Coffee And Paint Drips Blog - Page 55 of 79

The Time of the Crazymaker

The weather has not been cooperative here lately. Rain, clouds, cold, more rain, so not to my liking. Someone I know said something about the weather being “crispy.” Nope. Crispy weather is hot and humid, the way I like it. People like New York in the fall, and the winter time, but my favorite is a New York summer. You know, you can keep “Autumn in New York.” I like the way Frank Sinatra sang it, but I just don’t want to think about what’s coming around the corner.

So I’m having a tough week. Annoying watercolor painting and lousy weather, a horrible combination. To top it all off, the Crazymaker has made an appearance again. Not gonna be fun.

When I was reading The Artist’s Way course and Walking in This World, there was the mention of the Crazymaker, how to deal with him, and keep fighting resistance. Those courses helped me stay in creativity mode and to remember it’s the process not the result. But there are those that upset the proverbial apple cart, the individual who can throw you off your art path.

The Crazymaker, the Opportunist, makes your life not your own. One spends time with them and not working the creativity. Sound familiar to anyone? They act supportive, but it’s a ruse to usurp your talent. If you mentioned it they would balk and say “Who me?” A whole day can be ruined while on a wild goose hunt. The pay-off is you don’t work and remember the things you wanted to create that day and didn’t. They are not your good mirror.

It’s been a long while and my brain has been quiet, happily so. My time is my own. No running, long phone calls with nothing being said, or wasted time. Time away turned into artist dates with myself. I chose whom to spend my time with or be alone. I breathe. I am creative on my own terms. Had it continued I would not be as creative as I have. I feel good. I feel strong. Privacy is a good thing.

There was a reason and they appeared. I could ignore or give in. If I pick up again I’d be the stupid one. There is no way I’m going backwards at this point. Moving forward is the only option. When you taste freedom you just don’t want to go back to jail. I’ll ignore.

Just Not Feeling It, So I Plod

Here’s a look at the hydrangea painting as I plod along on it. What is it about working from my own photos that just brings me down? I seem to like the photo more than I do the painting.

Maybe that’s the trick. My eye sees what it needs to see while composing the photograph. Is it then not meant to be a painting afterwards? I just see too much in the photo and my brain tries hard to replicate the details in paint.

I’m starting to get annoyed with this thing. The colors I’m using are annoying, the way I’m applying the paint is annoying, the composition is annoying. There’s nothing I am happy about with this piece. That’s happened to me before so I keep plugging at it.

I did a watercolor in the spring of the daisies in my garden. Yes, I painted it from life not a photograph. Anyway, I wasn’t thrilled with the result, but I kept thinking in my head “It’s the process.” I was going to ignore the result and move on to the next thing. Well my DIL, Gorgeous, loved it and wanted it for the baby’s room. That cemented the idea that maybe I don’t know beans about my own work. So I plod through this watercolor too. Push to finish it and think about what’s next.

Fighting resistance every step of the way with this painting, I plod.

Photos for Friday

It was a very stormy morning today here in New York. We had the remnants of Hurricane Nicole dump buckets of water on us. Rain, wind, and flooding as you can see. The thing I don’t get is that drivers think their cars are boats, or tanks, or something. Why would they fly into a deep puddle of water like that and keep going at top speed, making a wake not unlike a speed boat in the ocean? Are they idiots, or what? Or are they just brave? Aren’t they afraid to get stranded in such deep water? Even a couple of inches of water can cause a car to stall out and float. I’ve seen it happen.

I don’t get it.

Thought for Thursday

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

Painting in the Wild vs the Studio

This new computer stuff is just taking up alot of time that I could be doing other things. I visited the Apple Store yesterday and asked a few questions about the iphoto thing. The wacky salesman, yes he was wacky and all over the place..very upbeat, high energy guy, went to a computer station and tried a few things. He said he really wasn’t that informed about specifics with iphoto. I watched in rapt awe as he brought up a photo and per my thoughts, resized it. Amazing.

At the time of purchase our sales person asked if we wanted to add lessons. I didn’t think it would be something I’d have time for so we opted out. Of course, Son #2 has it all down already. Kids! Now I’m thinking maybe lessons would have been a good idea. But when? I’ve got enough on my plate as it is, but then, if I knew what I was doing all this wouldn’t take all the time I do have.

