Month: October 2021

I have a few photography books, mostly from thrift stores. When I get them, I usually go through and mark the photos that I want to draw/paint someday. This was one of them that I marked a couple of years ago. I finally did it in colored pencils on black paper.

I am working on an oil portrait that I am rather excited about. And I am about to start another oil painting. Not a portrait or a landscape or a still life. Something new for me. We shall see…

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Life is the flower for which love is the honey. — Victor Hugo

This morning I wanted to do a pastel pencil picture on 9×12 black paper, so I looked through all my photo books and found a photo of petrified trees in the desert in Namibia. It is not pastel pencils, however, because I didn’t think my black paper could handle it, so I did it with prismacolor colored pencils.

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For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. — Isaiah 55:12

This was from a photo shoot that I did with a candle for lighting. The photo shoot was fun. The painting took a little while. It is interesting having several paintings in various stages of development all over the house. LOL!

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Laughter is the closest distance between two people. — Victor Borge

I just liked this photo of the funny little boats. I think I made the picture to look like it was in the early morning or late evening. I would like to get in one of those boats and row out into the middle of a little remote pond with a book, a parasol, and a lunch so that I could just watch the birds and doze. What say you?

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In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die. — Ernest Hemingway

The photo for this painting was taken one early morning when Ron and I had been out scoping the area for fishing places. When we left the house, it was dark. While standing on the dock beside one of the boat ramps, the sky went wild. I love a good sunrise. And a good sunset. Who doesn’t?

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Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise. — George Washington Carver

I am working on a super-secret project. Well, it is not SUPER-super-secret, just kinda super-secret. It is a personal project that I have been thinking about for many years and now I am starting work on it. In the past, I have made two hand-made books, bound and sewn by my own hands. They are not great, but I really liked them and enjoyed making them. Now, I am going to do it, again, but this time it will be even better. I am making a font for it. I am making each letter in an 8×10 block so that I can get details in it and then I will scan them in and make them the size I need. Fun, fun, fun!

I made the letters “A” and “B” and colored them, before moving on, but then I decided to do all the drawing and inking of all the letters. Then, when I am through, I will go back and do all the coloring, because I can do that while watching Columbo or Father Brown. LOL!

I have three oil paintings in various stages of development.

I have been going to Publix and spending Ron’s breaks with him. Sometimes, I eat my lunch with him and then we play skip-bo or backgammon or both, depending on how long his break is. Twice, now, Mamoo has come with me and we have done her grocery shopping afterwards. She is now in a wheelchair for shopping and I am sure it is funny to watch us in Publix. I push Mamoo and Mamoo pushes a small shopping cart. We go very slowly and have lots of fun. LOL! Everyone is getting to know us there. And Ron is not the least embarrassed by us! LOL! I also took Mamoo to a couple of art exhibits here in Leesburg. She really enjoyed it.

While on my reading break, I am reading the book “The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln”. I know, I know… I am supposed to be on a reading break. I can’t go totally without reading something!

The quote, today, is from this book.

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Some gentlemen, fresh from a Western tour, calling at the White House to see President Lincoln, referred to a body of water in Nebraska bearing an Indian name which they could not recall, but which signified Weeping Water. Instantly Mr. Lincoln replied, “As Laughing Water, according to Mr. Longfellow, is Minnehaha, this must be Minneboohoo.” — from the book, The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln

Another of David O’Dell’s great photos was the basis of this oil painting. I debated on whether or not to leave the bricks in the window or even if I should include the window. I’m glad I did. I love those bricks! LOL! Another 11×14 stretched canvas.

I have been wanting to give another reading list, but I have been reading so hard and fast that I cannot remember all the books. However, I just finished book two of Louis L’Amour’s Sackett series and I am taking a break in my reading to savor it and prepare for book three. L’Amour’s writing style in these books is so wonderful, it is like poetry. And the reader (audio book — John Curless) is so good it just adds to the poetic experience. Sigh… I hate when a good book ends…. Sometimes, when I am reading and notice the end coming, I slow down and take my time while chomping at the bit to get going. LOL! These Sackett books start in England in the late 1500’s. Barnabas Sackett goes to the New World, has adventures, and returns. In the second book, To The Far Blue Mountains, he returns to the New World and has, as his eventual goal, to get to those far blue mountains (the blue ridge). Lots of adventure!

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Books, I found, had the power to make time stand still, retreat or fly into the future. — Jim Bishop