2018. The last leaf.

The senior center was open this morning . It's Monday and the last day of the year, so most of us assumed with the holiday on Tuesday, it would be closed.  A few quick phone calls last night and it was verified that it would be open. 

 It was 34 degrees when I let the dogs out at 7:30 this morning.   Brrrrr....   lately it has been between 30 and 34.  Today there was a brisk wind with a chill factor well below the 30s.   In California we don't normally hear wind chill factors with our weather reports, as its seldom so brisk.   

By the time my friend Ruth and I got from the parking lot to the more protected entry courtyard, we were half frozen, but spotted a beautiful leaf I picked up to draw.   There won't be many more after this blustery day.  A Winnie The Pooh blustery day.     Stripping the trees bare as if in a rush to get ready for the coming season of new growth and blossoms galore. 

So for the final leaf art piece of the year, I finished off my nature series in the Strathmire Toned Tan sketch book.  That's the second one I filled since starting the first one in January 2014.     Many pages in both are devoted to these pear leaves.

I already bought a new one so I can continue this series. 

Happy New Year, my friends!

In the works

Its time to decorate the golf cart for neighborhood parade.   My neighbor and I do this together.    Our theme this year is digs.     I wanted to something non traditional and fun.   Starting with a couple oversized plush toys and adding in smaller ones collected but never on display.    Will post pictures later.   

Holiday touches

Im not decorating as much for Christmas this year as I am not hostessing my mixed media group here at home.  Instead we will meet in the studio at the gallery.  Mainly because our senior member is coming from out of town and is unable to climb the 5 steps at my place.    Here are some of my vignettes at home.

Thanksgiving cards

I took the leaf studies and stamped Give Thanks on the backs, inserted them in plastc sleeves and gave them to friends as thanksgiving cards.   My collection had grown so rich, they needed to be distributed.   

The stamps I used were hand carved a few years ago.  

Here a leaf, there a leaf

Adding inky doodles to the watercolored leaves.    Takes them to a different level.    

Halloween came and went

This year I went to a Halloween party in the evening.  I rarely venture out after dark but it was close by and I had good friends to go with.    This was a very last minute plan, so was unprepared costume wise.    And I was feeling like painting.   So I painted strips of canvas with green paints and cut out leaves to pin onto a dark brown sweater. I perched a stuffed bird on one shoulder and pinned a nest on the other one.  Yes, I went as a tree.

Sharing a new passion

My mixed media group is now painting leaves too.   A friend and I dropped by the senior center to collect a bunch of leaves, and the next day when mm girls showed up at my place,  they could pick out leaves to draw and paint.    We had such a good time we did this two meetings in a row.    At the first class I provided watercolor paper with the outlines of leaves drawn on and backgrounds painted in acrylics.   This was for those that always say, I can't draw.   No excuses accepted.    And it was fun to do. In fact so much fun, I painted another batch of backgrounds to use myself.  Lol

Autumn leaves at Senior Center

On Monday mornings a group of art enthusiasts meet at local Senior Center.  Some paint in oils, some acrylics , some watercolors.  There are several who draw.   Some do needlework.   A new group has joined us with another teacher who supplies everything and has them painting rocks with craft paints.    During our time together we wander around to chat, and critique if asked, and just socialize.  Some if us have been there for years, some more than a decade.   Ages range from 55 to 88 currently.   Husbands and wives may come together but often are at different skill levels and interests. 

I had been drawing the brilliantly colored leaves found in the courtyard outside the art room, using colored watercolor pencils.   One day I was inspired to take my watercolors and try to capture the colors.      Here are a few.

Country roads by Cezanne

Im at car dealer for some vehicle maintenance so cant paint this morning.    But I can look at some art....   here are two country roads I found in a book I brought with me.

Mixed media day. Weaving.

Our mixed media group has one fantastic weaver/basketmaker member in long standing.  For some unknown reason we have never had her lead us in a weaving project. 

 I had seen a short promotional video by Laly Mille called "Woven Dreams" .   I sent a link o Marilyn asking if she would lead us in a similar project.   We waited for her to get back from a sea shell related trip, and yesterday we did our own versions of wrapped frame weaving. 

 She stepped it up and had us do the top row with a basket makers twist.    Since then I added more above that row.   This piece contains old yarns,  palm seedlings, fresh thyme and oregano. Fabric scraps,  Cheese cloth, old hymnal torn strips, etc.   

  It was a lot of fun to do, except for that tricky first row.   We almost had a mutiny on our hands, but Marilyn was so patient and encouraging.... we got through it.  And at the end we could understand the importance of that first row which stabilized the piece.       Thank you Marilyn.  Well done.

The long lonely road

Across Nevada high desert.      Heading East.     Or West, or North or South.    With few landmarks its hard to tell.     Lots of subtle color changes in this dusty, sandy alkali soil.    This is when cruise control comes in handy.   

