End of Summer in Wine Country

Napa Valley Wine Country, early Summer

Earlier this summer I did this little (6X8) watercolor by the roadside in the California Wine Country. There was still a little Spring green remaining in the leaves of both the vines and the surrounding trees. It really is one of the most beautiful places. As a very small child we lived in northern California, but moved to the Texas desert at about the time I entered school. So most of my child hood memories are the spectacular and rugged mountains upthrust from graben faulting (geology minor, sorry) as the mid-continent sea dried up. Mainly I have memories of hills without trees. Frequently when people first see the desert, that is one of the first remarks, "I've never seen a hill without a tree on it." This used to sound very odd to me, all they had to do was look up. Ah, childhood, things were so simple then.

Is it time for a trip back to the desert? I think I'm missing it's kind of beauty. Or is it the Sunshine in the mornings? Hmm, I hope this isn't a pattern, I've lived a lot of places and some are not easy to get to. I, and my non-existent travel budget could be in big doo-doo. Maybe if I could put it down as a business expense. Alas, first there has to be a budget before you can "budget" something. Well, that's what my mother taught me, and mothers tend to be right. Hmm. I should probably do some deep philosophical thinking about that. Nah, too many people with nothing better to do have already done that and just confused themselves. Besides, it takes away too much painting time. I had dear parents who did the very best they could to raise us right and with all the love in the world. "Now" is a gift to which they contributed much, and Now is when I am living! So I shall live Now. And, paint of course.

Where did all that come from? (shrug) Fagedaboudid.

When to go vivid (and all that entails) and when to be subtle?

In a painting group one of the other artists had set up this grouping to work on an impressionist piece. I just loved the items, their textures, warm and subtle colors. I asked his permission to take a couple of pictures so I could try it, and it was given.

This is my 8X10 acrylic result. The other artist did some amazing things with brighter colors, more impressionist shapes, and in oils. It was fascinating to see how differently things can be seen.

Next it would be good to explore a somewhat wilder version, more like an art instructor would like. For some reason it's good for me to try realistic first, to get familiar with the shapes, colors and textures, "internalize" them maybe? Whatever, it gets my hands familiar with the shapes, my eyes familiar with the colors etc. Then it seems easier to loosen up and try an impressionist version. Or, then again, maybe I need to fuss over the realistic version until I'm satisfied, or fed up, then my imagination starts really kicking in to liven things up! This second version will be with oils, easier to keep playing with it more.

Here is another project of a completely different kind. This is the unfinished version. It's further along now, the holes have been filled in. Have I said all this before?
Anyway, this is a result of working with the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco last December. I went in 1830's dress (women of a certain age are free to wear styles from their youth). During that period the huge mutton leg sleeve was very popular (see the original Dr Doolittle opening scenes with the Dr's sister) and a special cape collar called a pelerine was also very popular. They were often of very fine stuff like lawn or batiste with embroidery, or fine lace. I had made one of some machine made lace that looks really good, but I'd always wanted to try to make a lace one from scratch, since they have a very distinctive shape. I had a bit of a search to come up with a motif that I could adapt to the shape, but the biggest thing turned out to be finding the thread! Who knew how much it would take! I'm using a fine thread (#30) in white, but there are a lot a whites out there. It took the better part of a month to find more of the exact same white. And YES, you can tell if it's not the same white. At last I was able to obtain enough to finish. On the pattern, I'm winging it so right now I'm in the hard part of the decision process, the final shaping and finishing details.
Gotta go, I'm off to my painting group now!