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NYC rooftops, WIP – oil painting value study. Approx 8″ x 11″
Green tulips – watercolor practice on Strathmore paper
The Husband and I are taking beginner Spanish classes. Again. We’ve tried this once or twice but don’t keep up with it and forget everything. This time we say we will stick with it. We’ll see.
Last week a student in class asked the teacher what the difference was between “usted” which is formal, singular “you”, and “ustedes” which is formal, plural “you”.
The teacher explained it this way: “Usted” is “you”. “Ustedes” is “Y’all”.
Only in the South…. 🙂
I’m still struggling with oil painting so I’m staying with using only one color and white and doing value studies. One of these days I’ll graduate to color. The above oil is of some of the rooftops and water towers in NYC. The next is a fun little watercolor of some tulips for #worldwatercolormonth.
Hasta luego, Y’all. Thanks for visiting.
Oil painting after Chardin – WIP – approx 8 x 10″ on canvas paper
Begonia leaf – graphite and colored pencil in sketchbook
Rhododendron leaf – graphite and colored pencil in sketchbook
Hydrangea – graphite and colored pencil in sketchbook
Miss Lucy from the St. Croix markets – Watercolor for #worldwatercolormonth
The Husband and I recently went to see the band Kansas at the Thomas Wolfe arena in Asheville. As we were driving to the venue we ran into some friends.
US: We are going to see Kansas.
Them: Asheville gets the best bands…40 years later.
I wasn’t expecting much, but Kansas was actually pretty good. As we left the Husband said “They sounded as good as they did on my 8 track cassettes!”
I’m still taking the “nature’s notebook” botanical drawing class. I just started an oil painting class. I haven’t touched oil paint since the mid seventies which is interesting because I was only a toddler in the mid-seventies. 🙂
We did our first painting, above, as an exercise in looking at values. We used one color and white. I used burnt umber and copied a still life from Chardin, suggested by the teacher who is big into the old masters and which auto-correct wants to change to chardonnay. Perhaps if I had some chardonnay while painting, it would have been easier, but I am not entirely displeased with the result.
I have not been neglecting my watercolors. Above is a picture of Miss Lucy from St. Croix with a reference kindly supplied by Bonnie Luria, formerly of St. Croix and now comfortably settled into Asheveille, NC.
Happy 4th of July everyone. (And even if you don’t celebrate it as a holiday, it’s still the 4th of July and I hope it’s happy for you.) Thanks for looking.
Two slices to go – watercolor on Arches 140# coldpress
Did you ever say anything and as the words exited your mouth you thought “never in a million years would I ever think I would say that”?
It happened to me two days ago. As The Husband and I were preparing to leave the house to go pick up friends we saw a mama bear and cub in a neighbor’s yard and continued to watch them as they proceeded across our road, down our driveway and around our car. It was then that I realized we would be late.
ME texting friend: We will be late because there are bears in our driveway.
FRIEND who lives around the corner and knows about bears: HA!
I guess this is our new normal. They are cuter than NYC rats and about the same size. 🙂
The Brother, sister-in-law and two nephews were in town last week. We had a great time but despite all of our talk about bears they didn’t see a one. What they did do is sing a song that I now can’t get out of my head. It’s called: It’s raining tacos and it’s very catchy. Have a listen. You’ll be singing along with me.
The above painting is based on the two slices I got on a recent trip to NYC. Nestled between the 8th Ave. subway entrance at 40th street and a homeless shelter was a hole-in-the-wall pizza place and the pizza was yummy. And just as much fun to paint.
“Waiting” 22 1/4″ x 15″ watercolor on Arches 300# cold press
I’ve always wondered this? I guess I am too old to write “U” for “you” and “Ur” for “your”. Unless you’re on Twitter, why would you write this way? WHY? Or should I ask “Y”???
On a completely unrelated note, Mexican food in Western North Carolina (“WNC”) is a sad state. (And don’t even get me started about pizza, which, for the most part, is just vile here.) There’s a restaurant not far from our house where we go to sometimes. It makes me crazy that they offer rice OR beans with their meals. RICE OR BEANS ? EVERYONE knows that it’s Rice AND Beans. They go together. Like cookies and milk, peanut butter & jelly, wine & cheese.
Ugh! Rice OR Beans! Makes me crazy. I give them a lecture whenever I’m there. Like they care.
Waiter thought bubble: “Shut up crazy gringo lady. You want rice AND beans, order the rice and get beans on the side and get over it.”
OK, I’m over it. In Maine where my old dog walking buddy Charlie and his wife Liz now live they have a Mexican restaurant called El El Frijole (LL Bean). I laughed and laughed when I heard this. Maybe they can’t cook Mexican food well in Maine, but at least they have a sense of humor about it.
Finally, the bears have returned. We saw a mama and cub crossing the road on the late dog walk about 2 weeks ago. Seeing them announced the arrival of spring and also had us quietly but quickly backtracking back to the house. As soon as we saw them, we noticed the trees started blooming and the daffodils and crocus have come up. Groundhog Schmoundhog. We got bears!
The above painting was one I posted sometime last year but it wasn’t quite finished, but now it is. And for no reason here’s a painting of an Asheville fire hydrant:
Asheville fire hydrant – 9″ x 12″ watercolor on Arches 140# coldpress
It looks a little drunk but it was fun to paint.
Thank U for visiting.
View from I 240-Watercolor on 300 # Arches cold press approx 15″ x 22″
Why are emojis so damn small? People text me with emojis all the time and I have no idea what they are sending. I need to know if someone is sending me a picture of a dog, a monkey, or a martini?
