I was depressed yesterday. It rained steadily all day long. My knee scar throbbed all day long. I recalled the other scars that gave me trouble every time the weather was damp for years following the surgeries and here was a new one to contend with. Here I was an athletic gal doing fabulously with regards to mobility, and I wasn't going to be able to wear the brand new skinny jeans I bought last week. I really am sick of wearing my workout pants; I want to look like me! So I digitally painted winter. It's coming soon--already snowed folks in in the Dakotas. Won't be long till this scene will be outside my window. I took the reference photo I used last year. I am getting the hang of the digital tools and selecting a specific palette. This could be a reference for a painting on canvas.
It 'nice that you study the work ,as less tiring as possible, with digital art. The mind remains focused on the desired issues and I hope that soon you will start with the traditional art. All these works of digital art reflect so deeply the characteristics of your art. It 'really impressive.
ReplyDeleteI might get back to getting my hands dirty tomorrow, but digital finger art has been wonderful during this recuperation. Not only was it convenient, but I discovered working in a small format is possible--given the right tools. I think digital sketching has potential too for working out in public. Nobody suspects they are being scrutinized when they see someone with their nose stuck in an iPad, plus I do have the option of taking their photograph and then transferring the photo to the art app. Sneaky I know, but useful--sort of like working with a projector. While I used to frown on using a projector, it is a useful tool for speeding up production. Being a traditionalist, I doubt I'll ever give up tackling a subject from scratch, using only my good eye and skilled hand. I like the challenge too much. :-))
DeleteI thought it was on canvas. Great feeling.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jean. I don't know if I want to spend canvas time with this subject--not a big canvas anyway. It chills me just to look at it.
DeleteI'm so sorry. It is only natural that all of this will get to you every now and then. But this too shall pass.
ReplyDeleteAnd you were right to paint winter. Soon everyone else will be stuck inside too! Hah! (except we Floridians!)
Thanks Dan, but I'm not stuck inside. It rained, but a drizzle compared to what spun off Karen soaking Florida's West coast. What kept me home was denim rubbing a new scar and me the wrong way. January, 2013 is a digital finger painting done over a photograph of mine taken last January using the ArtRage app. More comfortably dressed in shorts, I was curious to see how that feature worked. That photo was the only one in my iPad photos that was suitable for my experiment. Actually, this fall season has been quite glorious with the trees putting on a great show of colors under bright blue skies. Today, I learned how to handle pain from a fresh surgical scar: lots of massage.
DeleteWell, you didn't cheer me up at all. I am sorry you are so low, Linda.
ReplyDeleteNot after painting. This digital sketch has potential. The low keyed palette and subject is similar to another winter landscape I did a couple of years ago on a large scale. This could be #2 in the series? Snow bunnies and skiers love winter scenes.
DeleteSorry that you had a down day---I know you, though....you'll rebound, you just do!...and you sure did a beautiful winter painting! I love the colors and composition.
ReplyDeleteThanks Celeste. Everybody has them. I'm lucky I have Beethoven and painting to snap it out of me. The arts do lift me to a higher plain. I know you know what I'm talking about. It wasn't the rain that got me down, it was the throbbing scar tissue. I had forgotten about the angry nerve endings that take a while to die off. I am hoping this scar will settle down a lot sooner than the mastectomy scare. That quit being annoying last year, four years after the surgery! My skinny jeans are really cute.
DeleteIt's hard to accept another scar as we get older, I know. I hope to see something on canvas soon!
ReplyDeleteWhat's one more scar! Painting is very therapeutic. I didn't choose to paint winter because I was depressed and winter is depressing, I chose it because it was the only photograph in my IPad photos that would make a good subject to paint in the digital finger painting app. The rest were sunrises. I never painted over a photograph before and the app has this import feature. It didn't occur to me my subject matched the gray day till after. My new scar did become an issue Sunday. I had forgotten how new scars annoy till the nerve endings die. Since then, I found out how to treat it. So it goes.
DeleteSorry about your health Linda! But it'll get better...just a bit more patience.
ReplyDeleteThis scene would look lovely as a winter painting and some lights on! But it's too soon,.I'm trying very hard here not to think about cold and snow. We are still having sunny days and we're beginning to think winter will forget about us this year. :) Ha ! ha ! A big hug.
Wouldn't that be great. But then some of my best painting is done in the winter months when I am not distracted by the garden, the lake, biking, warm sun on my face and just counting the greens I see in the landscape. My health is fine Helen, thank you. Leg is improving very quickly and my bouts of vertigo are gone. I haven't had one since I started being a lowest salt cook. This past year was a good one for me. I took all the right steps for improving the quality of my life. It cost me some painting time, but probably added some painting time in the future.
DeleteSometimes, you just have to take the bull by the horns.
It is almost disturbing how much this looks like an original painting. I find the gift of time you have had, developing your skills, on the digital format has been tremendously productive. I look forward to seeing what comes next.
