I had a great day today with just enough painting time to finish up this piece. Would you believe it, it’s the last day of my twenties today!
It was a great day that I finished up by attending my community’s book club (the author was present!) followed by two hours with my tennis club. The rest of the day was spent studying for my Spanish 101 exam tomorrow – yeeeah! I love it.
My Dad and Grandma spent the past week at the family cottage on Go Home Lake. Thinking of them there made me crave the landscape (more than I already am) and so another lake painting was born.
These falls are accessible by boat and I remember special picnics there with our yellow lab Spencer. Maybe I’ll add him in this painting… I haven’t decided yet.
Happy Monday folks.
I am happy to say today is the last day of work on Quilted Lake. I’m pleased with the outcome and eager to move onto creating the paintings that have been accumulating inside me. If it weren’t for my tennis club meeting in an hour I’d start another painting right now! I’ve got some serves and volleys inside me too though, and they need to come out just as badly as the paintings.
I hope everyone enjoyed their labor day weekend and that you all have a great short week!
Well, it’s been a long day. I spent a total of 9 hours painting and regardless of hot packs, stretching and ibuprofen I am in quite a bit of neck/head pain this evening. I know the painting is not quite done yet, although I don’t know exactly how far I am to the finish line… let’s just say I’m a lot closer.
Here is the progress picture I promised you, complete with an appearance from Dragon, who leapt up onto a chair to look out the window as I pressed the shutter.
Here is another day’s progress on the new piece:
I managed to finish this painting today and start work on a another piece in this series. You’ll see that one at a later date. For now, enjoy this kitty on the lawn/quilt painting, inspired by a photograph I took when I was 13.
Hi Folks,
It’s been quiet on the painting front since returning home from my residency, but I’ve been busy in other areas of life. Honest.
Go visit multicraftual.wordpress.com if you are interested in crafting and want to watch my friend Liby and I in a new video podcast. We yammer on about crafting, we sing songs and put knitted garments on her cat pancake etc. Pancake is a star. The podcast is worth watching just for his expressions.
Crafting podcasts (and there are many: dramatic knits, stockinette zombies, 90% Knitting, the knit girllls, whatcha swatchin, yarnivore, craftstash, willow fairy knits to name just a few) are most often watched while engaged in knitting or crocheting yourself. As I recently explained to my mother, it is not meant to be captivating in the same way a tv show or movie is… rather, it is like sitting down with friends to knit and gab together. That is the best I can explain it.
In other news, the Brit (husband) and I are gearing up for a move into a new home July 1st. Same town. Portales. It means “porches” in Spanish. We like it.
The move means less time in the future with the neighborhood cat Butters. Since I got back from residency, Butters has been visiting me every morning for pats and scritches. His meow is a scratchy pathetic sound like something from a dying animal. But he is nevertheless quite talkative and affectionate. I will miss him (and frequently walk through our old neighborhood just to visit him).
This was one of the last paintings I completed for my show. I began it over a month ago when Portales experienced a nice storm – anyone who lives here will understand what a great thing this is. Rain!!! I get very excited when it rains and especially enjoy thunderstorms, dark skies and the swallows that take shelter in my covered porch with me.
I felt the air pressure change and set up my supplies on the porch and painted quickly as I watched it move towards me across the fields. The swallows didn’t make a peep but watched intently and I took that as a compliment. Storms seem to blow over quickly here, so I knew I had to work fast. The result of such a quick painting session didn’t impress me all that much, so I set the canvas aside. After that storm passed and we were left in bleaching sunlight for another month I just couldn’t bring myself to continue work on it.
Finally, last week we had another rainy day and I was inspired to finish it up, just before my show went up. So… er, yes, it’s hanging wet in the gallery… shhh!
Here is another sketch for my colouring book of sorts:
And here’s how I would colour it in! I truly can’t wait to get the book done, get it out into the world and see what others do with my drawings. That’s still a long way away though since I have so many ideas I want to include.
JESSIE DODINGTON ART 