Long Walk, part 2

Because Nancy and I trained on the Mineral King Road, North Fork and South Fork, the dreaded Hurricane Hill wasn’t very hard to us! The reward at the end of that hill is the Bixby Bridge, which looks like the larger brother of my favorite bridge, and it was such a treat to march across it to live piano music. (They must have the world’s best sound system attached to that piano!) We heard the Charlie Brown theme and then Piano Man – just about made us both cry!

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A Long Walk

The Big Sur 21 Mile Power Walk was on Sunday. The weather was perfect, and Nancy and I walked faster (and further) than in any of our training walks. The hardest part of walking 21 miles was the training, not the actual event. What a beautiful walk! Because there are so many photos, I’ll post them thumbnail size and if you want to see them larger, click on them and they’ll get bigger for you.

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Predawn gathering at Andrew Molera State Park, 21 miles south of the Carmel finish line.

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We started slowly, to avoid early burn-out (the dreaded “wall”) and because it was crowded!

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As the sun rose over the hills on our right, it shone on the waves on our left.

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Can’t remember why I took this photo.

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The mile marker signs were fabulous! This was mile 4 for us 21-mile walkers, but mile 9 for the marathoners. The next mile was where the leader of the marathoners caught up to us – incredibly fast and strong, and way out in front of anyone else – he was a blur so I didn’t get his bib # to later learn if he was the winner, but he HAD to be the winner!

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The views were fabulous.  Looks like this will be a long story about the Long Walk, so it will be continued tomorrow!

Fall into Spring

Yes, I accept commissions in oil paint. A lady saw a red leaf during Studio Tour (March 19-21) and said she’d like 2 more to go with it. I pulled out my photos, she chose two others, and here are the results:

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Learning to draw, Chapter Nineteen

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A black and white copy helps see the values; a color photo has better detail.  The order of difficulty in drawing from easiest to hardest is this:  1. other people’s drawings 2. black and white photos 3. color photos 4. real life. When using other people’s drawings, all the decisions about texture and value have been made. A black and white photo has all the value decisions right there for you. A color photo requires decisions about texture and value, but it is still a 2-dimensional image. Real life won’t hold still, doesn’t have any boundaries, is full color and changes each time you slouch a little lower!

Learning to draw, Chapter Eighteen

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When drawing a portrait, the most important part is the eyes. If the person isn’t recognizable from the eyes, there is more work to be done. John Singer Sargent was probably the best portrait artist from the USA (turn of the last century). He said “A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth”.  Apparently, one can have the mouth a little bit off, but my experience is that the eyes must be accurate. Then, if your subject is eating watermelon, the rest is a cake walk! (sorry – i think it is dinnertime at the time of this writing)

Learning to draw, Chapter Seventeen

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Ricky is new to drawing lessons, but not to drawing. He listens very carefully and then follows instructions as if he has been waiting for this information his entire life. I can teach anyone who can listen! It usually takes about 3 months of lessons (one hour a week) for the new student to start “getting it”.  The only people who don’t learn to draw from me were the ones who quit too soon.

Lupine

A nice lady (with great taste) bought a poppy painting during the Studio Tour. She requested a lupine painting to go with it. Here you go, Connie! (see you at the Redbud Festival and I promise not to sell it to anyone else first)

 

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