Second Time Around 2014-W46

I'm not sure exactly why, but I seldom will do anything to a painting after the first session. Perhaps I'm lazy. Artists who paint in Acrylic or Oil can and often do rework portions of their paintings, whether fiddling with details or wholesale paint-out and do-over. We who suffer with watercolor accept that watercolor is difficult to alter once you lay it down.

Nevertheless, I wasn't so satisfied with my painting from two weeks back and so today I tried to address some shortcomings without leaving it overwrought. You can join me as I wonder whether I succeeded. Either way, I have had enough and no doubt that this is its final form!

Essential Autumn

Natural Horror 2014-W44

Normally I would have painted my annual Paintbox of Horror entry for today, but wasn't able to prepare sufficiently.  I hope to have it ready for you next week though.

Meanwhile, we had a different sort of horror in the form of the weather that Mother Nature sent our way yesterday.  One of the coldest most blustery autumn days I've ever seen, and although I got home without too much bother, my heart was breaking for the children who watched their Halloween blow away in the wind.

Essence of Autumn

I had no trick-or-treaters and only saw a couple plucky youngsters with even pluckier parents make the effort.  Next year I think I must hand out full size candy bars to help atone.  But in happier news...

Our chummy Salon deWinchester painted today for the first time since June — although we have met socially so we didn't have to spend the entire time yakking.  Artwise I revisited a subject I painted a five or six years ago.

I was walking up Damen Avenue in October and noticed a tree that seemed to have all the summer and fall colors on a single branch.  The original painting is to the right and today I reinterpreted it as below.  I'll check tomorrow to see if that poor tree has any leaves left after yesterday!

Essential Autumn

Who's that {woman}? 2014-W42

So I took last week off and it was fun and the world kept turning so no harm no foul.  Before I continue with the blog proper, we see from the title that this ends week 42 and the year has 52 weeks which means...  that's correct, there are only 10 weeks left in 2014. Let's all be anxious together about that fun fact!

Moving on to today's subject, she is the World's Oldest C---.  She's not the world's biggest c--- or the most stupid c---.  But she has been at it since I was a lad.  Not exactly on center stage any more, but I recently heard the latest bit of nonsense from this C---.  Who by the way is Phyllis Schlafly.  My contemporaries remember her as a leading campaigner against the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970's.  I hadn't thought about her much until she was blowing some new malarkey out of her pie hole.

In her latest crackpot theory, this old C--- claims that President Obama is deliberately letting the Ebola virus sweep into America to make it more like Africa.  I don't even know what that means.  I would first tell that C--- that her boys Georgie and Dick didn't exactly keep their hands on the wheel during a certain September, and oh by the way the body count so far is Ebola: 1, 9-11 Terrorists: 2,977.  In fairness to the withered C---, I would agree that attack did not make America more like the Middle East.

I think I may paint portraits of another c--- or two.  Fox News has a whole barnfull to choose from and I fear that one or two may soon join the US Congress.  Such is life.  Can't get through it without running into the occasional c---.  By the way, C--- is short for crazy bitch.  You knew that, right?

Crazy Bitch: Phyllis Schlafly

Leaf Litter 2014-W40

I finally took myself up on my offer to every now and then skip a week of blogging, so the continuous run of posts going back to January 2011 finally broke last Saturday. (Maybe the streak didn't go quite that far back.  I may decide to check that, or not.) Which brings us to this Saturday.

Whereas a taste of autumn might be nice, and I think we've already had a few licks on that lollipop, this morning brought us a sucker punch of winter. It is cold.  Not chilly, but rather 40 freezing degrees. If you just said "brrrr", that is correct. I planned to hit the Ravenswood Art Walk, but with the cold and drizzle I couldn't find it in me to go out and support my fellow artists. Instead, I bundled myself up, stayed indoors, and worked on some textile arts.

When suddenly it was 4:30, and I realized I hadn't eaten and nor had I made anything for the blog. But happily, I found inspiration on both counts and after some nourishment I got painting. I used a piece I made in 2008(?) to model today's abstraction on that theme. See if you can spot the seminal work in My Gallery. It's probably not the first one you see though. Keep going.

This week I also got a new phone, and nowadays that also means I got a new camera. I haven't cropped the photo to upload yet, so I don't know how I feel about the camera.  But I feel happy enough with the artwork.  It just goes to show that any idiot with a couple of brushes and 30 minutes can make something artful. In closing, I have to say that I enjoy looking at fallen leaves as a painting much more than on my lawn while I'm holding a rake handle.  Plenty of that to come, I fear.  But then again, it beats what comes next. Happy October!

Leaf Litter

Scotland Blinks 2014-W38

Though we're Americans now, a century or so ago my family were newly arrived Scottish immigrants.  Thus is why I had my Saltire sweater all set to wear yesterday. Immediately upon waking I checked my smartyphone for the outcome of the independence referendum in Scotland. Unfortunately, the nays had it and so for the next decade or two anyway it will remain united with the rest of that kingdom.  There are plenty of online post-mortems you can enjoy at your leisure so I don't feel a need to wade in there.

