I’ve been thinking lately about “viewpoint”. And I’m not talking about a political one! If you work frequently from photo references as I do, it’s easy for all of your work to have the same viewpoint – the height of your view finder from the ground. In my case, that would be about 4’-6” because I’m short!

I want to explore changing that up a bit. Look up on the internet, Edward Hopper’s “House by the Railroad” for example and see how the viewpoint is slightly on the low side which makes the house loom even more so. Or look at some of Wayne Theibaud’s landscapes which have more of a “bird’s eye” view, making them more expansive . Great examples of a “worm’s eye” view can be found in the work of Karen Margulis. She is one of my favorite pastel painters and you can follow her work on kemstudios.blogspot.com. I think one of her specialties is painting wildflowers from the worm’s eye view. (Look at her Friday, April 3 post for a perfect example).  They make you feel like you’re lying right in the field with them!

Though the day is drizzly, our beautiful Cross Vine has greeted us with a shower of flowers.  Enjoy the day!

Here’s a progress shot of the painting I started last week.  I’m continuing to block in more areas of darkness and experimenting with the lightest, whitest pear blossoms to see if they will pop.  I’ve revised the perspective on the road and fence posts and I’m still not sure about them.  Hoping to wrap it up this week!

I missed the last weekly post because I was spending Spring Break in East Texas.  Spring had definitely sprung, much more so than here at home.  Redbuds were all through the woods, Pears were blooming, and Violets were everywhere.

Currently on the easel is the beginning of a painting of beautiful Pear trees.  I’ve blocked out the composition and have just started some of the color masses.  Here’s my reference photo and the painting so far.  Stay tuned for progress and enjoy Spring!

Sometimes I get tired of painting, but I want to do something creative so I get crafty. I’ve enjoyed craftiness all my life – but kind of weird craftiness.

The latest thing I made was sort of a “memorabilia wreath”. My family is blessed to have gobs – and I mean gobs – of old family photos and written bits and pieces. And we actually know who the people are in the pictures! I had made a garland of sorts as a Christmas present for my sister a few years ago using some of this material. I didn’t want to do exactly the same thing for myself so I combined copies of old photos (scaled down), a copy of Confederate money along with other trinkets and then tied them all onto a grapevine wreath with raffia. Some of the trinkets are my dad’s college ring (and mine, both from the same uni), my dad’s years of service pins, his “ID badge” (that’s way cooler than our modern day versions of a laminated picture on a lanyard) and various sorority pins from my mom and grandmother..

I hung it on the wall surrounding my A/C/heat control panel which sounds kind of strange, but I was running out of wall space and the controller sort of blends in with the rest of it. From a distance, it offers just a texture but gets more and more interesting as you get closer. It’s a great way to display and enjoy some of those odds and ends that if we’re lucky, we have collected up in a drawer or a box.

The last few days have been misty and foggy and once again, I am fascinated with trying to capture that in a pastel.  I’ve tried it before with mixed success.  I have the HARDEST time separating what my eyes are seeing and what my brain is telling me.  Am I really seeing GRAY?  But trees are green.  Or gray-ish -green.  Here’s a reference photo that I’ve painted from before.

Here’s what I’m working on right now.  It’s not finished.  I’ll probably whack the top off and who knows, I may run my arm over the whole thing to smear it up and maybe THAT will make it look more foggy.

We all have it.  The “old” stuff.  Mine just stacks up on a particular shelf in my bookcase, some thoughtfully separated with tracing paper, some not so much.  But I don’t throw it away.

Some artists have the discipline to paint often, some almost every day.  I am not one of those nor do I necessarily strive to be.  I’m an ebb and flow kind of painter.  Sometimes I’m full of ideas, sometimes I’m a total blank.  It’s when I’m really, really blank that I like to look at some of the old stuff.  I was doing “THAT”?  Wow, I was sure on a “BLENDING” jag!  But sometimes, it’s “oh, I forgot about doing it THAT way.  I need to re-visit”.  One’s history is a fascinating chronicle of what we’ve learned along the way, mistakes we’ve made and evidence that we continue to hone the true thing that comes out of us.

Sometimes looking at the old stuff is the best way to find something new.

Never in my wildest imagination a few years ago would I have thought I’d be blogging.  It just didn’t seem to be my kind of thing.  But never say never, right?

I am super excited about launching my website (blog).  It’s coming at a perfect time amidst a lot of other changes.  I’ve been painting now full-time for about 5 years after an enjoyable and successful career otherwise.  This has been the first time in my life to dig deeper into the art world; viewing art, thinking about art, learning about art, co-mingling with artists and making my own art.  It’s been an interesting journey so far – no deadlines, no clearly defined objectives, no clients to satisfy, no expectations from anyone.  Pretty much like being a kid again.

Now I am ready to share my journey with a wider audience.  I promise I won’t tell you what I’m having for breakfast.  I’ll just be sharing bits and pieces along the way that I hope you’ll find interesting.

This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.

Happy blogging!