The Saga Continues . . .

Today (Wednesday) I sent out an e-mail to my family and friends in which I told them that I had decided to continue my blog, and here it is.  This time you will be following various threads that may or may not lead us to specific goals.  It will be fun for me, and I hope you will enjoy it, also.  At least you will get to know me better and possibly watch as I begin and end projects.  Books, people, random thoughts, and adventures will figure into this saga (defined as a long story of adventure) as well. 

Thus it begins:

Tuesday I had my first painting class in six months, and what you see above is the beginning of an oil painting.  Since this is another thing I enjoy doing, I decided that this could be the next cliff off of which I will fling myself  (putting oneself out to public scrutiny is much like the feeling of falling you may have experienced in your sleep.  The difference is that I'm awake and anxious about this).  I am a rank beginner in oils so I'm not sure that this will end where I would like it to, but you might enjoy the trip. 

 

 

First of all, the bright blue is painter's tape which will come off before long.  It's there to provide guidelines for me.  Second, I'm not going to tell you what I am painting because not knowing will make this a voyage of discovery for you.  Third, because oils take forever to become tacky let alone dry, you won't see daily updates.  I plan to start another painting tomorrow or the next day (before my next class anyway) so I will have one to work on while this one dries enough to allow more work.   

 

 

Now for some background:  As some of you may know, I've done quite a bit of drawing, and this is my third year of painting classes (if you're interested about the who, where, when, how etc., of the classes, e-mail me for specifics).  The first year I used acrylic paints for two reasons.  I happened to have a lot of them, and it seemed wasteful not to use them.  Also, acrylics dry very quickly, and one can work on a painting almost whenever one wants to.  However, at the end of the year, I realized that I simply wasn't happy with that medium.  Acrylics dry very flat (although one can add "glossy goo" to change that - it seemed like too much bother for what I was getting on the canvas).  Also, I didn't like the feel of the paint - not that I squished my fingers in it (I was using a brush) - but manipulating paint with a brush does create a tactile impression. 

 

 

So the second year, I decided to splurge and get some oils.  I loved them!  They glide and glisten and continue to shine when they are dry.  I managed to produce four painting of which only one was close to completion.  Something was still not right.  Towards the end of that period, I thought I really didn't know how to handle the brush let alone which brush to use.  My teacher had me start on some experiments/exercises.  The results gave me a little more confidence but something still wasn't right.  During my last class, I told my teacher I felt I was too "tight" and too focused on details.  She pulled out a calendar, and we chose one wonderful photograph from which I could work.  Now I can't remember if she suggested the palatte knife or whether I just picked it up as an experiment.  Anyway, I loaded the palatte knife with paints (more that one color) and started.  Oh my, what joy!  I loved the feel of the palatte knife spreading the paint and gloried in the way the colors ran side by side or blended.  It was an epiphany!

 

 

Then I stopped lessons because of the contest.

 

 

This year I started my first class with a photograph I had taken, a modest-sized, inexpensive canvas board, oils, and a palatte knife.  You can see the result above.  Be kind!  This is still very new to me, and there are layers yet to come.

 

 

What do you think I am painting?