Back To The Drawing Board

Went to get my hair cut yesterday. After the debacle of the last 2 times, I switched to a different salon. On the walls of this new place are various paintings and even some framed quilts that are consigned by the shop from local artists. Must be something about the light here in Alabama, because yet I again my eyes were barraged by an array of chalky paintings with discordant colors. After sitting there criticizing the paintings in my head, I decided to see if I could paint what I preach. I've always wanted to paint a picture of home, especially now that I'm exiled from it. Honestly, I didn't know if I had it in me. Every landscape painting of Tucson I've ever done, with the exception of rough sketches, has turned out horribly. But I surprised myself and came up with something that's not too terrible. I can almost even tell what it's supposed to be. Sabino Canyon in the summertime. My brother and daughters were in the original photo I worked from, and I took t...

Was invited to another painting session at 16 Main. This one involved no pre-drawn canvas. Instead we were supposed to Bob Ross our way through, complete with fan brushes, white paint to denote where the sky and water met, and a "happy little tree." This painting is supposed to be "Christmas on the Beach." I did a bad thing. I completely ignored the instructor's color choices and lighting situation. Please let me tell you why. But first, let's look at my painting: Ok. Now, let's imagine the clouds on the right corner of the painting are actually dark purple and go in a line all the way across the top of the painting. And that blue sky? Imagine it bright yellow. Then the water and the sand are both royal blue with some white mixed in here and there to make it look like shadows and highlights. The tree and grasses/bushes (whatever they are) are all the same green from the tube. If there hadn't been any white mixed in, the whole thing would have looke...

3 days ago a certain someone was feeling pouty about I don't even remember what. While we were on our daily family walk, we started talking and it came out that she really really wanted to wear something that looked like an Irish dance costume for her upcoming Christmas program. (Side note: this was most likely influenced by the fact that we had just finished reading "Girls of Many Lands: Kathleen", an out-of-print book by the American Girl company about an Irish girl in the 1930s who learns to dance. Her family is poor, and has no $$ for making a costume, but her aunt is inspired by reading "Gone With the Wind" and comes up with a great idea. Which in turn inspired my daughter...) I suggested she wear one of the new dresses I bought her for her birthday. Not good enough. We talked back and forth and I admitted that I had bought some lovely turquoise blue plaid flannel but hadn't decided what to do with it, exactly. I offered to make her a ruffled skirt out ...