tripod, but so far haven't had a chance with decent weather to go outside with it. I have done a couple of little paintings inside using it painting from photographs. This is one of them:


Lupines at the Beach 5x7 gouache painting

It is a whole different experience painting on an easel.... something I find awkward. I paint all my watercolors and until now, my gouache with the painting on a table, and being left handed and always an overhand writer, I tend to paint overhanded too, especially in the details and want to rest my wrist on the painting. I've made a mahl stick to try next time and trying to paint more with my hand under. After over 60 years of trying I still can't write that way, but hope springs eternal.

I've started a larger painting of this same scene in watercolor. I'll probably pull out the gouache when I get into the flowers.

Its way past time to make a block print for the Year of the Tiger exchange at Baren. I have the design figured out and might have time to start carving my block tomorrow.... I can probably work on it in the gallery.

I'll be going to Juneau next week, but promising myself and whomever else might care that I will start blogging more often... and painting more often too.