My Blog List

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

What A Day!

I had my last physical therapy session. I walked painlessly down to the lake and back. I accomplished what I wanted by having this surgery.  I  photographed. I painted and, yes, I danced with delight.

My knee still hurts, but the hurt is different. It's the hurt that goes along with being cut in surgery then having to put in the time to heal. The pain of walking that was there before surgery was missing. As I made my way down to the lake, I was ecstatic.  When I reached the dock, I felt like Rocky after running up the 72 stone steps in front of Philadelphia's Museum of Art.

I took my camera on my thirty minute "building stamina" walk, of course. I had to record the event. I had to shoot whatever struck me as worthy of painting. These photographs have potential:

This would be a wonderful, mural sized painting. It would also make a fantastic frosted glass design.
I like the pale beige/grays and the peaceful horizontal composition. 

I'm liking the grays in this photo and the subtle colors in the far background. they only need a tad of punching up.
Note the ducks. There were hundreds of ducks that my presence sent paddling for the opposite shore.

The water needs textural development, but this too would make a grand mural.  The dots are the ducks.
Looking at the photo in this medium, I might change the proportions of the horizontals?  But, again, I'm liking the grays.

THEN I TOOK PHOTOS OF POSSIBLE PAINTING EXERCISES AND TRIED ONE OUT THIS AFTERNOON.  REPITION  ALWAYS GETS ME. IT'S WOVEN INTO OUR LIVES.


Turn Left at The Sign.

Turn Left at The Sign, alla prima oil on stretched canvas, 8" x 10"
A good start back. I painted seated, but started popping up more and more as I got into it.  Old dog.



ART HISTORY NOTE:  VG's "The Irises" sold at Sotheby's for 53.9 million 1987 dollars. In today's dollars, who knows how much that painting would go for? What's the highest price someone paid for one of your paintings?  I got eight hundred once for one of mine. 


I did the puzzle this morning.  I love this new iPad app. I love this painting and have had my nose two inches from its surface at least fifteen times. What joy I felt every time.
       
The one painting VG sold in his lifetime was Red Vineyards Near Arles for 400 francs in 1888--in today's dollars, about eighty dollars.  You think he charged too much?  No.  Too little.

Red Vineyards Near Arles, Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful alla prima painting, you have captured fall at its best! Van Gogh has to be one of my favorite artists , I love the Red Vineyards painting. I can't believe how little it went for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Celia I'm not sure eighty dollars was so little in 1888. We'd have to know the value of the franc and the dollar back them. Today, 5 francs is 1.03 dollars. What was it then? How big was the picture? How known was the artist? Lots of factors. But VG must have been thrilled. Now, we have to go to Russia to see it. The Russians took home a lot of art after WW II that had been confiscated by the Germans, Vincent's work among others. I was just reading about the big art find in Munich; they didn't mention too many artists names yet. We'll have to wait. It's going to be a long story for those who care.

      Delete
  2. I love the alla prima painting, lots of light, beautiful! And I love to see another Van Gogh, amazing. Glad your knee is doing great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Judy. It was fun getting back and playing around in the paint. It needs tweaking, so I'll really not an alla prima painter. I laid in the white too soon and now have to give it an overnight to harden up before I can add more depth to those background trees. This landscape is in oils. It's only the second landscape I've attempted in the medium. You paint, you learn. Love it.

      Delete
  3. Yo LW! Congratulations! So glad you are doing better. Your painting experiment is superb - a success! And the photos are wonderful - I am especially drawn into that subtle background. I love, love ducks (wish I was there to see them). I see white beaks and black, are they coots? What a beautiful place that you live! I know, I've said it before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dan. I do love photography as much as I love painting. I saw the white beaks too, but I couldn't get close enough to see their body markings so I have no idea what kind of duck they were. They did know how to walk on water though, so maybe coots, maybe not? Whatever, they heard me coming and rushed across the lake--they had excellent hearing.

      Delete
  4. Wonderful photos and wonderful news!

    Alla prima and you work well together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's the only way I like to work on landscapes, flowers, responsive subjects. Portraits require a lot of attention paid to measurements. I get tired of that. On the come back, tedious is not something I'm interested in.

      Delete
  5. Hi Linda,
    Congratulations on this milestone of healing! Ready or not...Mexico--here she comes!! :)
    Sincerely,
    Gary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I cannot wait. It's so nice to have this behind me--more or less. This was an exciting day. Reaching the water via hiking up and down all the hills was an accomplishment. I couldn't do it last summer. I will do it this summer. I wouldn't mind trekking down there in the snow. There has got to be great photos to be taken. You know Gary, I like photography as much as painting.

      Delete
  6. what a great report on your knee. Love all the photos...and your painting is awesome! You captured the amazing color!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has been a long eight weeks and at the same time, it flew by. But I do know why people wait--why I waited seven years. While they have effective pain pills, the side effect makes you feel just as crappy, (that's a pun. Guess what the side effect is). Deciding not to take narcotic pain killers and still get some decent sleep and still be able to handle the moves they put you through in physical therapy was the challenge. If any one is considering doing this, stock up on acetaminophen and Ambien is my advice. But watch out for the Ambien. It's mild, but addictive.

      I wish I knew what kind of trees those were. It's been a long time since I took Botany. Next walk, I'll pick up a leaf. The area is full of brilliant orange, red and this glorious yellow. I had to give it a try. Why oils? I am insistent upon narrowing down mediums in the studio.

      Delete
  7. I can see you're in great shape already. Love your pictures and that sweet automn painting. You shoud do another one, fall colors suit you! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Winter colors suit me best; I'm a Capricorn. But this Fall I am particularly enjoying the show of colors in nature. The brilliant yellow, golds, oranges and reds look dazzling against open skies tinted a tad with payne's gray and a dot of ultramarine. Even the browns are looking good to me. Thanks Helen. It was an interesting painting for me. I'd never done a landscape in oils before.I made a few decisions about applying the medium to this subject. Of course, this one isn't finished. Overnight drying periods are needed especially when there's patchwork in the composition. I feel like I'm painting for the very first time.

      Delete
  8. Absolutely, bloody fantastic! Such joy emanating from your words, how I would have loved to be with you.....to share, but also in the hope some would rub off! That painting is a total stunner, pure magic. And I am particularly drawn to the first photo, yes, peaceful.
    Oh well done you!!! Hugs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I don't know about "bloody fantastic." It's a start back. It is commemorative of a milestone walk. But it isn't JD. When you see JD posted finished. That will be "bloody fantastic." I'm kidding with you my friend. I really appreciate your enthusiasm. I am so glad to be back in the studio again. Thank you for your encouraging words.

      Delete
  9. I can see wonderful paintings in all your photos - you have such a good eye! I am so happy to read that you are walking better, with less pain, after your surgery! It really does sound like time to dance!
    Kath

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kath. At least now my knee pain is the pain of healing, not of further deterioration. Well, I tried dancing briefly. It's going to take time before I hit the dance floor in full stride. I like taking photographs like these, but not painting them. They're too peaceful, not enough motion/emotion for me.

      Delete
  10. DELIGHTED to read about the absence of the previous pain. It was all worth it!
    Love your photos and your paintings. Always a delight to visit.

    ReplyDelete