Photographic Redos

I consider myself more of a photographer than a painter, but painting just won't let go of me. One of my favorite things to do is to take one of my photographs and change it.

Here are two paintings that started off as photographs. The one of the ruins is the Old Sheldon Church off Highway 17 in South Carolina; pretty close to Beaufort. I've photographed it several times in different seasons. If you go anytime of the year, any season, take a container of potent bug repellant. The tiny mosquitos about carried me off last time! I was holding my camera with one hand and making flapping motions from head to foot with the other. It makes for some interesting photographs, that's for sure!

So for this technique, I took my original 4x6 color photograph,copied,and enlarged it onto gray watercolor paper. I then recolored it using watercolor pencils. The result is a finely executed watercolor painting. Since my drawing skills are pretty poor, this is a good way to let my photograph do the drawing for me.

The second painting is a watercolor using my image of a foggy morning in Virginia as a guide. The finished painting is a 5x8, so it's pretty small. I like to paint small so I can finish a painting in one quick sitting. I really don't have the patience to work on a piece for hours or days at a time. Instant gratification is the ticket for me!

I've tried many different techniques combining photography with painting which I'll share as the mood strikes. What different techniques have you tried, and were you happy with the results?

Painting in Acrylics

This 6x8 painting is an acrylic I made at our monthly art association meeting. The facilitator made a paint blot by squirting paint on one piece of paper and folding the other over onto it and smashing the two together to make mirror images on both sides of paper. We were then asked to paint what we saw. I just took the two predominate colors, yellow and black, and began working with them. When I started I had no idea what it would end up being.

At first I was extremely frustrated, but after some self-talk and encouragement from those around me, I loosened up and actually started having fun with the process. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Tongue in cheek, I'm calling it Sunset Over the Atlantic.

The Artist's Duty

"The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world."

*Tuscan Landscape painting is by my friend Barbara Akins.

- G. K. Chesterton

The Tears of Christ

Makoto Fujimura's beautiful painting The Tears of Christ. Have a blessed Easter tomorrow as we celebrate the resurrection of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!

Williamsburg Watercolor

I took this photo at the Powhatan Plantation outside Williamsburg where we usually stay. As ya'll probably already know, I'm a sucker for fog and impressionistic images.

Here I tried re-creating it in watercolors. I haven't viewed them side by side, but as I'm looking at them, I didn't capture the right colors of purple that was in the photograph.

I also felt that I had to make the road more distinct or the whole thing would have been a dark blob. I'm still happy with the outcome. After all, I wasn't striving for photographic realism. It makes for a good excuse, anyway.

Watercolor Finished

Well, I finished the tiny watercolor that was based on an original by Jules Pascin I wrote about here: http://artfulaspirations.blogspot.com/2012/02/keeping-on-with-painting.html. I think it turned out fairly well. The paper was a little quirky and soaked up the paint and water much too rapidly which made it difficult to do what I liked with it. Maybe I'll try it again someday on a different paper.

Keeping On With Painting

"Thoughts unspoken die unborn. The same goes for your paintings. If the desire lies within you, paint your heart out! But above all, keep developing, because that’s where real life begins.”

Tim Adams

I can't deny that I've had a lifelong desire to paint. I do best when I copy other works. This is what most if not all painters do to learn; they copy great paintings.

Anytime I've been in an art museum, I've seen plenty of students sitting there painting or drawing the works of art displayed on the walls.

I'm going to copy the one above. It's a loosely-executed watercolor called Le Journal by Jules Pascin. I love how it's outlined in black paint.

The watercolor at the top was painted plein air while I was visiting Fripp Island. It's of the marshes on the opposite side of the island from the Atlantic. I need to do a little more work on it. I'm not happy with the trees yet.

The framed landscape at the very top was my first watercolor attempt. It was painted from a photograph.

I need to do with painting what I do with everything else that I consider important enough to do. I make an appointment and then keep it. The trouble is finding a good time to make the appointment!

Tennessee Neighbors

This fair lady is the neighbor of my parents in Tennessee. Last time I visited, she gave me a huge cabbage from her garden. When I got home, I sliced, blanched, and froze it. I'll make cabbage stew this winter.

I've taken photos of her barn in all seasons. I want to do a watercolor of it soon.

When I was a small girl, I'd visit her parents with my grandma. Two smells I associate with their house and yard; tobacco (one of both of them dipped) and boxwoods. They had these huge ones on either side of their walkway you'd have to pass through to get to their front door. Today when I smell a boxwood, it makes me swoon. I guess that's one of the reasons I love Williamsburg so much. There are hundreds of boxwoods there. I'm going to order two English boxwoods for containers. They are the ones that have the wonderful smell. I'm not so sure they'll flourish down here with our humidity, but I won't know unless I try.

Samuel Johnson and Me

Reading James Boswell's Life of Johnson is on my bucket list. I hope to start it this fall. Here's a photo taken at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Shop in London where Mr. Johnson and I hung out one afternoon. That's him in the painting. This pub was also a favorite hangout of Charles Dickens.

Wouldn't you have liked to have been a barmaid and listen in on the conversation around the table when these literary giants came in for a pint?

Maxfield Parrish and Me

Late summer is the time when giant thunderheads produce afternoon and evening storms. There have been some beautiful displays of fluffy clouds and dark blue skies. I believe that the painter Maxfield Parrish must have loved these dramatic clouds as much as I do, because so many of his paintings show them. Do you see a similarity between his paintings and my photographs? If only I could paint them like he could. I'll just have to be content with my photographs.

