Throwing on the Paint...in the diary

     Whenever I have trouble getting back into painting or coming up with ideas, I remind myself that Picasso said it is but keeping a diary. A best friend from Amarillo childhood took me back to the Texas Panhandle this week by sending a book about friends who developed the range. Joe's family also ranched around or by those parts from Hereford to Kansas and I wanted to do a series when a cousin sent more photos.Adding to the mix, was the indulging in a DNA quest with more contacts and materials.

      Needing a post for January, last night before the State of the Union addresses, I grabbed an old painting (with a first layer) and started throwing on and dragging around more paint with a brush. I didn't know how to solve the problem of missing dark tones or how to carry the painting beyond the photo taken at my 50th high school reunion at the Palo Duro Canyon. But in the midst of working, I solved some problems. I had great fun dragging thick paint around the edges of the sunflowers.I should return w a special brush for the grass and another for the sky to "make it better" as my art teacher always said. But wow did I have fun. It has been awhile. Will it ever dry?😊

      I am using some Gamblin oil paints because I like their oderless thinner and mediums. I hope to get back to Winsor and Newton Griffin Alkyds for their jewel-like and  fast drying oils.You can imagine how I get Gamblin and Griffin mixed up. Gamblin has a fast drying matte oil, but I like the shine of Winsor and Newton's Griffins. I guess I could use a shiny varnish over the Gamblin mattes.

Framing the family: a holiday memoir

     Many celebrations occur around our dining room table from Easter to birthdays. Always crowded and askew, the table is an ideal setting for another family portrait. When Joe asked me how I wanted to frame it, I suggested he invent a solution. He cleverly took hints from the shape of our house so the dining room could be in the house. All I have to do is paint it. I have started to do so.



    Family members are crowded around the table, but I wanted some gravitas. I had looked at Van Gogh's favorite group table painting, The Potato Eaters. I put that on my lap to show granddaughter, the reader. I let the horn in grandson's hand echo Max Beckmann's in his self-portrait on the wall by the windows. Beckmann used crowns in paintings, but these are from our poppers honoring the great organizers of our families. I needed one more painting for the wall so I added the Van Gogh flowers since I had recently looked at his irises and roses at the Met in NYC. I replaced the floral centerpiece with a drooping sunflower in my hand as a symbol of Van Gogh's or any painter's challenge to paint. This group portrait effort is/was certainly stressful, although I forgot the pain once I thought of the sunflower centerpiece.

     Joe gessoed twice (the saint) and screwed his frame onto the painting. Today, I have started to paint it. The other building and painting this month, was Joe's letting grandson build and paint a car. Joe helped David hammer and drill and they finished it in an evening. Enlarge the photos by clicking; and thanks for visiting!