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| My Man, 9 x 11, charcoal |
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| Wildfire, in progress. Acrylic.I lightened it up. Now to darken it down again. This one is going to be a while in the making., just like Summer Shade. I do like what lightening up did. By adding more air, I've increased the depth and there's added a translucent quality. |
While I read Rachel and Andrew's love story, I couldn't help thinking about my own marriage of fifty three years. We were fixed up. We went to the movies and held hands. His were beautiful--soft, smooth, manicured, for sure signs he had never done any real yard work. Mine were artist's hands, rough, short, unpolished nails and sweaty from nerves. He never noticed. We talked over coffee afterwards and haven't stopped since. I was fifteen. He was a college man with a great ass and the thighs of a track star.
--It's nice to take a minute to appreciate my most special gift on an afternoon I was avoiding Wildfire by making a large pot of split pea soup, an all day affair of soaking, chopping, waiting for the timer to sound, and running the mix through the blender. I wasn't blocked, I just needed to back up a bit after lightening up.
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| Summer Shade, Acrylic on Gallery canvas, 36 x 36", 2010 - 2011 |
I ADDED A NEW BLOG TO MY SIDEBAR. Check out Stephanie Berry Fine Art. Stephanie's painting of market fruits and vegetables just blew me away. The colors were vibrant, contemporary--and were not pastels as I first thought, but rather, oils. I was very impressed with the lightness and purity of her colors and her light handed brushwork. --She's also a very nice lady; she became a follower. I do adore supporters. Couldn't paint without you. Your posts and your work keeps me enthusiastic and productive.
Happy painting.
I LOVE the charcoal of your husband, and he sounds absolutely perfect! You are a fortunate woman.
ReplyDeleteAs for physio's, they just don't appreciate the artistic spirit! :) I'd say, keep on dancin'.
They really put me through my paces today. Icing and Ellis were about all I could do. To think I'm supposed to do those exercises everyday is overwhelming. I was going to email you. I love your hydrangea painting. It's coming along. I'll email you tomorrow.
DeleteI love Wildfire and I mean it I truly do. It gives me goose bumps because it is so powerful.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the knee. Bummer! A little step back. Keep the ice going and that handsome guy you are married to needs a hug. It must be hard for him to see you in pain.
Thanks Julie. The knee was a bummer considering it didn't hurt at all TILL physical therapy.
DeleteSitting down to draw/paint how I like to do it. Every time I've tried, I end upstanding up and kicking the stool away. one or two more weeks I figure if I moderate my stand up activities and ice on a regular schedule. I don't want to have gone through this for no positive gains.
Oh yes, I love Stephanie Berry. Sometimes I am just dumbfounded by the amount of talent "out there"...she is one that amazes me. Your drawing of your 'honey' is great...It's nice that your marriage has stood the test of time! PT people can be stern...I know that for a fact. They always ask you if you have been doing your exercises--and it is impossible to lie to them! They are always right, of course...and you don't want to un-do any of your surgeon's great work. Love these paintings...I'll be tuned in to see what you do next (from your seated position!)
ReplyDeleteMe too. In my neck of the woods, I've only run into a few people better than I am. Here, I'm way outnumbered. I guess we just have to be content in our corner of the world.
DeleteAfter working small all last year, this 36 x 36 suddenly seems overpowering--but a section at a time...then there's another one larger than this. I think I may need another easel for big boys?
¡Un buen retrato Linda! Te felicito. Buen fin de semana.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sonia. I think he's pretty cute too. A lovely weekend to you and yours too.
DeleteSund slime your hubby is a keeper. What a sweet Valentine you give him here.
ReplyDeleteHe's definitely a keeper Margaret. Neither of us wanted to travel the road solo. So through ups and downs, we've been Roth Incorporated. Our partnership works--even though I wore a size 8 when we met and twenty pounds later I wear a size 8. Loved your article!
DeleteAll of the pieces here are abundant with life and energy Linda!! Just amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Crystal. Working small for a year and then going back into this unfinished large painting is a real adjustment. Tiny strokes to broad sweeps doesn't come back easily. I may have to put Wildfire aside again till Spring when I can move it to the lawn where I have no problems relating to the subject from all sides with splatters and sprays and finger swipes. BTW, painting on the ground level is what did my knee in so beware if you ever get the urge.
DeleteLinda: Hang on to the guy! That is what every woman wanted years ago. Now I understand just a job will suffice. 53 years - Good for you! Got me beat.
ReplyDeleteJJ, we are stuck together at the hip. I was smitten the minute I saw him, and he was a doomed man for certain three hours later when he brought me home. Neither of us had a job, we were clueless teenagers. Four years of off again/on again dating, I asked him to marry. --Speaking of long marriages, all our friends have been married a long time. I know of only one couple that divorced. Seems younger folks don't want to take the time to iron out the wrinkles in their partnerships. We always figured who wants to start all over again fishing and selecting and establishing a rapport--better to work out the crinks.
