Something Old, Something New

Some tweaking of an earlier painting (Middle painting "Over the Sea") and two completely do overs of previous paintings:  Top, "Balancing Act" (painted over "Bird on a Wire") and "Bird On A Ball" (painted over "Bugs in a Bottle")  Fun day in my outdoors studio making a mess with cold wax, oil paint and R&F pigment sticks

Did I Say I Loved Birds?

New found appreciation for graphite, in many forms, made it necessary for me to try out my new playthings by drawing more birds.

New Bird Paintings

Two new cold wax and oil paintings on 12x16 panels:  "Avoiding Danger" and "Over the Sea." These are painted over two prior works "Rainbow Bird" and "Big Bird" (see prior post).

New Work from Latest Workshop

Just finished a three day workshop at Jeffrey Hirst's Oakland Studio (link) with instructor Lisa Pressman (link).  We painted with oils, R&F oil sticks and cold wax on Ampersand Encausticbord and on Arches oil paper.  I learned a lot but ended up feeling somewhat frustrated since much of my work still needs work.  Adding and deleting to come up with image after image, until the final painting soars to life is hard!  Out of six 12x16 cradled panels I painted, only one really worked (top painting of White Bird).  The painting I started with is below it.  I had more luck with the quick studies and use of the 6x6 cuts of Arches oil paper as mini palettes.  Eight of those mini paintings are below the White Bird panel.  Painting without reference turned me, once again, to painting with stick figures, perhaps not too successfully.  The Tree painting was fun but is somewhat boring and the paintings of Big Bird and Rainbow Baby Bird (two lowest images show their evolution) seem to be regressing, rather than improving.  I love the medium, however, so will keep on keeping on with this for awhile.  The best thing about the workshop was the chance to work with a small group of talented people and to learn which artists influenced them (many of whom were new to me).

Sunday Drawing Fun with Family

Sitting outside yesterday, in Walnut Creek, drawing with my 95 3/4 year old mother, and my siblings, in the warm California sun can be summed up in one word:  Delightful.  I was drawing birds with the aim of designing some new fabric on Spoonflower, then took a turn at drawing my mother (as she drew me) and finally drew one of the still life props set out for inspiration - a wooden artist model.

Indian People in Ahmedabad

From the start of our Textiles and Temples tour around Gujarat, I was amazed how friendly almost all of the Indians were who we met.  It reminded me of when I was first living in Spain, in 1969, when foreigners weren't that common there and the Spanish were very curious and friendly. Like Spain in the late 60’s early 70s, Gujarat today is still slightly off the beaten track for tourism in India.  I and my two travelling companions were constantly running into groups of students, wedding participants, villagers, and other strangers, who wanted their pictures taken with us, or were happy to have us take their picture.  Unlike the American custom of trying to smile for the camera, more often than not the friendly Indians put on more serious faces once the lens was focused on them.  The three photos here were taken at the Adalaj Step-well in Ahmedabad.  The students were clamoring to have pictures taken with all of us and the Rabari elders, with young girl, even smiled for the camera.

Indian Salt

On a Textile and Temples tour of Gujarat, India, in January, 2015, salt ended up playing an interesting role linking the Little Rann of Kutch’s wildlife sanctuary with India’s Independence from Britain.   A short jeep ride from our stay at the excellent Rann Riders Resort, led to a great sea of fabulous birds, including painted storks, black ibis, egrets, geese and flamingos (in the distance).  The magnificent birds were followed by wild ass sightings.  Driving on a bit led to a salt bed where I proceeded to buy about a pound of salt crystals.  What I did not know then, but know now, is that today India is the world’s third largest producer of salt, after China and the USA.  But back in 1930, the British had a monopoly on the salt trade and made it illegal for any Indian to produce salt.  This led to Mahatma Gandhi’s famous 1930 salt march, which eventually led to India’s independence in 1947.