Random Thoughts

Random is a good word for unrelated items piling up in my head.

  1. Thank you for visiting my other blog this week. I hope you poked around and discovered things that interested and entertained you a bit while over there.
  2. Most of my sunflowers escaped the ravages of the voracious deer in the neighborhood.sunflower photo
  3. The same flower looks different at different times of day. I think there may be 2 paintings in this flower.IMG_1483
  4. I looked out the living room window and saw this: IMG_1476
  5. i looked more closely and saw this: IMG_1477
  6. My herb garden is a source of inspiration and a place of solace:IMG_1403
  7. I am in need of inspiration and solace these days while we navigate rough waters as a family. Here is a link to a video of my brother-in-law talking about his future: Neighborhood Church Facebook.

Steve made the video around August 1, but I have been taking refuge in drawing and gardening rather than talking about reality. (If you know him, you probably already saw the video.) Thank you to all who have been praying and expressing your kind concern.

A Little Bit Too Hard

Sometimes I paint things that are a little bit too hard for me. They are not commissions, nor are they subjects that I think will sell.

Instead, they are things that I just want to paint, in spite of my lack of skill or experience. After I have completed paintings that need to be done for sale, working on these types of paintings is my “reward”.

Wow, is this ever difficult!! This is my great-niece, and I think of the painting as The Flower Girl.

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The girl is from this photo.

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The flowers are from this one.

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The girl feels too difficult, so I am now focusing on the flowers. It is fun to find and mix all the colors, and if I get the petals a bit wrong, it isn’t critical like the face is.

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Success on the flowers (still not finished) gave me confidence to paint a bit more on the girl.

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Her hairbow is better and her arm is a little chubbier. This might need to rest for a month or two while I build my confidence and skill on paintings that don’t matter to my heart quite so much.

 

This will need about 10 more painting sessions, a decision on the background color, and a whole bunch of do-overs.

But I’m learning. That is what happens when one pushes through something that is a little bit too hard.

Okay, it might be a LOT too hard.

 

A Very Happy Day

This will be a very personal post, not about my art or Tulare County or Mineral King or Three Rivers.

In the past week or two, I have alluded to a family crisis. In short, my brother-in-law has been diagnosed with a glioblastoma, the very sort of brain tumor that took out my dad 15 years ago.

His oldest daughter had her wedding planned for August 1. She made a very mature and exciting decision on May 3 to have the wedding on May 9. Yes, a wedding was planned in SIX DAYS, and we even received an invitation in the mail so we could ask Mr. Google how to find the location!

There was a team of AWESOME people who made this all happen. Words cannot express our gratitude and awe and admiration for those who pulled off this incredible event.

So, I’ll show you a few photos. Just a few, because this is the World Wide Web, not a private session of friends sitting around my dining table.

setting

The setting was the most stunningly beautiful and perfect private backyard I have ever had the privilege to experience.

audrey and steve

This is the moment that undid the entire group of those of us in attendance.

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My niece, grand-niece and new nephew. No words. . .

creative people

And, lest you think my nieces and nephews are normal, nope. They are uninhibited and creative and full of fun. Used to be 5 of them, now there are 7, plus 2 more in the next generation. (Some wise adult protected them from this moment of foolishness and frivolity.)

Thank you for listening, reading, looking and caring.

Love,

Aunt Jana

Special Interruptive Post

Please excuse me for bombarding you with 2 posts in one day. There are two pieces of news that cannot wait:

  1. The book printer notified me that the book binder will be shipping the books (The Cabins of Wilsonia) to me on Friday. That means they get loaded onto pallets and into a truck on Friday for a long road trip from Tennessee to Three Rivers. Maybe. Anyway, it is the first definitive news I’ve had since I sent the book to the printer in JULY!!
  2. Today my dear online blogging friend Cheryl Barker is featuring my art on her blog in a give-away. She and I have so much in common and would probably be attached at the hip if she wasn’t in Kansas while I’m in Central California. Here is the link to her blog post: Cheryl Barker.

Now, as an apology for bothering you twice in one day, here is a nice painting on which to rest your eyes:

Red Leaf, oil on wrapped canvas (ready to hang), 6×6″, $50

A Random List – Learned in January

While away over the weekend, I learned many new things. Here they are as they pop into my head:

  1. Google Maps can be used to see photos of the road and Carol showed me how!
  2. Single plied yarn knits up visibly different from multiple plied yarn (I always thought I was doing something wrong but it was the yarn – thank you Mendocino Yarn Shop!)
  3. Acrylic painting has many additives available to layer and mold and make relief type paintings. (How could I have never known this before? Because I am an OIL painter!)
  4. Seaglass is much more abundant after a storm. I read this; now I know it experientially.
  5. Finished seaglass is rounder and translucent; the differences are subtle but they matter to the collector.
  6. Most hot tubs are set at 104 degrees but 100 is still comfortable.
  7. My cell phone is capable of texting but it isn’t necessary nor convenient in my life.
  8. There is a new kind of dimmer on light switches that is so tiny one can (and did) miss it!
  9. A song I love, Gabriel’s Oboe, is from a movie called The Mission.
  10. The center of California is delineated on Hwy. 99 (already knew this but now know how to find it!)
  11. ALWAYS have a map with you when you are on a road trip because there might be a traffic problem that will negate your Google directions. I knew this but was ever so grateful to have followed this wisdom.
  12. ALWAYS have simple knitting in the car with you, even when you are driving alone, because you never know when the freeway will transform itself into a parking lot.
  13. NEVER drink too much coffee. (see #12) (I sure felt badly for the woman in the white sedan.)
  14. There is a specific (and odd) way of walking to increase one’s speed; Carol and I got a great laugh out of experimenting with this (easier to do when in a place where no one knows you.)
  15. Abstract art causes me to think of yarn. (Many things do this for me.)

Thinking like an artist

You know how you just cruise along, living your life, not giving any thought to how you measure up to anyone else? (Maybe you think about other people’s opinions, but I don’t very often.) So you’re just cruising along, doing what you do, doing what comes naturally, and BOOM! Someone tells you that you are weird! Weird? Nope, I’m just unique.

Here is an example:  I just finished knitting a pair of socks for a friend. She chose and bought the yarn; I turned it into socks. While the socks were in process, I noticed that the colors on the Mineral King Road were the same as the yarn. That’s not weird, is it? (not that I care if you all think I’m weird – I’m just sort of wondering)

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Too Much Beauty?

One of my favorite authors is John Eldredge. In Journey of Desire, he writes this about beauty:“We need not fear indulging here. The experience of beauty is unique to all the other pleasures in this: there is no possessive quality to it. Just because you love the landscape doesn’t mean you have to acquire the real estate. Simply to behold the flower is enough; there is nothing in me that wants to consume it. Beauty is the closest thing we have to fullness without possessing on this side of eternity. “Try to grasp these two huge ideas:1. You simply cannot have too much beauty. It is one thing where you do not have to worry about overindulging. It isn’t illegal, immoral or fattening, although it might be addicting! If so, it is definitely a healthy addiction. 2. You don’t have to own, accumulate or acquire anything to appreciate beauty. It can be found almost anywhere, and no credit card is required! ONE FINAL CLOSING THOUGHT: This too comes from a John Eldredge book. Of course we long for beauty! Our original home was the Garden of Eden!

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Sunny Sequoias IX – oil on wrapped canvas – 16 x 20 – SOLD