Oh Dear 2013-W25

Today's WCA-series subject, bless her, is no doubt a cautionary tale.  I'm just not sure exactly what all those caution(s) might be.  Plenty to choose from.  At the tender age of 26, this Miss already appears to have reached "a certain age".  It's difficult to believe that in the decade's time since Mean Girls, she looks 30 years older and in her spiral has gone from having the world at her feet to having... possibly stolen borrowed shoes on her feet.  In another decade from now, she will reach the age at which her alleged idol, M. Monroe died.  In that time, L.L. could write a new story for herself or play out the one that's unfolded lately.   Let's hope she defies the odds and manages the former.

Some say youth is wasted on the young.  I don't know if that's true, but here in support of the hypothesis we have Exhibit A.  And if you think the painting is harsh, you should see the reference photo.  I have been kind.

WCA:  Early Arriver

Finally (epidsode 1) 2013-W24

I don't remember when I first beheld the inspiration for today's work, but I do know that I made a quick study in January 2011 during the early days of Salon deWinchester.  My overarching scheme was for a mixed media piece of watercolor & pastels.  I went on to make the awesome underpainting at right on March 12, 2011.  Pointless observation: not quite the Ides of March, but close enough.

In the fifty-one (‼) intervening months this much ignored underpainting has sat mostly in a drawer, occasionally on a table to "inspire" me toward finishing up, and probably in a crazy place or two — if only briefly.  No doubt I was paralyzed by my fear that I had bitten off much more than I could chew with baby teeth.

Until early last Saturday morning after I finished Seaview..., when I took a deep breath and got down to it.  This work is my most ambitious undertaking yet in pastels and I'm still a neophyte so even selecting the pastels was agonizing.  Whereas laying down the first strokes was terrifying.  And yet, before long I felt comfortable that my approach was going to work out.  Once begun, you're half done, right?  I tell myself that a lot.

From that point, it was like an open bag of potato chips...  every time I walked past the work table I'd pick up a chalk and work a little more.  And a little more.  Well, you know how it goes with potato chips.  Though I didn't eat the whole bag, figuratively speaking, that night as I shut down the house for bedtime I glanced at the work and realized I was near the midpoint.  Would there be anything left for Tuesday Art Night?  Well, there was.

Though if not, I have a handful of other projects that have all stumbled and stalled at varying points in their progress.  I aim to slay them one dragon at a time, many if not most if not all.  My friends at Truman College and the fellows of Salon deWinchester, they who have seen the body of preliminary sketches and studies, will doubtless look on these finished pieces and exclaim... Finally!

Peaceable Interlude in the Serpentine Grapery

p.s.  Long time blog readers: this is the very landscape to which I refer in the 2012-W40 blog.  You know, where I predicted I'd finish this mixed media piece on October 27, 2012.  Ha ha ha

"A Certain Age" 2013-W23

Having studied a foreign language (or five), I'm always fascinated by idioms and wonder by what path did some come to acquire their non-literal meaning.  Why does the Mexican Spanish equivalent of "better half" translate as "half of the orange"?  And in a similar way I appreciate euphemisms, of which today's posting title is a fine example.  "A certain age".  What a nice way to say "not young"... not officially "elderly".

More or less it's written the same in French except the "a" gets a funny hat:  un certain âge.  I don't know why as I haven't studied French, and if I want to learn it then I'm running out of time for I am a man of certain age.  Most of my friends are also of that certain age, and like myself may have come to accept that on the matter of your age, you can deny it or you can defy it. 

Last week I painted the first in an intermittent series of fashionable women d'un certain âge who likely believe they are defying — though others might render a verdict of: denying.  Still, one can appreciate their immaculate dress and skillfully applied makeup.  Lots of slap as they would say in Britain.  Ultimately,  I perceive this embalmed-chic look as legitimate, albeit unintentional performance art.  In painting the Women of a Certain Age (WCA) series, I probably mean to mock the deniers, but I will slip in one or two defiers whom I celebrate.  I leave it to you to decide which those might be.

That explains last week's painting, whereas this week I did a landscape for my nephew that he requested a couple years back.  It's a view of a lesser lighthouse in Maine.  My first ever piece on panorama sized paper, so good for me...  I can check that off my list while I'm still d'un certain âge.  Enjoy!

Seaview toward Ram Island Ledge Light

The Wedding 2013-W22

If you read last week's blog early, then you should scroll down and see the finished painting.  I posted it on Wednesday.  Now, with that out of the way, on to today's painterly thoughts...

Last evening I attended the wedding of an old friend from college.  As often happens, we had drifted apart in the intervening years until the miracle of the internet put us back in touch sometime during the late days of the Dubya.Bush era.  It really boggles the mind that in the modern era, we have the potential on any day to see any living person on the planet.  I can't imagine what it must have been like a century or so ago when parents saw their children head off to make a life in the "new" world, knowing that probably never again would they see one another.

