Recently I discovered, from youtube, David Bellamy. I got some of his books out of the library and have bought a couple for my own.
The first is his Watercolour Landscape Course, since I need all the help I can get and I also have a hard time figuring out WHAT to do when I sit down to draw or paint. I’ve thought about going around my kitchen, but that would be so revealing, like the clutter everywhere…. so I’m starting this book, not quite at the beginning….I think I’ll go back to trying out plain flat washes, which I skipped over to this more interesting lesson.
One thing that caught me right away was his mention of being a beginner watercolor painter for 15 years….sounds like he knows how I think! He also says to save everything so you can see how you progress….painful, but important. And he gets you going right out of the box, painting.
So, what I’m proposing, in an effort to keep my ADHD brain on track, is to post every Friday, regularly, to see how I do and trick myself into doing something every week. I need a schedule, a deadline and a focus. That often helps, as long as I stay on this tangent. And remember to do it.
Anyone else have this problem? Any tips or hints, please? No critical comments on my skill level, please. I’m letting myself continue to be a beginner, so there it is.
Thank you Laure Ferlita for alerting to me the fact that my blog had disappeared!
My domain name had come up for renewal, my son handles all that stuff for me, and they sent the renewal notice to an email address he hasn’t used in years…for some unfathomable reason. So, my domain expired. December was a weird,nasty month so I never noticed.
Enter Laure, who emailed me to ask what happened.
Derek got on it and finally got me back up and running…..Thank you Laure and Derek.
Here’s a photo I took last week of Tweetie, who is not supposed to be on the stove. Apparently she got up there and fell asleep. She has asthma, and I don’t think breathing in the minute amounts of gas are doing her lungs any good. We call her Miss Withers, from the movie, Murder By Death. If you’ve seen this silly movie, you’ll understand-breathing in all the gas.
Quick-y post, I found this music on another blog, months ago. The blogger used it as background and didn’t credit the composer, Paul Collier. My son snooped the page source codes till he found it, leading to youtube. He was just listening to it and I thought, why not share it? It’s only 2 minutes 29 seconds, worth a listen.
This tree has been here since before we moved in 28 years ago. It was just a young-un and it’s on the border of our back yard and the neighbor’s to the north. We had been here just a short while and the old guy, Charlie, who owned the property next door was out back with a younger friend, getting ready to cut it down. I just happened to be in the ‘back 40′ as we call the back-back yard (our lot is double deep) at the time they were revving up.
I begged Charlie to leave it, he wanted to take it down as it would shade his garden when it got bigger. Surprisingly, he changed his mind. He lived only another few years and was unable to garden anymore anyway. So the tree still stands, it’s lived and grown up through several other owners, no one wants to put a garden in these days, so I think it will be safe. Actually, our garden is just off to the left of this photo, out of view.
I see this tree every day out my laundry room window, I check it every morning to see what the weather is like. In the spring it will have blue jays and crows and cardinals and tufted titmice and many other birds teaching their kids to fly from it’s branches. The squirrel family plays in it and it’s Caleb’s favorite spot for pooping under. (I clean up often).
We’re nearing winter, Dec 21st, and my oak will hang on to many of it’s leaves through most of the winter, dropping them when the buds come for spring. It drops a few acorns, not many, and the squirrels plant them around. A baby from this big mommy is growing in our garden now and there’s one waaay out in our front yard coming up, too.
I sketched this first with a unipin pen, .03 black and painted it with my Peerless palette (see earlier post), using a waterbrush (a match made for each other) then went in when it was dry and added some darker darks and lighter bits with Aquastic watercolor oil crayons. Took about 40 minutes all told. That includes the writing bit.
This class is really teaching me to pay attention! I never would have noticed how important this tree is to me if I hadn’t done this assignment. And I’m learning to stop talking to myself in such a negative way about my skills. Serves no purpose except to make me want to quit……which I’m not doing. Have I said this before? lol,
With Laure Ferlita.
Our first lesson, we all have to paint an eggplant. We are NOT allowed to say anything negative so if I can’t say something nice, I won’t say anything.
Well, I gotta say it, this is Baaaad. I’m going to try it again and see if it gets better. But the first shot out of the box, well, is rather sad and awful. Still, the colors are nice and I can see where I need to improve.
Trying to organize my art supplies, so I can find what I know I have instead of just buying more, I came across something cool.
Back in 1988 I was possessed to buy a 15 color set of Peerless watercolors, then just $6. (What made me want them was the company that made them was just a few blocks from where I grew up. And they were watercolors. I wasn’t painting or drawing at the time.) I had tried them a little bit, using them as the instructions suggested. Cutting off a piece of the color-filed paper and putting it in water. I remember doing it with 3 colors, it wasn’t fun, so I put them away….for 23 years.
Now when I found them, I looked on the internet to see if they were still being made and Wowza! I came across on youtube, this:
Jane Davenport, I never heard of her but look what she does! Funny, the first pictures she shows are of Paris, which coincidentally is the class I just took with Laure Ferlita, Imaginary trips. Which got me painting again after 40 years. Funny old world…..
So anyway, that’s what I did with my set, see here:
Then I tried them out. And I love them. Just using this and a water brush and tissue, I’m ready most anytime the mood hits me.
See my first attempts, it’s OK to play. Yes it is. (I’m telling my gremlin “yes it is”).
I did this for a card for my 93 year old Mom. She got it today and loves it, even if it’s a fake/copy-sort-of of an Erik Blegvad illustration in a cookbook. Which I got, not for the recipes, but for his art.
Don’t they look like fun? Have you ever tried these?
Just because I’m trying to get into a new habit, posting here, and not really knowing yet where I’m going, and I laughed so hard when my son sent me this photo from work….. here’s a picture of my Derek, with a famous guy who visited the boss where Derek works.
Can you guess who this other man is? Hint: Mr. President, Independence Day
Just a regular, very polite, very normal kind of guy….Derek and “…” And he’s rather large, over 6 feet. Which we didn’t know. Derek is also a very polite, normal kind of guy, not 6 feet, lol.
The group of people Derek works with all lagged behind, following Bill outside. He, Bill, was very gracious, letting everyone (5) get their pictures taken with him. We just thought is was pretty cool….
Derek and Bill Pullman Hornell Sept 28 2011
Just wanted to get started blogging again after 2 years….This is the second to last day of my first ever Imaginary Trip with Laure Ferlita. Big scary deal, I’m putting up my last entry here:
I want to do the 3 classes I missed, just to say I did it all. And I learned so much, it would be a shame not to finish.
These guys or gals look cold and unhappy. I hope not.
Next up is Laure’s Autumn class.
I found Laure from Cathy Johnson’s Journaling book, which made me so itchy to get started, that I did!
Here are 3 Limited Edition Bench Block Pads. Click on each photo for a bigger view. Aren’t they adorable?
I got a local award winning artist to do his personality-filled cats on 3 pillows, dated and signed, too!
No two are alike, each is hand drawn with a black permanent art marker. Notice that one has the design off to the side leaving you room to use your smaller bench block on the clear area.
The design is drawn on smooth leather, the backs of each are suede to help keep your pad in one place. Sand filled and very handy, sure to put a smile on your face every day.
While available on etsy….thanks for looking!
3 dishcloths
A new thing for me, simple, brain dead knitting!
Rather than keep using a sponge in the kitchen and adding waste to landfills when I throw them out, I realized I could make dishcloths and WASH them. And have the satisfaction of using something I made, which gives me smiles.
Each of these took one evening, sitting on the couch with my cats. Relaxing and easy. And I’m using up cotton yarn bits.
Time to make more!
