MN and O

JK and L

GH and I

DE and F

The scanner is working, but I'm not... I've been playing with my granddaughter Alyssa who is visiting through Christmas and keeping me happily busy. I will continue with the ABC's I did for her a few years ago until the holidays are over.

ABC's

I'm having trouble with my scanner. The same thing happened before, but darned if I can remember how I fixed it.... have spent too much time already. I have an old scanner that I may have to drag out but for now found some things in my photos to put on here.

Quite a few years ago, in one of those times when I just wasn't motivated to paint anything, I decided to do a little ABC book, doing one letter each day.... This was long before my granddaughter was born 8 years ago. I think I'd gotten to E. Anyway, when she was a couple of years old, I returned to the project and finished it. Most of the paintings have special meaning for her. I made her a copy and will some day sew the originals into a book which will be hers....the letters are on double pages front and back.

So for lack of anything newly scanned to put here, I'll put the pages here a few at a time.

YET ANOTHER VIEW OUT MY WINDOW

As I come to the end of the year, my resolve to paint my little watercolors has almost disappears. I've been spending much of the few daylight hours in the studio and not getting out to walk much.... and wouldn't be stopping to paint if I was with temperatures in the 20s. Feeling a bit guilty and did another little painting out the window a couple of days ago.


This is smaller than most of my postcards... 2 x 3 1/2 inches and I started with a layer of gouache, with light blue at the top and some red at the bottom which doesn't show up in the scan.

INK DRAWING

Having used just about every throw away drawing pen and thrown away lots of expensive technical pens, and cursed them many times for not writing or for leaking, I decided to splurge and buy a good fountain pen. I got a Sailor 1911 while in California and love it. I've been doing a good bit of sketching with it, but I only have non waterproof ink and haven't been painting what I've drawn until yesterday.... just so I'd have something to put here.



Here it is.... another view from my window. I first drew the scene and then just used water to bleed the ink and put some more lines in after it dried.

I've been looking at Noodler Ink to order, which from what I've read is waterproof when it reacts with the cellulose in paper and will not harm the pen.

I finally finished a commissioned painting that I've been working on (mostly avoiding) for months. You can see it by clicking HERE

POSTCARDS FOR ABIGAIL

A writer friend Abigail, called today. She had been inspired to write a poem after seeing one of my older postcards that I had displayed in my gallery. Most of them are not for sale as I consider them my journal, and she had asked to have a copy of it and another one that spoke to her. I said I'd scan it and send to her. And since the scans are right on my desk top and I haven't had a paintbrush in my hand today since I'm getting ready to go to Juneau for a couple of days, I'm putting them here. They were done in January 2006, before I started blogging.


This is pretty much how its been looking off and on since I got home from California, though its been raining more often.


My note on back: "1-9-06 I walked at the duck pond and these 7 swans were there. sketched in the cold and painted when I got home." It must have been warmer than usual, because the pond is usually frozen in January.

SUNFLOWER ON A DREARY DAY

Stormy and wet outside today. This was drawn and painted quickly from a photo taken in Florida, using my new fountain pen and trying out some new gouache colors on a background made from saran wrap over a watercolor wash.

INERTIA

Since coming home, I've been in the studio everyday trying to get something started. I've taken 100s of photos in the last few months, mostly as possible paintings and for the past few days have been going through them, cropping and stitching and drawing little thumb nails trying to find the perfect composition and one that inspires me here and now. There's that distance from being outside painting or using my camera, immersed in my surroundings, to now being in the studio with just an image to copy. I'm missing that exhilarating feeling of being outside painting..... the weather is now making that just too difficult for wimps like me. It has always seemed more honest to paint from life, and I've always felt a little guilty using photos..... so here I go again, agonizing on what to paint and hearing myself making all kind of excuses not to start something.

This is usually the time of year I set up a large still life or finish one that I had started in the summer with a vase of flowers... not a flower in the house and very little fruit, though I've been looking hard at my houseplants. Last year when I hit this wall, I did some of the DSFDF painting challenges.... there was something about another persons photo that made me approach the painting differently; maybe just the challenge and novelty got me going. Well, its really just comes down to putting some paint on the big white paper, and I will...... from past experience, once I get started, I'll be on a roll.



I have done a few little studies from the photos. This is one of them and most likely the one that I will go farther with....this is just part of a panoramic view.