I guess the downsides are that so many voices now compete for our increasingly fragmented attention, and it takes a real effort to hide!  Computer, cell phones, social media sites and all them apps — wonderful inventions and fantastic tools.  But as I often remind myself and my friends: they work for you, not the other way around.

And now that I've set aside two chunks of time each week for painting, you can expect me not to return texts promptly on Tuesday evening as well as Saturday mornings!  I finished the dog series on Tuesday and wasn't quite ready to begin some of my summer plans this morning.  So today I'll offer this, the first in an intermittent series for those occasions in the coming months where I have nothing better to do.  I'll reveal more about the series in next week's blog.

WCA:  Miss Porter's (Very) Ancient

Double Down 2013-W21

What a crazy week!  For my own amusement, I keep a list of the countries whence (i.e. from where) my blog has international visitors.  I was bored on Thursday afternoon and found that since Saturday, I'd had my first visitor from seven countries, thus bringing the total up to 26.  In alphabetical order, the seven were Columbia, Cyprus, Egypt, Indonesia, Italy, Lithuania, and Pakistan.  Definitely pan-global.  And sometime on Tuesday my blog had its 1,000th viewing...  so, a big thank you to all who have visited.  I appreciate your support!

Meanwhile, about the same time that my 1,000th view was happening, I was reflecting on how I've been diligent about painting every Saturday morning.   Not just happy about successfully honoring the commitment, but happy to be spending the time that way.  So why not double the pleasure?  Being good with math, I figured that half a week from Saturday morning would be a three hour chunk on Tuesday evening.  And so starting the 28th, I'll do art Tuesday evenings as well.

But I think one blog post a week is plenty for now.  I might have two works to show, or maybe a small shot of the work in progress to accompany the finished product.  Time will tell.  All I can say is I'm looking forward to double the fun.  And, I hope you all will continue to look in from time to time too.

Speaking of works in progress, today at Salon deWinchester I only managed to get the background blocked in.  I may get back to painting later today, or I may leave it for Tuesday night.  Here in the meantime is an excerpt to add color to this posting until the completed painting materializes...

Well, as it happened, I did put in some time on the dreary Memorial Day weekend.  In the end, though, I finished up on Tuesday night and here you go.  Enjoy!

Driving Doggy III

Orange You Glad I Caught You Up? 2013-W20

Last week's blog talked about beavers and capybaras.  This week I could mention goats or sheep, (whichever eats more grass) because a wee flock of them would come in handy today.  During my absence the lawn has overgrown the maximum height for my push mower to fell.  But I will deal with that later.

Meanwhile, I have been industrious:  sorted out the remainder of my palette reworking as mentioned in blogs 2012-W42, -W43 & 2013-W01.  Glad to have that behind me!  Managed to finish reading Art & Fear, so I can cross that off my list of 2013 Art Resolutions.  With all that done, what next?  So this week I am pausing to ponder and plan for Summer...

I have a current canine series to finish, think I'll do the last(?) of those at the May 25 Salon deWinchester.  I've made studies for several large paintings, and since that is another of my resolutions I guess I'll bust out one or two of those in June.  And I'd like to try abstracts and acrylics — maybe I'll combine those into one super-maddening effort.  In fact, might as well save that until it's god-awful hot to really make the experience furstrating!

Yet with all this clarity about what to do in the weeks ahead, I was stumped about what to do today.  For inspiration, I looked back through my photo files and reviewed the "hierarchy" of genres.  (Plus I wanted to use up a particular pair of paints in my palette.)  After I put all that in a mental jar and shook vigorously, I first opted for an orangey monochrome portrait of my friend Donna.  This explains the juvenile pun in the blog title.

When suddenly, I managed to pop those unwanted colors out of my palette — so at the last minute I elected to do a quick portrait study using a couple of new-to-me cobalt pigments.  In my defense, I painted this in under 45 minutes using only green, violet, and a touch of magenta.  The portrait depicts the great French artist Gustave Caillebotte, whose forgiveness I beg.

 

Caillebotte

Like a Beaver 2013-W19

Like a beaver, today I am busy.  Probably too busy to paint.  A few weeks back, though, I had to make two paintings in a single sitting — one of which I held in reserve for today.  Also like a beaver, today's subject capybara is a rodent.  The biggest, in fact.  Beavers are #2 in heft but possibly try harder than capybaras, which eat grass instead of chewing down trees.  Unfortunately for the vegetarian capybara, it seems they are the favorite food of jaguars and (gulp) anacondas.  Finally, during my prep work for the (so-so) painting, I was fascinated to discover that the Spanish word for capybara is in fact carpincho and not capybara.  So maybe you can win a bar bet with that, regardless of whether or not you enjoy the painting.  Peace!

Yo Soy un Gran Carpincho