A Tall Order For Wives and Painting the Houses

"Ah! the true rule is--a true wife in her husband's house is his servant; it is in his heart that she is queen. Whatever of the best he can conceive, it is her part to be; whatever of the highest he can hope, it is hers to promise; all that is dark in him she must purge into purity; all that is failing in him she must strengthen into truth; from her, through all the world's clamor, he must win his praise; in her, through all the world's warfare, he must find his peace." John Ruskin

Here's what we call 'the little house'. My husband's office and a pantry are on the first floor. My art studio is on the second. We recently had it painted green with white trim and red porches. I've seen this combination of colors many times and loved it. I think it looks better in town, though.

I think if we painted the main house like this, it would be too much. So it's going to be white with green trim; just the opposite of the little house. I sure hope I like it, because seven years is a long time to wait to paint it blue again.

Back to Basics: Goal Setting 101

From the book Walking in this World by Julia Cameron: "There seems to be an unwritten spiritual law that if we want our good (she means producing art) to increase, we must focus on appreciating and husbanding the good that we already experience.

When we want to grease the creative wheels, we do very well to muster a little elbow grease elsewhere. Mend the trousers. Hang the curtains. I do not know why hemming the droopy pant leg gives you the juice to get to the easel, but it does. I cannot tell you what it is about detoxing the mud closet that makes you see more clearly how to end a short story-or start one-but it does.

Finishing almost anything-sorting your CD collection, pumping up a bike tire, matching and mating your socks-creates both order and an inner order: "Now, start something," finishing something says."

I've found this to be so true in my life. I can't get to making art until the dishes are done or my studio is straightened. Or course, you have to know when to stop or you could spent all your time piddling away on housework and never make time for art.

I've been spinning my wheels for a long while now. I've had so much to do and places to be that I was just in survival mode. That's not how I want to live.

So for the months of January and February I've been tweaking my schedule and setting goals down on paper and out of my head. I should be finished with it all today, and what a relief! Now there's room in my head for a thought to form.

I found a great article on setting goals here: ttp://www.readingforyoursuccess.com/warren-buffetts-5-step-process-for-prioritizing-true-success-and-why-most-people-never-do-it

On that same site, I found a goal setting article which is referred to in the Warren Buffet one. I highly recommend his site, as it is very motivational and focused.

Yesterday I put my plan into action, and I got an amazing amount of things done toward my goals. And boy, does that feel good after so long a time of inaction.

*I painted the watercolor above from an instructional video. I'm pretty happy with the results. I took photos of the watercolors I've painted and are satisfied with. There are six of them. I'll post them all sooner or later and hopefully have more to go along with them.

A word about Cameron's new book, Walking in this World. This one is more from a christian perspective than her others. I'm not spending so much mental energy decoding or deciding what's legitimate for me and what to throw out as being non-christian. It's very motivational and encouraging; just what I need right now to start creating again.

Finding Your Sweet Spot

I'm reading Max Lucado's book Cure for the Common Life-Living in your Sweet Spot. In chapter 3 he invites us to READ OUR LIFE BACKWARD. He says to think back and remember what you loved doing as a child; what entranced you.

I made a list of things I could remember. Here they are: 1. Reading 2. Writing 3. Playing the piano 4. Painting 5. Solitude 6. Photography 7. Gardening 8. Being outdoors 9. Decorating 10. Sewing

The thing that amazed me is that these are EXACTLY the same things I love to do today.

He also says, "The oak indwells the acorn. Read your life backward and check your supplies. Rerelish your moments of success and satisfaction. For in the merger of the two, you find your uniqueness."

I've spent too much time trying to be what I'm not. I'll never be a public speaker or know much about how things work, but I could take a photo of both and love it. Not that trying these things hasn't been beneficial for me. I have learned things along the way; mostly I've learned what I never want to try again!

I just don't want to spend any more time trying to do things I hate or things that other people want me to try or to be. I want to focus on culivating what I'm already good at and what makes me happy. That's my sweet spot and where God will use me to His glory and my bliss. The two merge and make me the most effective I can be for His kingdom on this earth.

Decluttering My Hobbies

Things are blooming down south. This is a redbud tree in the children's garden. Spirea, daffodils, azaleas, camellias, grape hyacinth, and more are budded out.

I'm also coming out of my wintertime fog. I had an "Aha!" moment this past weekend.

I've been reading Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party; about Renoir's painting and how it came to be. I love the descriptions of how he saw colors and light. I see that way too. I notice things; subtleties.

But unlike Renoir, I have had almost no training in painting. I believe I could learn to paint, but the amount of time it would take is time I can't give right now.

So for now, I'm going to concentrate on photography and writing. I'll do the occasional small watercolor, for I can do those without much angst. I find them fun and relaxing.

God has chosen motherhood for my life's pathway and all that calling entails. Until Darcie is self-reliant, I won't have the time to pursue painting on a large scale.

And maybe it will come sooner than I think it will. I'm going to practice contentment in this stage of my life and count my blessings which are many. I'm not going to think of what might have been. I just want to be the best mother and grandmother I can be.

I don't want to become an old person who just sits in the house all day. I want to be active and learn new things with my family. I want to show them that it can be fun to get old. I want us to have fun together.

But the point of this post is to say that, for now, I'm letting painting go. Except petite watercolors.