It’s a dilemma.

I came home and tried to copy what the high energy crazy salesman did in the store and I did figure it out. It just took me a while. So maybe that’s what it will take, a while.

Later on I visited the watercolor of the hydrangea on my desk and got to work on it. I don’t know how I feel about it. Painting from life at the beach is so different from painting in the studio. I think I like the life painting better. I can’t be sure what it is about the out-of-studio painting. It could be that I’m outside. It could be that I’m working live and don’t have all day so I have to be quick. Maybe it’s that working from life leaves out the possibility of going into too much detail. If I work from my photographs I see too much detail and paint too tight. Working in the ‘wild’ I paint more freely, only adding enough detail to tell the story. We’ve been down this road before, I know, I know.

Maybe it’s good to have different styles of painting? Maybe I should just paint and keep quiet?

If I find that I’m really a plein air painter, winter is going to be a tough time! I can’t even think about it from now. Back to the easel!

Meet my Friend iMac

Meet my new friend iMac. We’ve known each other for a couple of weeks and we’re still trying to figure out what kind of relationship we have. I mean, we’re really not friends yet, sort of acquaintances. I think it’s going to take some time getting used to our likes, dislikes and quirks.

For the most part iMac is cool. I like the fact that it’s so compact. There’s no tower thing, the guts of the computer is in the monitor. The keyboard is smaller than I’m used to, but the keys make a nice comfy sound when I type on it. Plus which, it’s wireless, as is the mouse, eliminating all those pesky wires that would be all bunched up and tangled under the desk.

Working on it is a little bit confusing. What was on the right on a PC is on the left on the iMac. So my brain needs to remember things like that. Cutting and pasting is different. The applications for photos and word processing is new too. Since I use photos alot I have to learn how to use that program. I’m still trying to figure out how to size my photos up or down. Maybe I just have to add my stuff to Flickr where I’m familiar with resizing. And forget the website I needed to access for The Mr.’s business. I called their help desk and they informed me that the site doesn’t support Mac products. That blows. So they’re just going to have to do more work from the location instead of my having to do it. Now they need to hook up their printer and move on. I’m off the hook with that. Great!

All this learning makes me tired. It’s fun, but okay, I have things I need to do and it just takes so much more time to do them. All right already! Enough with the learning!

So, iMac and I are in the ‘nice to meet you’ stage of our relationship. I am waiting for the day that we have moved on to the ‘meet you for coffee at the nearest Starbucks so we can dish’ stage. I think it’s going to take some time before that happens.

I Need a Sunny Day

What do you do when the weather outside is not perfect? I get Artist A.D.D when it’s rainy. Yeah, I’ll just call this “Artist” A.D.D. because I don’t want to say how really blah and unfocused I feel in weather that’s not my opinion of good.

Last week I was somewhere and was asked what do you need to feel good? The thought that immediately popped into my mind was that I need a sunny day. Is that dumb or what? No one can change the weather. You get what you’re going to get in that department. Sun, rain, snow, it’s out of my hands. But I can imagine it, right? So that’s what I try to do. When things get crazy I try to remember to go to the beach on a hot sunny day, in my mind. Sometimes it works.

Today is a cloudy, rainy, but warm day. Not my favorite, but I can live with warm. I’d rather have hot and humid. People don’t understand it. I don’t care, I need it. I could get myself down for the day if I think about how the winter is creeping up on us, but don’t tell me to move because that’s not happening. No matter that I live in the New York suburbs on Long Island, I need to be in close proximity of the city of Manhattan. I may not be going there often, but nearby is good enough. I know it’s weird, don’t ask questions!

Last week was great hot and sunny weather for September. You bet I took myself to the beach for some R&R. Yup. I packed the essentials, (food and iced coffee) and drove out there. In fifteen minutes I was sitting in my chair in the hot sand with very few people on the beach. I remembered my watercolor set and found some broken shell pieces for when I was ready to paint. But first I breathed a nice long sign of relief that I had arrived! Yes!