TEXTER: Want to come over? I’m doing the laundry *martini emoji*
ME: Nah, I’ll pass (thinking “that sounds really boring.”)
However, If there were martinis involved with said laundry, I might rush right over to help!
I was pondering this emoji issue last week when comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert discussed this same problem. He couldn’t distinguish between the “crying” emoji and the “laughing so hard you are crying” emoji. He accidentally sent the latter when a friend’s pet died which caused some problems. I’m just gonna stick to the old fashioned colon dash parenthesis : -) face so as not to screw things up.
I’m also working on a new Mac computer after years of working on PCs. Insert very frustrated emoji face here.
And I’m still getting used to this new place. Sometimes I feel like this:
Green Acres But I never lived on Park Avenue with a penthouse view.
Insert sad emoji here.
The above painting is a view of one of the buildings in Asheville glimpsed while driving by on Interstate 240.
Last week was the largest lottery drawing EVER in the history of lottery drawings. A $1.5 Billion dollar jackpot had everyone fantasizing about what they would do with that kind of insane money. Myself included.
ME: One day I will win the lottery…..
The Husband: You already won it 27 years ago.
We laughed and laughed. Yes I did, my dear. Yes I did.
Still. Stoopid money like that would allow one to do so much stuff. Help charities. Travel the world. Afford tickets to the hit Broadway show Hamilton which I am currently fixated on.
I waited on the Hamilton lottery line twice to try to win $10 tix to see the show. With only about 11 pairs of tickets available and a bazillion people waiting to get them, I probably had a better chance of winning the actual powerball lottery. At which point I could have afforded to pay for real tickets to Hamilton and get to see it sometime in this lifetime. Sadly I won neither. So it’s back to whatever it is I do all day.
I’m still getting used to this new place and my re-wirement. I found a drawing/painting meetup group here and went to, so far, one meet-up. Since it’s been cold they met indoors and had a model, A clothed model. And boy was she clothed. A turtleneck sweater, a shawl over the sweater and a long skirt to her ankles. My two-minute gestural drawings looked like a potato sack with a head.
I was finally able to get the drawing above even with the handicap of having a fractured bone at the base of my right pinkie of my dominant hand. The fracture was a result of a fall while walking on an unpaved road. 4-6 weeks from now I should be splint and bandage free and able to draw with more than the first two fingers and thumb.
Once I have all 10 fingers working properly again, I’m sure it will feel like I’ve won the lottery. Woo Hoo.
Sea shells for Inktober in a 5.5″ x 8.5″ Strathmore mixed media sketchbook.
Lest you think I was swallowed up by a Western North Carolina black bear, I assure you I’m still here and finding my way in a new place. I miss NYC. The Husband, not one bit. However, We already have lots of friends and great neighbors and I’m amazed by the beauty here. We just had a spectacular showing of fall foliage. Interesting fact: I read that in Europe the trees only turn yellow. When Europeans saw an 18th century American landscape showing fall foliage in glorious reds, oranges and golds, they thought it was “artistic license”. (Europeans? What say you?)
This is the last day of October/Inktober. Now it’s on to Napvember.
WNC (Western North Carolina) fall foliage – oil pastel in Strathmore mixed media 5.5″ x 8.5″ sketchbook
Today is also Halloween. We got some bags of candy in case any kids come by. But if they don’t the bags have to go away tomorrow. The candy is “fun size” but if I eat it all I won’t be. Any candy left tomorrow will go with my neighbor to his office.
On a ride north of Asheville we came upon these guys. Wonder what they are? Anyone know? I don’t think they are native to NC.
“you lookin’ at me?”
“What are you lookin’ at?”
ASHEVILLE, NC!
NY to NC – hand made watercolor card on arches 140# cold press
I took my own advice from my previous blog post and got out of NYC. I moved. From NYC to Asheville, NC. First time in my life I will live anywhere else but NY. Talk about a lifestyle change!
The past few months have been crazy. Buying a house in N.C. Selling our apt. in NY. Packing up a place we’ve lived in for 27 years.
The moving truck came on Tuesday. After it left we realized we severely underestimated the amount of stuff left that we were going to take/throw out. It took us much longer than we thought to get out of the apt. Then The Husband took our bedroom TV off the wall which also took off a bunch of paint and left some holes. Ugh! We then had to quickly try to spackle the holes and arrange for someone to repair the wall. We finally left our apt. around 6:30 pm. HOURS after when we thought we would leave. Then drive upstate to my sister’s house to get the dog and the nephew who said he would help with the drive down with us. Thank you Jack, you were a godsend!
The next morning about 5:00 am Matt, Jack, Kaiya and I got into the “clown car” and off we went. 13 hours later we arrived at our new home, unloaded the clown car and finally fed Kaiya who hadn’t eaten all day. She then proceeded to barf it all up in the living room. Twice. Jack said it will get rid of the new house smell.
Some quick observations about living in Asheville:
- I have to drive everywhere. Yikes!
- I’m leaving a city of 8 1/2 million to a city (and I used that term lightly) of 87,000.
- My new perfume is now Deep Woods Off. I am a mosquito magnet.
- And I live in a place with bears. Lots of bears. Black bears. Everywhere.
Wish me luck!
The above card was made for my dear friend/watercolor teacher. It depicts a city skyline and the blue ridge mountains. No goodbye’s NY. Just “see ya later”. I’ll be back.
Carol King: drawing, painting, complaining 
