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Monday, July 11, 2011

A Victory Over Fear


July 10, 2011,a day that will go down in infamy, L.W.Roth jumped in the lake. Though she had been told to do so many times by friends and family who thought her opinions were off the wall, she had totally ignored their suggestion due to her fear of seaweed. The thought of it brushing her legs as she descended into the deep gave her the willies. And the willies kept her away from the lake for twelve years. Until this morning, when her spouse said in a cajoling tone, "How long are you going to talk about it? When are you going to do it? Never that's when."

That did it. On went her bathing suit. On went her flip-flops. And out the door she slammed down to the dock and walked straight off the edge, sunk down through cool, dark nothingness and came up laughing. What an idiot she'd been! Fed by an underground stream and warmed by summer's high temperatures, the water was clear and clean and a delightful eighty two degrees. LW stayed in for two hours straight treading water, swimming the length of the dock and then perusing the entire shoreline in a fancy noodle with a sling seat lent to her by a neighbor. Today, she'll get her own.

--But she will never trust anyone again to take her picture no matter how much she wants a keepsake of an event. Unfamiliar with the Nikon Coolpix L120, the well meaning woman switched on the wide angle lens and LW gained twenty pounds and an uncoolpix to stick on the refrigerator door.

With all the excitement this last weekend, I never did get back down to the studio to do the sunflowers with pastels as I planned. (Summer slips by way too quickly). The drawings pictured are acrylic on watercolor paper (top); and water soluble markers on Strathmore Drawing paper (bottom). Both are 9 x 12". (I've decided to standardize my sizes). I prefer the bottom painting. It's ragged and wild just like the flowers. I was more than pleased that I was moved to make them. I really thought I was all through. My failure with Falland my biggest client telling me they no longer needed my design services last week were two hard punches to the gut. But give me a new camera and goad me into conquering a silly fear and I'm good to go.

12 comments:

  1. Hi, Linda,
    Beautiful paintings! Really congrats on your jumping and thank you for sharing the photos, especially, the first one. Take care.
    Kind regards,Sadami

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  2. In another life Sadami I would have burned that picture, but in this one, I'm just happy to be here. Thanks. It was fun getting the drawing utensils out. Only sunflowers could move me. I haven't met an artist yet who could resist them.

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  3. LOL, good for your hubby for saying that... As they say " shutup or do it"... Seaweed in a lake? ok, u taught me something... Anyway my mom always thought a true swimmer was one who could brave the lake.. My kids only knew the pool until they were old enough to get in the ocean on their own... Well applause to you!.

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  4. You know I'm a pool person through and through, but living here I no longer had a pool outside my door; I had a lake--with perch and bass and snakes and water plants--if not seaweed. Yuk, I thought for 12 years and I was ashamed of my yukky attitude. The lake was a luxury I was not taking advantage of. Shame on me for being a stupid decked pool snob. That attitude changed yesterday. It was truly delightful. --And meeting the neighbors was good too. I was glad Honey pushed my I'll-show-you button.

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  5. Aaaaaa. You'll never get within 20 feet of a bass or a perch, and the snake is more scared than you are. Seaweed? Schmeaweed. Think of it as mere vegetables. Go jump in a lake. Same for the client. Fall apart for a while. Nice post--hilarious story--what a victorious pose.

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  6. Hi Linda
    I love your photo - you look like a real warrior LOL! Well done on conquering your fear.

    Love your colours and paintings. Love the movement.

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  7. LW - You are ever so brave to jump in!!! I hate getting wet. What a great picture too. I really hope life goes better for you. It's always a knock in the gut to loose a client or job, but you have such a positive outlook, taking life's waves full on and seem to be enjoying the surf.

    Ah...the blue in the first picture is delightful. The picture is dreamy. And number two again has that mystical quality you excel at...capturing the spiritual essence of flowers. You are a master at combining line with color and achieving energy.

    Keep on getting wet!

    Nanina

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  8. Thank you very much.

    OMG, I can write comments! I couldn't since last week. Since Blogger changed the design to this horrible clean, unfriendly and vast something...

    What a great photo! Made me smile. You look like a lake conqueror! Absolutely admirable for me because I learned swimming when I was 13 and I'm still afraid of swimming in deep water.
    And wonderful paintings. Made me smile too. :-)))

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  9. It was quite a victorious moment for me Bill. An OMG moment where you think what a wus you've been being fearful of something so natural. I intend to make lake swimming a regular part of summer. Thankfully though, it rained today and I couldn't meet the "gang." My legs were killing me from all that treading water!

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  10. Evelyn I was just glad I could make a mark. I was stumped and stunned that I couldn't get out of that damn painting. The failure doused my flame. And the client did too. Still smarting over that one, but being victorious over the fish, snakes and lakeweeds put me back on track. I loved your reflective tea cup.

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  11. Nanina your teapot and tomatoes put my flowers to shame. My flowers were just me breaking out of a rut--flowers do do that for you. Their colors and forms just burst with energy that both soothes and energizes.

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  12. You are very welcome Joe. If water is over your head, it's just over your head. It doesn't matter if it's a foot or twelve feet over your head. You're not walking, you're swimming--moving your arms and legs.It does matter, however, how shallow water is. That's where people get hurt. They dive in or jump in and don't tuck. Always tuck.

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