MY TRAVEL JOURNAL

First excuses, excuses... I had every intention of putting some of my pictures on here while traveling, but forgot the USB connector thing to my camera. And since coming home, same old, same old, just too busy.


I made this little journal especially for this trip, and it worked very well..... I have something on almost every page and will fill up the spaces with some photos or tickets or something.... and it is small enough to put in my purse... 6 x 4 1/2 inches.


I used magnet strips for the wrap around closure and made a little pocket (copied from a moleskine) attached the back cover.

I painted these 2 pages while visiting my friend Louise in Eastern Washington. She has an orchard of organic Boscs, and pears are always a fixture in her home.

And vases of flowers are always around too.

In Californina, from the Berkeley Rose Garden where I watched the sun go down over San Francisco Bay and quickly painted one evening.



and another visited to the Rose Garden one morning, stopped by rain and a wet walk back to Cedar St.



And this at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden.... by far the most beautiful garden I've ever visited. I'm a bit reluctant to put this painting here as I was in a hurry and it doesn't have the depth it should have, but it was such a beautiful place to be and the colors are kind of right.... I was up on a hill above the path and Asian garden. I'll be putting some photos on my other blog.

I did a few other little paintings and drawings, but its time to move on and get in the present. Hope everyone in the USA is having a great Thanksgiving Day.

BLOGGING ON THE TRAIN

I'm loving my little Sierra Wireless AT&T Connection while down here in the lower 48. Here I am on the train in Oregon, plugged into 120 Volts and surfing with 3G all the way, except for a while in a tunnel. Wish it would work this well at home.... only 2G there. I left Seattle this morning and will be in Davis California tomorrow morning at 6:50 if we're on time.

In Seattle, I visited friends, went to see the art at The Best of the Northwest fall art show at the Seattle Center, ate some delicious meals and walked miles (the most enjoyable around Green Lake).

I've done one little drawing today of the clock tower while stopped at Portland, but kind of hard to put it on here now, so I found a page done while on a train in Manitoba in 2006 which looks somewhat like what I've seen today:

TRAVELING

Once again I haven't been painting much... getting ready to leave before my trip and now into my little vacation. I flew to Juneau on Friday, spent the weekend with Lee and Alyssa. Got some things done in Juneau on Friday and good times with Alyssa and Lee. I flew to Eastern Washington yesterday where I am visiting my friend Louise in the Yakima valley amongst pear and apple orchards.

2 years ago, I visited here and did some little paintings..... one I did of Louise's orchard of organic bosc pears is here. I'm here a week or so later this year and the leaves and much of the color are gone and its a lot cooler. I've done a few little paintings inside but will have to take some photos of them later.

I took some pears when I left in 2007 and painted these after I got home:







The blue back ground is the technique with stamping that I had just learned in the workshop with Anne Bagby.

I'll be off to Seattle tomorrow for a few days then leaving on Amtrak for California on Saturday.

A PAINTING FROM A PHOTO

I took the photo I used for this about a month ago from my kayak. From the kayak, I painted the same view which you can see here. I'm not sure I captured what I wanted to.... the fireweed seedheads were what caught my eye, in contrast to the trees and beach grass below.... probably should darken up the area just under the seedheads. I've always have trouble painting grass. I used masking fluid for this one. I'm going to try painting this again with gouache

GOODE RIVER

My outside painting around here is probably about over for this year. Snow is coming lower down the mountains.... it's below 1000 ft now and won't be long until its here a sea level. I took advantage of a rare sunny afternoon and walked to Goode River, visited with Artemis and Lori and it was warm enough to sit in the sun and paint...


for about a half hour anyway. This is the Goode River which is really just a creek. Long shadows just before the sun disappeared.

VIEW FROM THE COUCH

This is one view from where I sit most every evening usually facing towards the TV set. I drew this one evening a few weeks ago, while probably paying more attention to the TV than the drawing from the looks of it now. I put some watercolor washes on it yesterday..... forgot it was drawn with that darn bleeding ink.

FORGOT TO POST

I really thought I had posted this. I've been working most days in the studio and boggling my mind with making 3 sets of airplane reservations. I did finally do a long post on my other blog about my woodblock print.... I'd better get over than and make sure I actually posted it.

On Thursday night Mark, Kelly, Aimee and I got together at the Fireweed Gallery and with Kim as our model, Mark sculpted and the rest of us sketched.

