STILL IN JUNEAU

Only a few days left and I'll be on a plane to Ireland, so I want to get one more post in before I leave.  I'm really not into blogging lately which is pretty obvious if anyone might actually ever come to read here.  I don't quite know why.  Its like a lot of creative things I do and then don't do.  Some I come back to and some I don't.  My  paper journal has also been full of gaps the last year.  This has happened  before in the many years I written and sketched in my journals, but   I always return, sometimes slowly, so maybe this is a beginning of a return.

I"m enjoying my stay in Juneau.  The boat is comfortable, the cat good company, and I'm close to town and can walk to the grocery store and the swimming pool .  I have Lee's car which gets me out the road easily and I have several friends here that I've spent enjoyable time with.   I've had some doctor appointments (good 9 month check up) and have been getting some physical therapy for my aging body.  

After much inertia, I finally got the oils out a couple of weeks ago and went outside.  I guess things are getting better after 4 sessions in different places, a little easier for sure.  I can't find my cord to load the camera to the computer, so I can't put them on here yet.   Maybe the reason that I'm finally writing here is that I am feeling something positive is coming from the effort.  And I am enjoying the process when I am actually doing them. 

 But I seem to have a barrier keeping me from taking my oils out by myself and working at an easel.  I just can't make myself do it.  I guess its being shy and feeling like the center of attention, and my work looks so bad.  I  don't have a problem going out with my stool and watercolors in my lap which I've done several times here in the last few weeks.    I did take the oils  once to one place by myself where I knew no people would be, but every little noise made me think of a bear eating me.  So my plein aire oil painting has been with other people. 

There is a group of painters that call themselves the plein rein painters here in Juneau who go out every Saturday and paint together and I joined them last Saturday, and have gone with my friend Michelle 3 other times.

The fact that my show will be in September hasn't seemed to have kicked in.  I really should  be working diligently on some pieces for the show all this month instead of struggling with the oils.  Or I should say more diligently.  I'm able to paint with watercolor on the boat that I'm staying on, using photos on my laptop, but  I  just forget how to paint for a while. Many hours here on the boat and outside have yielded nothing good.  I have really been painting terribly, but this week I finally have one piece for the show and am working on another that I think will turn out well.  

So, off to Ireland next week.  I'll be working with gouache.... would like to do oils, but don't want to lug all the stuff I'd need there.  I'll be back home in mid-July, and who knows, maybe anxious to get back to my blog.  I'd better be ready to do a few more pieces for my show.

Can't leave without at least one picture.  this I did a couple of months ago.

SUNSET  watercolor 14x14 inches

I'M BACK

I won't bore you with a bunch of excuses and reasons for my negligence here. I'll just get going again.

I'm in Juneau for most of this month, boat and cat sitting for my son who has gone south.  I offered to do so some time ago thinking it would be a week or 2, not 4 weeks.  For the first time in 30+ years, I will be away from home for most of the summer.  At the end of June I will be taking off for Ireland for a workshop with Nina Weiss.

The last 3 months have flown by.... and I was doing a lot of flying, coming to Juneau for dental and medical appointments. My painting output has not been good these last few months. Here is at least one that I like:

watercolor, about 20x12 inches