Vacation paintings

    Recently I was reminded of a research story where a ceramics class was divided in half. One half was  instructed to make as many cups or bowls as possible in a certain amount of time. The other half of the class was instructed to make a perfect cup or bowl. The group that threw themselves into making many bowls ended up with some bowls that were beautiful. The other half didn't get started...just clay dust to show. For some reason this liberated me to make a painting every afternoon in my non spare time. Also, I dismissed any concern about what people might think.

    I had Joe saw mostly 6" x 8" pieces of birch 1/4" plywood. I sanded and gessoed the rectangles with Golden white gesso and then added orange gesso atop since I have always put a color down as a background. I like orange for landscapes but it may not be appropriate for seascapes. I think I will work on the white next time. I got some Holbein Acryla Gouche paints that dry fast but are fun to work with. Easy water clean up. With a little bottle of water for moistening, a tissue and two brushes I started on these little paintings about 4 pm and they were finished by supper time. Of course I went back to touch them up and sometimes made a mess. I worked in a tiny area on a table.

    I started with photos of our recent trip to Cape Cod, and borrowed Colin's and Susan's of Maine. I had fun not worrying about anything. I just looked on my iPhone for reminders of the sites and painted away. Some are more successful than others, of course!