I did read that the Scottish referendum got a bunch of southern folks riled up about seceding from our union. Not surprising... they tried before. I gather they are tired of "Big Government". If so, I can only say one thing:

THEN QUIT YOUR MOOCHING

That's right.  If you ever wonder which states take take take more money from the federal government than they pay in taxes, find any political map and look for the color red.

You see, the turrible liberal states on the coasts and in the upper Midwest pay more into the Federal treasury than they get back. Tennessee, on the other hand, gets $1.64 back for every dollar they put in.  Money that comes, perhaps, from Massachusetts. It might surprise many Tennessee folk to learn that 41% of their state government is funded by the Feds.  I would love for them to pay that out of their pocket instead of mine.

What about Indiana? Our hardy Midwestern neighbors like to talk a good game but they get $2 back from the Federal government for every dollar they pay in and 33% of their government is funded by the Feds. Good luck going it alone.  And no survey of the South would be complete without our friends in dysfunctional Mississippi.  Lord only knows they like to talk about fiscal responsibility down there. But as we know, talk is cheap. Which is good because Mississippi is one of the poorest states in our nation... despite taking back over $3 from the Federal treasury for every dollar they pay in.

In the interest of brevity, I won't go on about Kentucky, Alaska, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Montana, and West Virginia. Except to say mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, and mooch.  Y'all want to secede?  Scram already, and don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

I must say, getting that off my chest was more fun than a bar full of Fightin' Palins. Meanwhile, I previously decided that regardless of the Scottish vote this week, I'd showcase my one (to date) painting that includes a Saltire. As my family motto says, Ne Obliviscaris.

Inveraray New Prison

That Darn Cat 2014-W37

I think that was the name of a Disney movie back in the groovy 70's, but the cat never got a franchise like Herbie the Love Bug. Feel free to let your mind drift away on a momentary current of nostalgia.  We'll wait...

Even though last week I gave myself the freedom to skip the occasional blog posting, I was sipping morning coffee #2 when suddenly I got motivation.  Not sure why whence or how, yet I popped up and cleared the clutter around my painting spot.  I began with a different kitty idea, and'll use it soon but it was too elaborate for today.  Instead we have a more geometrically designed cat.

Whilst painting, I felt like I was getting something along the lines of "bad cat in outer space" and so was inclined to make the background a little more cosmic.  But in the event, I decided I liked the background base coat just the way it was.  Go ahead and imagine it murkier if you like.

What I would like is some warmer weather, dang it.  We've had an early cold snap, brrrrr, and although I don't much like cats I sure wouldn't mind having a homegrown coat of fur today...  even if it meant coughing up a couple hairballs tomorrow.  Or on second thought maybe just a sweater will do.  Stay warm yourself and enjoy the latest in my series.

Bad Kitty IV

I Compel Thee Nae More 2014-W36

Our second Bloggiversary is today, more or less... this Painterly Thoughts blog having started up on 9/9/2012.  Most weeks it's a labor of love, but you see the key word there is labor.  I feel compelled to keep the streak alive and so I have for two years running. Actually somewhat longer if you count the sister blog for Salon deWinchester which had a good consecutive posts thing going until I started this one.

But now enough is enough.  Not that I have any intention of halting this blog.  Just that from time to time if I decide to skip a week, so be it.  The earth will still rotate as expected and life will go on as if nothing happened.  Now that you know the blog will still appear nearly every week at its new time, you can sigh in relief or despair as you see fit.

In the spirit of fully freeing myself from feeling compelled to paint and blog every Saturday, I decided to blog — it is Bloggiversary, for Pete's sake — but not paint.  So I fished through my first sketchbook.  We saw an entry from it in the 2013-W33 posting.  I bought it in Winnipeg, probably in 2001, and took it with me to England while I worked there in 2002.  Amateur watercolor painting seems to be more of a thing there.  I remember trundling some stuff with me on a day trip to the seaside resort of LLandudno in Wales, where among other things I did a painting sketch of the Great Orme.  It's a somewhat impressive rocky promontory with a very impressive name.  Take that, Little Orme.  Which of course is nearby.

After some dabbles in England, I occasionally would take out my art supplies and admire them.  Even more rarely, I would get them wet and do something with them. From among those early dabblings and book lessons, I chose this page from November, 2003, to share.  I thought it was pretty nifty at the time and I still like both of the ancient tiny paintings on it.

In the intervening years, I've learned a lot about how to paint, and how to be a little less miserly with the art supplies.  Living larger, I must have done a couple hundred paintings since then, culminating in Bad Kitty III last week. And though he hasn't got much patina yet, I like looking at him too.

Thanks for your patronage and please keep coming back.  I may skip a week now and then, and I don't mind if you do the same.  Peace!