This is one of 3 watercolor sketches I did. We plan to get together at least every other week. Hopefully more folks will come.

WOODCUT FINISHED

Here it is finally... my 9 x 3 inch woodcut. I'll be doing a post about it on my other blog soon.


It was good to get the woodchips out of the studio and get my paints out again and get out in the sunshine on my bike for a while. I stopped at Kim's and enjoyed her view and painted this while visiting. While I was inside all week printing, things turned brown.

FOUR LITTLE PAINTINGS

Van and I are back from a short and unproductive fishing trip (salmon trolling). It was the first time I'd been up bay in a couple of years and the first time this time of year in many years. We didn't get up to the glaciers, but awesome scenery none the less. Lots of sea lions, humpbacks and orcas, a brown bear on the beach where we anchored the second night. Thick fog on the third day.

I painted these the first night. Most of the cottonwood were brown or had lost their leaves already but there were a few bright patches. I painted these while we were anchored in North Sandy Cove.


...and painted the same ones again.


I painted this while trolling..... we were heading towards Geike Inlet.


And this while trolling.... not sure where we were.

I worked on my block print while on the trip... carved my key block. I've been working pretty steadily on it since coming home and seem to have blinders for any other image making.

GOING FISHING

Van and I will be going up bay to fish for a few days.... Van does the fishing; I go along for the ride. I'm taking my paints and just got Wally Lamb's newest book from the library. I'll also be working on a block print for a Baren exchange.

This is one of several "plans" for it I've done... still undecided about the background. I posted a painting a few posts back that I'm working from. The paper size for the print is required to be 3x9 inches. I usually have these exchange prints done way before the deadline (Nov. 1 for this one), but I've been having a hard time coming up with something I wanted to do in this size.

MORE FALL COLOR

Wind blew a lot of leaves off the cottonwoods yesterday, but still bit of color, including beautiful blue in the sky.
I set on the river near the bridge and painted the river and bridge, but not much good about it what I did.... I cropped this little bit which is only about 3x3 inches.

POPPY FROM THE PAST

A busy afternoon in the studio today with rain and wind outside. I found this painting over the weekend while cleaning out some drawers, painted from a photo of a poppy in my garden some years ago.

TERMINATION DUST

When the clouds lifted earlier this week, there was new snow on Excursion Ridge and beyond. Its mostly gone from the ridge now, but the mountains on the other side of X-Inlet are almost covered.


Van left on the high tide for Juneau this afternoon. I walked down to the beach from the boat harbor after dropping him off and painted this. Some clouds covered the ridge while I was painting so lost the tree pattern. The cottonwoods have turned to a rich gold now since the freeze on Tuesday.

DON'S LILIES

Van and I drove out to our friend Don's cabin on Monday and Don gave me some dahlias and a bunch of Asiatic Lilies that he had grown.... they would have frozen the next day, so needed to be picked. The lilie are quite spectacular on my kitchen table and the smell is positively wonderful.

I started a larger painting of them today, but first did this little one

THE KITTEN

First frost last night, beautiful day today. I've been away from home the last couple of years this time of year, and am realizing how much I've missed the fall here..... at least on the glorious days like today. I'm still dragging from my cold, but managed to walk with Van to the boat harbor. I stayed behind after he did some work on the boat and painted.

This old troller has seen better days; it hasn't been in the water in years. The blue on it is a tattered tarp.

UP THE RIVER

Its pretty hard to make myself go for a walk lately with roaming bears (we had 2 in the yard on Friday) and moose, fear of hunter's bullets, rain and wind..... mostly rain. And this cold (the coughing kind) still hasn't gone away but I took a short walk up the river this afternoon. I've been wanting to try colored pencils, thinking I could do something faster with them than with waiting for watercolor to dry.... I couldn't. I spent 20 minutes trying and turned my paper over and started a watercolor. It didn't go much better.

At least the values are right after a lot of reworking at home. It was a pleasant time there, but I was alert for any sounds behind me. And must remember to wear gloves the next time I go out.

LITTLE PANSIES

I've had a cold all week and haven't done much since Monday but sleep, read, and watch TV. Feeling better today and went over to the Gustavus Inn and picked a bunch of flowers.... some poppies, sweet peas, a dahlia, and these little pansies.