Ebbetts Pass road

Twists and turns.     Not for trucks or pulling a trailer, however for beautiful forest views and vistas it was a family favorite.     In my fathers later years, I was the designated driver, as he could not drive distances or challenging roads... and my brother's eyesight had deteriorated to the point he could not drive in the mountains. 

  We made an annual visit to our home town, Silver City which meant we had to go over the Sierras.   My dad would pick the route and turn the keys over to me.     This was not my favorite road.     

Monitor Pass was even more challenging.   Heaven helped us if we met some ill informed driver towing a trailer around a  steep hairpin curve.    Someone had to back up...that was me.   I didnt want to see them backing over the cliff....    even stupid people deserve to live.     Mind you there are road signs advising no trailers or trucks over a certain length..... but you know there are those who think they are above such trivial details.   The invincible ones.   

Those days are behind me now and I can no longer drive across the Sierras or even far into the foothills.   So yesterday I painted this memory road.   Missing was the crisp fresh pine scented air.    My family is never missing, I carry them in my heart wherever I go.

Coast highway

This highway is subject to landslides so is sometimes closed for repairs.    It is fun to drive with the windows down to feel the cool sea air and to look at the spectacular views.   

Homeward bound

Traveling on Highway 4, West of Angels Camp presents some challenging twisting curves on a narrow two lane road. . Its actually pretty scary making a sharp curve and immediately dropping over a crest into an opposing curve.    Might be fun in a sports car, like my old 1956 baby blue Porsche.     But now in a relatively large SUV its more nerve wracking than fun.    However, there are other sights so beautiful and awesome along this stretch of road, its worth the few uncomfortable moments.   This is one route I could take between my country place outside of Avery, and home in Stockton.   So seeing this meant the mountains were behind me and home was ahead.    A transition I loved, whichever way I went.   

  Two of my grandchildren are bus drivers.    While they were in training, their instructor had them drive this road.    I can't even imagine how it felt to drive a school bus around those curves.   But they did.  I guess that was the ultimate test..... 

This sketch is farther west as the road ribbons over the descending foothills dropping down into the San Joaquin Valley vineyardscand farmlands.    I drastically  foreshortened the valley so I could include Mount Diablo on the other side. 

Desert road

This is a slighty latger version of a painting exercise I did lasr year.    My early memories are of the high desert country in Nevada.     Silver City -  East and a bit North of Carson City,
below

 Virginia City and Gold Hill.    Purple hills.   Dry, windy, with colors sunbleached and vegetation parched.       Sage brush and scrub pines and occasional cottonwoods if there was any ground water.       Strangely I have no memory of any birds.    But I remember lizards, horned toads, and spiders.   The air is quite wonderful. Dry.   Hint of sage odor.     Here is a desert road.  Can you smell the sage?

Starting here

The California foothills are so beautiful.   Rolling hills layer by layer, leading up in elevation to the higher hills and finally to the high Sierra mountain crests, peaks and summits.       I hunkered down in the back seat of the family car as a child with my brother,  watching the scenery change.   At some elevations on some roads the soil is very red.    We learned to tell where we were by observing the soil, the vegetation and the trees.   There was  an altimeter mounted in the car, and we watched the needle move,  marking elevations.   We also had a compass mounted there which taught us to be acutely in tune with our bearings.   It made travel more of an adventure.  There was no Map Quest or GPS.    But we always got to our destinations..

How life has changed. Now children are texting and watching videos wherever they are.   How much they are missing.   

This is a painting I started showing the rise in lower foothills.   I love when the road disappears and then you drop down again, and there it is.     It totally delighted me as a child, and still makes me smile.   Its like a peek a boo road.    Now you see it, now you dont.   

Then there is the joy of roads curving off around a hill.   What will you see there? Will it be straight, or will it wind around another hill?         Like life.........

Traveling on

More of the morning paintings.    It is Labor Day weekend,   not a good time to be out on the roads.... there is never any traffic on my painted  country roads.     

I did this scene last year with a stream coming through it.   As much as I loved the colors, i painted it again with a road, trying to capture the same colors and atmosphere. 

Country Roads

More painted recently.  Sierra foothills. 
I was never a fan of landscapes...but last year when age was catching up with me and keeping me city bound more and more, I found that painting my favorite scenes was not merely a distraction, but an escape to places  that hold precious memories.   

Country Roads series

My morning watercolors are focused on country roads for the time being.    My grown son's off road trail bike club took some fantastic photos that I am using for some of these.   Some others are revamped versions of last years paintings that were in a smaller format.     These are all 6 x 8 inches. 

 The first one is inspired by a photo taken by my sons group in the high Sierras on a ridge.    Where the air is crisp.    I am leaving it unfinished.      I think I will paint it again with the foilage.   

The second is inspired by a Joyce Hicks watercolor.

