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| Spring Thaw, Acrylic on Gallery Stretched Canvas, 20" x 20" PAINTING IN PROGRESS |
Spring Thaw, #1 in the new Woodland Series, is tough. Every time I passed the studio door on the way to the pantry or storage area, it kept pulling me into the studio to make an adjustment. Yesterday, it got more than a stroke here or there. It got put on the floor, sprayed with water and then painted wet into wet to soften some of hard edges. I call my pass-by painting sessions the BTW ( By The Way) Painting Method. I glance in at the works in progress as I'm passing the door. I duck in to correct the oops I spotted. And in fifteen minutes or so continue on my way with whatever I was doing in the first place . The method is very spontaneous, intuitive and not at all stressful. . It is slow going, but so am I.
When the sun is out, planting is on my mind, cycling is on my mind, painting not so much. Not caring to be a shut in in the studio during the summer months is the way to go in this clime. Summer is the time for Plein air painting and gathering reference photographs on photographic excursions. Knowing I want to do more Woodland pieces, I had my brawny landscape guys clear me a path into the woods so I wouldn't be kept back from hunting down new photographic material. They did a wonderful job with their axes and machetes hacking down last winter's debris. I can now come and go with only a couple of logs to get over. I did hate missing my walk out to the daffodils earlier, I won't miss it next time the lush green field beyond log two turns brilliant yellow with blooms. Beyond that is a much bigger lake due to our Spring thaw and abundant showers since. I think I need some hiking boots to go with my whittled walking stick to get there--also what does poison ivy and sumac look like? --What does Michigan's one poisonous snake look like? I need a book--something like What Every Hiker Should Know...I was a Girl Scout, but my badges weren't for trekking in the woods--more for trekking in the kitchen.
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| A clear path to next year's wild daffodils beyond log two |
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| And a clear way in. (That's not my place you see. It's my neighbor 's, the one with wind chime complaints). |
I came across this video. It made me laugh out loud. I adore Father Guido Sarducci and his wise-cracking wisdoms. I hope you do too.If not, you need to lighten up; you're taking art way too seriously and that attitude produces stiff work devoid of spirt. The stiffness of Spring Thaw is exactly what pulled me into thethose studio doors. After yesterday's wet into wet treatment, it's softer now.
