22x30

This is my first 22x30 inch painting. I am calling it "Big Red". 

I think it is done but I will wait and see if it holds up to the pressure of phantom shapes that can appear overnight. 

I think I am ready for peony season. 

This is indeed a "bigger boat" but it feels good and right.

Time to Start Up Again

Life is full of "false beginnings and endings". Getting the Shingles made me stop but it is now time to start up again. 

I am going to be moving slowly and conserving energy but I am determined to work in this big format. 

Learning means  trying new things especially things that make you stretch or feel uncomfortable. I hope you will join me on this path. Great things may happen.

I am what I am !

Sometimes you have to just know who you are and accept it. This is me. Changing my books from being shelved according to subject to colorful blocks in the studio. 

This is the kind of home decorating project I can really get behind. No cost, immediate change and a way to look at space in a new way. 

Shadow Shapes

Shadow Shapes 

18x22 watercolor 

I started this painting as I was coming down with Shingles. It is now a couple weeks later and I am slowly recovering. 

I have missed painting and hope to be able to poke away at work from time to time. This was a surprise I have not had something "stop my roll" for some time, but this sure did. I have a healthy respect for Shingles and will be taking things slowly for some time.

Seeing like Dogs

I think it is no secret that I love dogs. I sometimes call them "people dogs" because I can spend the day here and have full conversations with my animals. I know what their different barks mean and I know we have true affection for each other. 

I also like to watch their behavior. Any shape that shifts outside the window is a big attraction. I don't think they know my face or my features but they know my "outline or mass". 

So when I start a painting in  Step one I try think like a dog. Finding dark patterns that connect the whole into the beginning of recognizable shapes. 

What I have learned so far: 

Seeing like a dog is a learned skill 

being open and loving like a dog may be a skill to hard for a mere human being to master.

First Small then Big

Promise Me Watercolor 7x10 inches 

matted 11x14 inches Can be found HERE

I am excited. I just ordered my first sheets of paper 22 x 30 inches. Yes! 22x30 inches. I am going to paint peonies and they are going to be bigger than anything I have ever tried before. 

Now I have to think about if I want to scale my individual blooms to a larger size or stay within the size I know well but increase the number of blooms. I am leaning toward increasing the number. So I need to make some plans for positive and negative space because the composition has to work as an abstract before I can plug the subject in. 

What I have learned so far. 

The subject can not save a painting no matter how compelling. The underlying NOTAN pattern will not be denied.

Town Meeting

Town Meeting 

watercolor 

14x20 inches 

Can be found HERE

 

The first Tuesday in March is town meeting day here in Vermont. It is day to vote on local matters, to have a communal meal and see how everybody is holding up since a year ago. 

If you think about it there are certain things that all animals and humans have in common. We tend to herd and share and lean on each other.