This is based on a photo I took in the foothills of the Sierras on a road trip with a friend who was raised in the area.  She knew just where to find the scenic roads.

The above painting is inspired by an oil painting by Colley Whisson in Queensland.     Thai fog or mist intrigued me enough to paint it twice.    

Do you love veggies?

Here is a tomato to love you back.    Found it in a basket of fresh tomatos at local nursery.   Posed it with a sweet mosaic heart on a stone.     

Hand painting

This painting is still evolving.     I gessoed over most of it leaving only key elements.      Now it sits on my work table waiting to see what happens next.     Hmmm......

Gelli printing

Recently someone posted a video showing the artist tracing an image through and onto a clean gelli plate using alcohol based markers such as Copic.     So our mixed media group dug out our gelli plates and scrambled to find alcohol inks. 

I only had old alcohol inks and a paint brush to work with.   The top one is a tracing, while the second is freehand scribbles.       I've lost my touch w the gelli print process and need some practice.   Our group will play with them again now that we have them out.     In a few weeks I should be able to post some pics.

Art around us

This composition of a faded rose from my garden in old bowl came about quite natually. I had tossed the spent rose into the bowl when I went to wash out the vase I used to display it.    Then forgot about it until this morning.   It looked so beautiful and sweet, I could not resist taking a quick pic.   

The floral watercolor is a morning sketch done a few days ago.

Morning watercolors

Most of my neighbors are out in their gardens early in the morning.    Not me.   I garden in the evening when the light is not so bright.   It's an age thing.    Dark glasses, sunhat,  sometimes even a second pair of dark glasses over the first pair.   

That leaves my early morning free to paint little watercolors.       Here are some new ones, some shown with the inspiration piece.   I dont really enjoy putting buildings in my paintings, so you will notice missing houses and barns.    This is a series called Country Roads.      One of my favorite subjects.     

Stitches in circles

My friend Anne Marie did this stitch in one of her stitch meditations.   I loved it so much I wanted to copy it.  Now, mind you, these are not really copies.   Her stitching is neat and precise..... while mine are looser and less technical.   I love them either way.   

Stitch meditation w circles

Ive been spending so much time painting lately, stitch meditations have been neglected.     I did this one celebrating circles and the new thread I bought at local quilt shop.    I went in to buy needles with larger eyes so I can thread them more easily, but the ones with larger eyes are not very sharp.  I dont like having to force a needle through the fabric.   The owner showed me a lighter weight thread, a number 5.    Perfect.   And its variagated.   Very nice to work with.   And very expensive.    I like it so well I will probably pick up another color next time I am there.

Here it is.  Scrap from my sister in laws scrap basket plus some of my stash.

Gone fishing

Our mixed media group did a fish project with these paper fish I bought from Amazon last year.    I tucked them away somewhere safe, and lost them. When I was looking for something else, I found the fish again and decided it was time to pull them out and do them before I lost them again. We started by doing some work with water soluble crayons, and then brought them out to my studio where we sprayed them with deylusion ink sprays through various stencils.

A few years ago our group was interested in using stencils and spray inks on journal pages.   I had not used these materials for at least 2 years. It was fun to get them out  again and found they had not dried out. 

 I've always liked fish as a theme and although these are meant to be windsocks, I cut them in half so it gave us more pieces to work with.   Everyone went home happy with beautiful fish.   

These are hanging in my studio.

Another redo.

Tell you the truth I am getting pretty sick of this painting.   Still too busy, colors now look muddy.    Hmmm..... whats next?  Perhaps cover it all with gesso.  Lol

Nature sketchbook

 One of my routines is to sketch something natural in a tan toned sketch book.   This one is from Strathmore. It is 80 # sized 5.5 x 8.5 inches.    A handy size to tuck into purse or art bag.      I use watercolor pencils because I like the way the colors can blend and build up layer by layer, color by color.  The exception is the white Stabilo pencil made to write on all kinds of surfaces.   It blends nicely with the other pencils and is is a stronger white than most white pencils.

 For subjects I either pick something in my garden, or at the location.  Probably on the sidewalk or growing in the parking lot.   Tomatoes were from the nursery.   The flowers below were from a friend who knew I would enjoy drawing them. 

Still in progress.

Months have gone by between work sessions or inspiration paint on this canvas again.    Ill be making more changes tonite.   

Back to my paints.

My studio tables were cluttered up with different projects.   Mosaics. Paper mosaics. Fabrics. Printing materials.  Rock painting stuff. 

 I just cant seem to settle in with watercolors until the space is cleared and things are tidy.   During this heatwave - many days over 100 degrees - I am not spending much time outside... I figured its a good time to clean the studio.   Now its orderly and i have open table spaces everywhere I look.   Its wonderful.  And I can paint again in my morning ritual.   Only thing is I need to be up an hour earlier to take advantage of the cool studio.   Here are the first three small studies.  It feels wonderful to paint again.