Category: daydreaming

Photo Friday with Art

Keep going!

My photos for Friday seem to be about paintings lately. It used to be about fun things I’d see during my day. Is it me or is it that “fun” things aren’t happening? Could it be that my brain is in the clouds, thinking about painting? Maybe.

Moving along now. I started adding in some shadow on this painting to keep it interesting. Darks against lights make me want to continue. There’s something about the contrasts that I like.

Those little blueberries are going to give me trouble if I pay too much attention to them. You know what happens next, right? Too much attention, too much working it, ends up in the trash.

The plan is to take my time, work all around the piece, let things dry and keep going. Work it.

Process, baby! Process.

What a Great Day!

What an amazing day at the beach today! The weather was sunny, hot and humid. Just the way I like it. Can it get any better than this? I don’t think so.

Had my lunch with me, a huge iced coffee and a beach towel. What else do I need? Nothing. A short drive from home and I’m in heaven. I couldn’t ask for a better day.

Look at that scene. It’s a comfortable, lazy, quiet beach. Drink it in. Savor it. You can see the heat rising up off the sand into that beautiful blue sky. Breathe in deep and exhale. Slowly breathe in the ocean air. Let it out. Repeat.

Well, I have to interrupt this to say April Fool! It’s cloudy, cold and raining outside, and north of where I live they’re expecting a big snowstorm.

Enjoy your day!

The Rush of Something New

It feels so good to have the day all to myself today.  Yesterday is over and today is a new day.  Tuesday is usually an errand day and I hope to get those chores finished early. 

When I removed the garden painting from the block it felt great.  In the book Walking in This World, by Julia Cameron, I read in one of the chapters to ‘Finish something’!
How does it feel to finish something?  I felt relief.  The act of closing the book on a work is very satisfying.  So satisfying that I get a rush of inspiration.  Maybe I felt that way because I was happy to be done with a piece I wasn’t thrilled with?  Whatever the reason, I became excited about the possibilities.

No sooner had I freed the painting from the watercolor block, I looked over the latest photos I’ve taken and chose one to sketch onto the brand spanking new paper. 

I decided to use the butterfly photo I took a couple of weeks ago or when ever that was.  I’d like to work it kind of sloppy, sort of abstract.  I might use the watercolor paint thick and heavy, throwing it on the paper, just to experiment with the medium.  I seem to be daydreaming lately about oil painting again. 
While reading through some of my favorite artists’ blogs I noticed one was doing what I had been thinking to do, which is paint on a small square-shaped canvas.  I was writing some random thoughts in the Morning Pages yesterday, yes I’m still doing that, and in the blink of an eye I was looking up at my surroundings thinking I should paint on a 4×4 canvas!  Just like that!  I thought to myself, ‘You have some weird Artist A.D.D. girl!’  One second I’m writing, the next I’m in LaLaLand and I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing.  I had to squeeze my eye lids shut to block out the blur! 
So anyway, that might be my next thing, and I didn’t even start this work!  I think I have to go back to oils.  Something in my head keeps pointing me there.  I’m going to have to obey the muse.  First I will start and finish this painting.  Let’s see where I go with it.
I’ll get back to you on it.

The Dream Corner

Everyone has a space in their house that feels the most comfortable to them.  Maybe it’s a cozy chair by a window, a favorite spot in a kitchen, or a seat in the garden.  This space is a place that makes you feel really at home.  At least I think everyone has a comfy spot and if you don’t have one, you need to make room for it.
My cozy spot is a corner of a love seat on one end of my living room.  The living and dining room is the typical L-shaped area of the 1950’s ranch house.  The little sofa sits on a small wall opposite the main seating area in a corner of the “L”.  Since I decided to place this piece of furniture in it’s spot, it has become “the” seating of the room.  Besides me, everyone who visits likes to sit there.  This seat has a view of everything:  the conversation area and fireplace, the dining table, the corner TV, the view out the window, and a tiny bit of the kitchen, but it’s out of the way.  Sitting there is like hiding from the goings-on. 
This little spot is my dream corner.  My favorite books are across from the sofa on a shelf where I keep a few family photos.  A small CD player sits on the shelf with the books.  Knitting supplies are in a neat Asian-style box next to the sofa, with yarn and beading supplies in a basket on the floor.  A small sketchbook is within easy reach.  I can look outside the windows of the french door and see the garden flowers in the summer and snow in the winter. 
At breaks in my day and in the evening I sit in my cozy corner.  I can see what’s on the television, but I don’t have to be involved in it. My husband is in charge of the the remote anyway.  I can be sitting in the room, but be far away in my own little world reading, knitting or dreaming.