I fished around in my bag for my camera so I could take a couple of pictures. It wasn’t in one pocket, not the other, not in the bottom of the bag. Well, OK, I’ll get the phone out and shoot a few pics, I thought. I couldn’t find that either. So I was without a camera or any device of communication. Let me tell you that was kind of scary! What did we do before cell phones? We were free. But in the 21st century, being free is not an option. After a little bit of panic and anxiety I decided I better get it together, paint and go home.

Thank goodness I found those bits of shells otherwise I didn’t have a good subject. This beach is so long there’s just ocean and sky, no little bay or curve of dune to be interesting. I hadn’t eaten the apple I brought so I arranged it with the shells in the sand at my feet. There’s just something magical about painting things in the bright sunlight with the reflection off the sand. The shadows are sharp and the bright light evens out mid tones so there’s no need to squint.

It’s a good feeling to work with color and form, to be able to forget where and who I am. Some people have the ability to be out of their body at will, their mind off in another world. For me, it’s this moment that I’m gone. Nothing exists but the brush moving against the paper. I don’t have to speak. I have no thoughts in my head, no worries, no concerns, nothing but an empty brain. I might not even be me. I almost don’t exist. It’s great.

I sketched out the apple and shell bits in watercolor paint only. Blending in straight color, making the shapes take form and moving quickly enough to get it done, I finished and was able to lay back in my chair to let it dry. Breathe in and breathe out, and sigh. I was there, I painted and I was done.

Photos for Friday-Low Technology as Promised

Low Technology
Hand beater and Moulinex grater

Thought for Thursday

“Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.” ~Gail Lumet Buckley

Fun in Church, if You Can Believe it

We were invited to the wedding my kids were involved in a couple of weeks ago, to see them in their roles as “koumbari”. The marriage ceremony in the Greek Orthodox church is rich with symbolism. It lasts about an hour as the rituals are performed.

First the couple is formally engaged and one of the koumbari help exchange the wedding rings between the couple uniting them. After which the couple approach the altar for the marriage part of the ceremony. The priest reads passages from the Holy Gospel about Jesus at the wedding in Cana. The couple are united further by wearing pretty crowns tied together with white satin ribbons, which are also switched between them by the koumbari. Later in the ceremony the couple circle the Holy Table on the altar wearing the crowns and holding hands, led by the priest and followed by the koumbari who hold the satin ribbon of the crowns, signifying the Dance of Isaiah as they take their first steps together as husband and wife.

It’s all very beautiful. There are a couple of little things people like to watch for too. There’s a passage the priest reads that says “And the wife will obey her husband”. If the bride can have her head together and hear this passage while all this is going on, sometimes she steps on the groom’s foot as if to negate that whole thing! It’s fun to watch and see if she does it.

The best part of the Greek Orthodox wedding is that no one says anything. There are no vows, nobody is talking, no one except the priest. What a relief!

So we’re watching the wedding, admiring the new couple, admiring how beautiful Gorgeous is nine months pregnant and ready any day, and our handsome Son #1. I liked seeing all the people dressed in festive dresses and suits, the pretty flowers, the icons in the church.

A couple in the pew in front of us were very cuddly and gazing into each other’s eyes. OK, fine, they had to be on a date. What long time married couple are doing that? None I know. Anyway, they were maybe my age, maybe they were older, or not much younger. You get the picture? An older couple making goo goo eyes, and it’s distracting me. A lot.

So then the woman of this couple puts her arm up and over the back of the pew as if to hug the guy, but her hand ends up on the full back of his head. The fingers begin to scratch the head. They massage this guy’s head, circling, scratching, round and round, up and down, back and forth. I can’t believe this is going on. Are they thinking they’re alone in this church? Don’t they realize the people behind them are watching all this? What’s up with that? Why? And why did it have to be right in front of me?

I nudge The Mr. and he eyeballs me. I nudge Son #2 and he opens his eyes real wide. We are in complete disbelief, and they just would not stop it with the massaging of this big head with that big hand. It was horrible. I couldn’t take my eyes off this display. I’m bad like that. I was wishing they would just STOP IT!

They finally did, and I could finally breathe. Thanks alot.

Yeah, I took their picture.