DeleteDoes Ellis read your blog? He should. This post will make him stand SO TALL - and he will continue doing whatever you ask of him for ever and ever!:-) Thanks for pointing me to Stephanie's blog - love her work! I had to smile about your PT comment, for in my life BC (Before Children) I was one of those dreaded PT's myself! My patients often referred to me as their Physical Terrorist:-0. I apologize for my "breed"...but we'll get you moving again by hook or by crook (or by painful gain!) Good luck... I know it is hard!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I wanted to add - LOVE Wildfire! Can't wait to see the finished piece.
DeleteI read it to him to refine the writing and hopefully catch typos. While he denies being joined at the hip, he knows it's true. We're stuck together like glue. The E & L Roth Corporation is a sound one.
DeleteI adore physical therapy and therapists. The three times I've gone (six weeks per time, 12 sessions), I've learned what a nut I was exercising on my own without employing a trainer first to teach me the proper forms. Like most of those people you see at the gym, speed, a lot of lifts and time was necessary. And that's exactly what did me in and took me to PT, where everybody was younger than me.
"They" say exercise, exercise, exercise, but they don't really say do it right, do it slowly, build up over weeks. So everybody just goes to it and a lot of them end up with injuries. I got mine from a lifetime of painting canvases on the floor and duck-walking around them,( catchers' knees). Then I got on the exercise kick and decided one morning to shake my routine up by adding lunges and squats. My first session with those did in the knee,( a long with deterioration from years of use, albeit age). My form was wrong, I had no idea what I was doing. A lot of PT sessions since, I do. And that's where I'm going tomorrow. Today, I'm going down to my home gym to run through the stretches and resistance exercises they gave me as homework. Then more ice.
Thanks, Wildfire has been put on the back burner till I my exercises and icing sessions become second nature. I want these knees to be able to paint plein air as soon as warmer weather hits. I've got a goal.
I am having withdrawal symptoms....are you OK?
ReplyDeleteI'm doing PT exercises for about 40 minutes daily and icing every two hours from morning till bedtime. It's thrown off my painting routine. The time passes so quickly between icing sessions, I have been reluctant to go into the studio and get involved. I know as soon as the painting is going along great, then I'll have to drop the brush and rush off to ice for thirty minutes and lose the momentum. Charcoal or pencil is about as involved as I can get, yet Honey was the last head I cared to draw. I'm a bit depressed over the whole ordeal, but if I don't get this knee in shape, that plein air easel is going no where.
DeleteIn an effort to cheer up, I spent the morning photographing myself reading in front of the fire and manipulating the photo in the computer. My plan for this afternoon is to do a scaled thumbnail of the reference to see if it's worthy of painting. Thanks for inquiring Sharon. You're the only one that got there was something different going on.
Pleased to meet your man.
ReplyDelete;)
I'm sorry if I was a braggart, but he was a lucky find Sergio.
DeleteCatching up with my sidebar, Linda! You are right down at the bottom - took ages getting to you, you normally appear at the top! You've been slacking! :0)
ReplyDeleteNice post/picture/narrative on Ellis, bless his cotton socks, he didn't do badly from the deal either!:0) ... all Pat got was a rough shipwright from the wrong side of the tracks ...plus snow from your eastern seaboard (she says!)
Wildfire is red hot, you are inspired1
Sorry I'm falling behind (with keeping up with your posts) ... life is chaotic as usual.
Family arrive Friday for a week!!!! Whooppee!
Stay warm!
I haven't noticed any posts from you lately either and figured your life had picked up pace. Mine is filled with rejuvenating my knee in time for warmer weather and hopefully some plein air painting.
DeleteHow lovely it is that your family is visiting. I tried to talk my California group to come again this June, but it's our turn to go to their house we were told. So we're planning on it. In this particularly dark, cold winter, June seems a long way off.
There's been a few! Guessed you missed them (one yesterday)
DeleteDear Linda how are you?
ReplyDeleteI hope you are well!
I read with emotion your post, it reminded me of my 43 years next to Danilo. Now the guy has a knee ko, but behaves like a brave ...
It 's strange and tender, like the good things and less good things are interwoven in our day, but facing as two, everything seems lighter.
It is also a time to laugh. A loving thought for you both and I hope that next spring is wonderful for everything!
(about your art,as always,I admire all)
What's a KO Rita? What's the matter with Danilo's knee--torn meniscus? spurs? cysts? inflammation? Bone on bone? That was how mine was. The ravages of squats and lunges and age I guess? The arthroscope just cleaned everything up and revealed when I get a replacement, it only has to be a half knee. It seems that the right half is doing okay. A half knee isn't as big an ordeal as the whole knee. Lucky me. --But not this year. I've had enough.
DeleteAs you can tell, my knee is all absorbing. It doesn't hurt. The procedure helped I think? What is hurting is every muscle in my body as I strengthen my leg and torso and (might-as-well) upper body muscles. The good news is, I feel stronger in just a week, am more upbeat in my outlook, and lost a few pounds. The bad news is, I'm too exhausted to paint and icing every two hours doesn't exactly give me enough time to get into anything. The good news is I'm reading American history and doing little drawings of American heroes--actually copying the old portrait masters, which isn't bad practice, but it isn't moving forward. This too shall pass. Stay well. Paint well. Enjoy your acrylic lessons. You are doing great.