Oh my. I'm taking the afternoon to put something on my blog and now I see that I never published what I started at the end of February..... telling about my rather unproductive month. Here is some of what I wrote:
I spent about 2 weeks making some books for friends.... most of the time on the computer getting the pages to fit on the pages properly. They are gifts and so I don't want to put them here as I haven't sent them out yet. My hope to do a postcard everyday has not succeeded. But I have kept with my resolve to play my guitar and get more exercise a good bit better.
My progress with the oils hasn't been going very well.
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| about 8x8 inches water mixable oils |
This is one of a few small oils that I've done, the only one worthy of putting here.
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| Bosc Pears 5x12 inches watercolor and gouache |
And I found this in my photos, done sometime in December when I was trying to come up with something for a woodcut. The color is different in this photo... the background gouache in the painting is more purple. I think I like this blue better.
I'm in Juneau now for the usual things here: visiting my son and grand daughter, dentist, taxes, shopping, and will leave for Anchorage tomorrow for my 6 month check up.
We've had a lot of cold weather this winter and it continues on. Maybe after a few days in Anchorage, coming home to SE Alaska will feel like going to the tropics.
And now its almost the middle of March, home, but will be going back to Juneau in a couple of days.... and it was actually colder in SE Alaska than Anchorage when I came home. All my tests were good in Anchorage, which was a big relief and I had a very enjoyable visit with a fabulous and inspirational artist, Wanda Seamster . Our tax returns are filed and I had a good visit with family and friends in Juneau But my dentist appointment there for a check up and cleaning resulted in 2 crowns so I have to go back to finish up and also for another doctor appointment.
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After coming home I got out my old acrylic paints. I had gotten pretty discouraged with my last few attempts with the oils Several people have suggested I use acrylics instead of the water mixable oils if I want to avoid solvents. I did some fish on a couple of fish-roe boxes.... kind of funky looking... and discovered in the process that I definitely like the oils better. The acrylics were hard to blend.... dried too fast. I had something that makes them stay wet longer, but it had dried out..... has been years since I had tried acrylics. I seem to be scared to start another oil, so started a watercolor yesterday. It started out wrong and got to a point of failure where I couldn't fix it. Maybe tomorrow I'll get the nerve to start another oil painting. But for the rest of today, its here with the laptop.
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2 comments:
Carole, your oils have looked great to me, we are our own worse critics! It really is painting and not worrying about the outcome, but thinking about it being practice. And looking at and studying others work! Glad you had a good checkup, you must be relieved. I am happy for you!
I went to Florida for a week, and came back to gray, rain, cold, with dirty snow!! I am done with winter!
I hope spring comes for us soon, keep painting!!!
Chris, Thank you for your wise and encouraging words. I want to go down to the studio and start a painting, as I wait for the snow to stop so I can fly to Juneau.
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