Coffee And Paint Drips Blog

Where to Spend the Heat and Humidity

It’s Wednesday and the temperatures are expected to be in the nineties, hot, humid, sunny. Perfect!

There’s a decision to make now. Should I stay home in the garden, go to the town pool, or visit the beach? Today is the last day of school so the wild munchkins will be at the pool, and some will be at the beach. None of them will be at my house. 
I am thinking of painting, somewhere. So there’s the studio, the garden, or the beach. Definitely not going to the town pool for that. 
It’s early. There’s still plenty of time to decide. 

Fluttering in the garden..

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Morning Painting Session

Pushing resistance out the door, ironing out the kinks, keeping my fingers crossed that I can work on this latest watercolor painting with strong momentum behind me.

I can dream, can’t I?

Another session on this latest work

Funny thing is, I usually don’t paint early in the day when I know I have other things to get done. Today I had plenty of morning time with not much to do.

Granted, I’ve been awake since 5:30 AM. Wide awake at that.

Dressed, did the breakfast thing, read my news, checked email and all cyber stuff, kicked the family out the door, wrote the Morning Pages, straightened out the house, all before 9:00. Now what?

I painted. It might be a good thing, too.

The question is: will I come back this afternoon to finish?

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Technology vs Brains, Winner-Loser

Some days technology is wonderful, once you know how to use it. It’s gloriously fast, efficient, and effective. Other days it can make me want to poke my own eyes out.

Tell me how many mistakes can pencil and paper make? Huh? Yeah, I thought so.

Okay, so the pencil can break, you have to keep sharpening it, a pen can run out of ink, the paper could tear, smudge, become illegible, or lost.

Computers and their ilk, however, are quite another expensive, annoying, make me feel stupid, story.

What’s my problem, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. Most of these items need electricity to run, and when not plugged into an outlet periodically, run out of juice. Most of the time an items has run out at the moment I need to use it.

Technology is overrated.

Now, take art, for example. Real, honest, brush/paint/paper/canvas art. Plug it in the electric socket for it to do something? Nope. Plug me and my brain in to do something? Yes. Got it?

Herein lies the rub.

For the art to “work” my brain needs to function properly, which, on certain days, may not happen. But on those days that it works to it’s optimum potential we are golden. Cameras, however, need charged batteries to photograph such moments. Charged fully one day, depleted the next.

And there you have it.

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Thought for Thursday

“I’ve caught this magical landscape and it’s the enchantment of it that I’m so keen to render. Of course, lots of people will protest that it’s quite unreal, but that’s just too bad.” ~ Claude Monet

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Resistance Mode was Back

So, let’s just say I let Mr. Resistance stay a couple of days longer than I would like. Let’s just say, he made himself kinda comfortable here and decided he might help a little around here. Let’s also just say, I needed someone to kick me.

Resistance mode is not pretty, but this new work might be
It’s a nice thing to volunteer for the church, work hard, have a nice time with friends and fellow volunteers. It’s quite another to lose all momentum on the creative front just because I wasn’t painting for a week.
Being an artist is not easy at all.
Coming out of resistance mode is like climbing out of a deep crevasse, I just don’t want to have to cut my arm off to come free. 
In the depth of my blah-dom, my don’t-feel-like-painting mood, while the new work sat waiting on my easel/desk, I wasted more time by surfing the internet. Bad.
Yeah, I get on, promote my stuff, spill some thoughts, share others. Blah blah blah. Knowing I’d get a little help from artist friends online I shared that the weather is rainy, there’s no motivation, maybe I should read a book, and would someone just kick me. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what one artist did. He commented: Here’s your kick. I love it!
Funny thing though, it worked. 
Thankfully, the new work was ready to go or it would not be pretty.
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Photos for Friday in the Garden

My inspiration today is Monet’s amazing garden. Mine isn’t close to his, but I’m working on it.

The New York Botanical Garden is holding a wonderful exhibition of Monet’s paintings with a replica of his house and garden in Giverny, France, and I must go see it. It’s the closest I will get any time soon of being in his actual garden. And, from what I’ve learned, the garden will change with the seasons. Amazing!

Claude MonetReflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond, c. 1920, 200 × 1,276 cm (78.74 × 502.36 in), oil on canvasMuseum of Modern ArtNew York City
(Creative Commons License Wikipedia)

Hit the link for more information, directions, and tickets. Yes, you have to purchase a ticket! For a specific day and time! Now I find that annoying. I like to just decide one day and go. But, no, now I have to buy a ticket.

I need more color in my own garden. More flowers, more colors, different heights, maybe more rocks, or statues. Some flowers need moving around for better sun exposure. The peonies are leaning toward the sun.

Looks like I have work to do. Yeah, more to-do’s on the list.

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Thought for Thursday

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

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Almost Back to Normal

We pushed, pulled, tugged, packed, unpacked, yelled, laughed, ate the wrong things, sometimes didn’t eat, couldn’t fall asleep, woke way too early, and did it all over again the next day for four days. No, scratch that, five days including the Monday clean up.

Wait, scratch that again-every day since Memorial Day! Whew!

That flea market job at our church’s Greek festival is grueling work, but fun at the same time. All weekend we marveled at the crazy people and the general craziness of the whole thing. A couple of new volunteers said they had the best time with us and will be helping again next year.

I don’t even want to think about next year right now! My body aches all over.

Most of my Greek dance students

Want to see some happy faces? Just look at these kids! These are most of my Greek dance students at their final performance on Sunday afternoon. I can’t be sure if they are smiling because they’re happy or that it’s finally over, but they certainly are adorable. They performed so well, too.

Now that the festival is over I can get some sleep, get back to the easel and some normalcy.

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Photos for Friday of Craziness

When I recovered my brain last night, I remembered to take a couple of photos of the insanity in the Greek festival flea market just after we opened the doors.

I know it doesn’t look so busy from these pictures, but I can assure you it was madness. At 6:01 PM we opened up after hearing the clamor of the long line of people just outside. So okay, we were one minute late opening up! Keep your shirt on!

As I welcomed the shoppers, who were giddy with delight, they rushed in like the tide on the beach-whooshhh.

The craziness has hit it’s stride.

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Thought for Thursday

“This is craziness, all over again!”~Dora (me) at the Greek festival flea market

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