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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The First Step: Color.

New Year's Morning, Water soluble markers/acrylic, A trashed warm up,
but a step in the right direction.

A fellow diner at California
Kitchens. 
I took the reference photograph for this scribble nearly as soon as my foot hit the floor  and then went about my 'I'm sick' routine. Later in the AM, for the first time in a week, I got dressed--hair, make-up, the whole deal. I had half a thought about pushing us out the door to lunch--I told you, at Alexanders.  The idea went out of my head when I got downstairs. I had to lie down. I was totally exhausted from my effort. Ellis and I drank champagne instead. It tasted funny. It never did before.

In the PM, I recouped  enough to get down to the Ts in my computer project and go on to color while sitting on the couch. I chose markers. They were in my head from yesterday's post. This little, spur-of-the-moment sketch is a bit of a mess, but so was I. It was  a legitimate artistic expression, but I trashed it anyway. One doesn't have to express everything.

This gal show be smiling. I took ten, fifteen years off her face.
iPad sketch. Brushes App.
I picked up my iPad, but instead of playing Solitaire ad-nauseum, I chose to fool around with one of my art apps, Brushes. For reference, I used a photo I took of some woman at California Kitchens sometime ago. She's not a looker, but there's something about her face I liked. She looks strong like she could handle anything or anybody and make chicken soup from scratch. The rest of the evening,  I fumbled about learning how to iPad paint. I wished I had gotten the stylus I told Jean Spitzer about. (Now there's a gal who realy knows her iPad art programs).

Using only my index finger, I didn't get the woman dining at California Kitchens. She looks too young. She looks sad, more than strong.  But she'd probably like it. I took ten years off--maybe fifteen? I like it. I was coloring, taking the first step back to the studio.


14 comments:

  1. I have found that if alcohol tastes funny then that means you really are sick!. I know exactly what you mean... bet your tongue was coated, that's a tell tale sign!.

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    1. Champagne did taste weird, but I drank it anyway. It was better than cough medicine. I seem to be on the mend, just feeling weak. Very few sneezes today and hardly a cough. I call that progress. Plus: the laundry got done--had to be. We've been in the same warm up suits for days. Neither of us is a pretty sight. I didn't bother to look at my tongue. What I do know is that when I've got a cold, spicy, salty stuff is what I want. The champagne wasn't salty enough. :-)

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  2. Happy New Year to you and Ellis, Linda. I will try to get back to regularly speaking to you in 2013, I miss our chats!

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    1. Happy New Year to you and Pat too. Your comment sounds like there's plenty on your plate. Enjoy it. Come around when you need a minute off. I miss our chats too.

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  3. Linda: I love color, so even your warm-ups look terrific to me. Happy New Year to you and yours!

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    1. Color, the verb. We did it as kids home, sick in bed. I do it as an adult home, sick in bed. I was glad to see I had the energy to gather all the stuff together and put in the time, instead of napping. That top effort came out, the way I looked, so I took a look at somebody else with a different tool in hand. Not fantastic, wasn't meant to be. It's just an effort to get back to where I was the 23rd of December. I'm almost there. Not one nap taken today. :-)

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  4. I have to admire that you are doing art when you are sick. I like trashed trashed warmup. You know, one man's trash.. Getting the illness out of the way at the beginning of the year is an excellent strategy. Feel better, both of you.

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks Julie. The sketch told me this would make an excellent painting on canvas. It served it's purpose: planted a painting on my to do list and got me off the couch. I think my tea with B&B got cold. :-)

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  6. Oh, Linda - so sorry that you and your hubby were so sick. Not a great way to begin the New Year - but it can only get better from here! And kudos to you for sketching when not feeling up to par. That is the sign of a great artist for sure!

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    1. I'm of the silly opinion that if you look good, you feel good. So getting dressed and putting on make up is an effort made for that to be true. However, in most incidences, all that happens is you exhaust yourself and end up looking fabulous while knocked out on the couch.
      Coloring, however, is a sign of returning health. It shows you're getting restless and tired of being a sicky. I think my efforts show how I have a little way more to go.

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  7. I know that woozy wierd fatigue that washes over you just when you think you're better. It's nature's way of saying...not so fast, bub! You did turn in some good work here, despite your being down for the count. Maybe tomorrow you'll feel MUCH better...that's what I hope for you!

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    1. Thanks Celeste, I did give it my best try. Unfortunately, the art I did was just another symptom that the gal is still under the weather. --Just took a sip of my AM coffee. It tastes like coffee. This is an improvement.

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