Solitude

Night, when words fade and things come alive, when the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again.  When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.

                                         Antoine de Saint-Exupery

         While I may have inadvertently added glazes to my paintings before I am consciously using them on this one.  Even though I feel as if I have been working on this one for years (which I actually have off and on) it also feels as if I have just begun.  So far I have only glazed over the windows in the boat and the inside of the row boat.  And I have only added very light glazes.  Over the next several weeks I plan to experiment a lot more and see how the glaze applications will add depth to the overall composition. This technique takes quite a bit of patience as each coat must be allowed to completely dry before the next one is applied.  Thank goodness I have many other projects to work on ~ too many! 

Lost in Thought

The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.

                                    Thomas Carlyle

      Now that I am back from my trip I was able to get my hands on a few things to put the final touches on this drawing.  I darkened some of her clothing and some of her hair with charcoal and used some different colored pencils to give more depth to her head scarf.  The whole time I was drawing her I was under the belief that she was thinking sad thoughts but now I have changed my mind.  If she has the spunk to tie a red scarf on her head I think she must have some pretty exciting memories ~ some of which I am sure are connected to that wedding ring she still has on her finger!

One of the recognizable features of the authentic masterpiece is its capacity to renew itself, to endure the loss of some kinds of immediate relevance while still answering the most important questions men can ask, including new ones they are just learning how to frame.

                                                   Arnold Stein

 Last week I had a wonderful opportunity to visit the National Gallery of Art.  Washington, D.C. is beautiful this time of the year.  After a lovely stroll from Union Station past the Capitol and the Reflecting Pool the icing on the cake was standing before so many of the old master paintings the gallery offers.  I was so inspired by everything I saw that I spent the next day all day in the hotel room working on this drawing.  I was so happy that I had packed my pencils and this drawing to work on.  Usually I just bring along a few pencils and a sketch pad when I travel but this time knowing that I would get a chance to have some time to work I brought this project along.  Anyway, as you can see I did go ahead and make the scarf red and even added a little blue to her eyes.  Not quite sure if this is finished yet ~ now that I am home I might possibly use some charcoal to darken some of the shadows and her coat.  For now, though, I am going to put this sad little lady in the corner and grab my paints.  I have been reading about the Flemish method and am anxious to give it a try.

Lost in Thought

The spiritual eyesight improves as the physical eyesight declines.

                  Plato

      Once again I have fallen into the trap of not planning ahead.  While I am happy with the pose and placement of this drawing I really didn't think out the color scheme like I should have.  When I first made a quick sketch I was toying with the idea of doing the whole drawing in graphite and then going back and doing the scarf in red colored pencil.  Now that I have highlighted her hair in white chalk I am not sure if that is such a good idea.  Her coat is going to be a deep black but, then again, maybe a deep purple if I do the scarf red.  There are no rules in art but sometimes I wish there were!

Solitude

To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet.

                                        Charles Caleb Colton

 I started this painting at least five years ago.  Hours and hours went into painting those rocks until I couldn't look at them any more.  Into the corner this one went to join other unfinished projects.  It stares at me forlornly every time I walk into my studio.  Finally this past week I stuck it up on my easel and did a little work on the sky and added the mountain on the left.  It seems like such a lonely place.  I believe it is called Peg's Cove.  I know I copied it from a photograph of a painting from some magazine.  Of course, the photograph is somewhere but after three moves in five years I can't put my finger on it.  Anyway, my idea is not to copy any more but to use it as a base painting for ideas and techniques I have picked up since I first started it.  So off we go!  It looks like such a lonely place so for now I am calling it Solitude.  Maybe I'll put a few people in the boat and a dog by the house.  Maybe.

As the births of living creatures at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.
                            Francis Bacon

 Since my last post was about death I thought I would post today about birth.  The above is the birth of a new drawing I have started of an old woman deep in contemplation.  I lightly penciled in a rough sketch placing a few prominent points off which to measure the entire drawing.  Now that she is placed on the paper where I would like her to be I have started shading in her scarf and hair and am slowly working my way down.  Using both graphite and charcoal pencils and working on the larger shapes first I will probably work my way down this drawing four or five times.  By the time I have finished she and I will be great friends! 

                                                 There is no such thing as death,
                                                 In nature, nothing dies:
                                                 From each sad moment of decay
                                                 Some forms of life arise.

                                                                            Charles MacKay
 
          Once again this poor pot sat in the corner of my studio for weeks.  Something was wrong (well, actually, more than one thing but more about that later.)  The idea was to depict the last bit of a large flower arrangement left to die in a huge pot.  I was so intent on using some radiant white that would stand out against the darker edge of the pot that I kept going over and over the flowers working on getting a dynamic contrast.  Of course, dying flowers are not vibrant ~ not vivid ~ not bursting with energy.  They are limp, sad, and most of all, dreary.  I have toned these down quite a bit but they still need more work.  How does one paint sadness and decay???  And once that distressing feeling is visible in the flowers how will they still maintain their proper place as the focal point?  Should have thought this through way before I put the first dab of paint on this canvas.  Composition, color mixing, technique, on and on ~ so much to learn!