ReplyDeleteSorry you have a screaming scar. Those nerve endings certainly know how to get their own back on the abuse given to them. Hope things are already somewhat better.
Love your rant.
Thanks Julie. This digital medium has potential . It lends itself to unlimited reproductions. The trick is understanding the scope of the tools and features and one's ability to maneuver them. These last weeks have been well spent with regards to doing just that. Graphics have always been another profit pocket for artists--since Toulouse Lautrec. I really dislike lying around doing nothing but heal, might as well expand my repertoire.
DeleteBonjour chère amie,
ReplyDeleteDe lire que votre genou vous fasse souffrir m'attriste... Je comprends que vous ne vous sentiez pas pas bien surtout lorsque le temps est gris aussi et pluvieux... Cela n'ajoute pas une note positive au moral. Heureusement que la peinture nous tient parfois.
Je serais bien ennuyer de pratiquer l'art numérique... Je serais certainement nulle !
Dans quelque temps vous verrez vous reprendrez en main la palette et... vêtue de votre beau jean !
Gros bisous à vous
Pas de jeans intéressants pour la peinture, seulement vieux jeans. Les nouveaux maigres sont ceux à porter dehors et environ. Ce n'était pas le temps maussade qui m'a descendu, c'était le souvenir que l'humidité, temps maussade a un effet gênant sur les cicatrices fraîches qui dure depuis un certain temps. J'avais oublié ça. La météo du dimanche était un rappel.
DeleteJ'ai sucé à la peinture au doigt numérique trop quand je l'ai essayé. Comme tous les autres programmes informatiques, il ya une courbe d'apprentissage. Je pense que j'ai fait une brèche dans la mine au cours de ces dernières semaines.
No nice jeans for painting, only old jeans. The new skinny ones are the ones to wear out and about. It wasn't the gloomy weather that got me down, it was the rememberance that damp, gloomy weather has an annoying effect on fresh scars that lasts for a while. I had forgotten that. sunday's weather was a reminder.
I sucked at digital finger painting too when I first tried it out. Like any other computer programs, there's a learning curve. I think I made a dent in mine over these last weeks.
Endure the Winter, but be sure to keep Spring in your mind. Paint and heal soon. Dream.
ReplyDeleteKnee replacements, full or partial, take time to heal plus a lot of physical therapy. I knew this going into the deal, but it was time. Luckily I have the stubborn personality I have and the drive to make recovery as quick work as possible. I was also very fortunate to qualify for the partial replacement, which cuts recovery down to six weeks versus the twelve weeks that a full replacement requires. What I didn't anticipate was how long six weeks is at home alone with time on my hands. This digital finger painting has made that time both tolerable and interesting. My love of the piano and my determination to conquer Beethoven has also brightened my days.
DeleteWinter is coming and this year with my fully restored knees I intend to find something I love about it besides painting it. I do enjoy having four distinctly different seasons. There is a real rush in the Spring as the snow melts and the first shoots of green pop up through the brown debris. Summer days spent on the lake, on the deck, are appreciated--even summer rains have a special smell. And everybody admires nature's fall colors. I'd like to find something outstanding about Winter other than the utter tranquility of walking in snowfall at dusk, the peace that envelopes you as you warm yourself by the fire first thing in the morning reading. Winter has it's bright spots. I just need to pump winter activities into the gray silence other than the holiday parties. With my vertigo solved and my knee fixed, I'm back in shape and ready to stir things up.
Bacteria does not germinate well in the cold. Just trying to help.
DeleteFrom what I hear lots of people are sick around here and the temps have been in the high sixties. Flu and colds seem to come during the change in seasons--Fall and Spring. But I'm a flu shot advocate and hand sanitizer nut. After the horrible cold we caught on the plane coming home from Mexico, I may add a sanitary mask to my kit. The woman souldn't cover her mouth.
DeleteNote: Spock (the baby doctor, not the Star Trek crew member), advised to keep the heat set to 68 degrees in the house in winter and to kick the kids out into the cold rather than have them play indoors with their friends. I did that. Seemed sensible. It takes elementary school teachers about two years to build up immunity to the germs that their students brought to school--I don't know where I read that?
My MIL wouldn't visit us when the kids were sick. I thought she was silly. Now, I won't visit my grandkids either when they are sick. Along with our metabolism, immunity goes to hell with aging.
I think it is well done is not easy but it looks very real from hugs Danielle
ReplyDeleteThe lets you choose the ground. I chose a fine canvas. I could have chosen a rough surface or a paper or my Mylar. The challenge is determining which line thicknesses fit. Each tool offers a variety. Lots of errors are made, but all wrong strokes can be deleted. The most important thing to do is save your color selections on the palette so you don't have to feel them out again. Great fun. Hugs back Danielle. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDelete