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.

March Madness with oils, yarn and wood

      School is over, but I am cheered to be painting in oils again rather than acrylics. I changed models and Joe was the victim. Also, I worked on and added to some of the self portraits (last blog) and did a painting that only the children, their mother and I like. I wanted to paint them in front of the stage set of our house which they love, but it was too saccharine. So,  I added above the house, part of Rousseau's The War to suggest the troubled times that hover over the world. Nothing connected or was unifying, so I took fence, windows and flowers from Rousseau's other paintings, but I couldn't paint the children in his naif style. An art teacher once said that if you try to paint in another's style, it won't work the same, because you will miss some elements that unify, make it original and fresh. Click photos to enlarge.

       For a break, Joe and I headed to NYC and ended up looking at a lot of contemporary art. What variety! I won't say "anything goes," but the thought is liberating. In the car on the drive home, I crocheted a Ninja, brontosaurus or alligator scarf for David. He had asked, "Linlin, will you make me a scarf?" when he saw my knitting the girls one. He will never use it, probably, but I stitched 2 1/2 feet from NYC to Boston. It was hard to get back to crocheting, but I kept trying and now I am fast. I was interested to see the pattern the yarn made. I tried knitting it, but the crochet made a better design.

        On return home, Joe cut back panels for the 1/4 inch plywood tile squares Beth cut for and corralled the children at the elementary school to paint for a fund raiser. Joe sanded the edges and glued them on the birch panels and evened the sides with his power saw. He varnished with polyurethane and added hangers. The class offerings will be auctioned.

      At the same time,  I took up Kathryn's new beginning art class charge to use cad red, cad yellow, ultramarine blue and black and white to paint gradations of these colors. That was fun, but I realized that the turpentine from my earlier painting life seemed a bit toxic. I did some research and think that Gamblin has made some healthy offerings for painters these days. They list these at their website re "studio safety." I will use more brushes in the future and try Gamsol. I am looking forward to making 8 or 9 blocks for Katie's quilt for Project Hope, a children's book theme, all after Easter this weekend.
Spring brings new life :*) Thanks for dropping by!