Tag Archives: Watercolor painting

Red Sprite

Beauty of Nature, Watercolor Paintings, , , , , , , , ,

Lightning is such a fascinating phenomenon.  I live on a mountainside where, as storms approach, I can watch them come across the valley to the west bringing their towering clouds and lightning with them.  The bolts are often bright, jagged and searing…..very dramatic as they light up the clouds above them and attack the ground below.

At the same time that we are able to see lighting below clouds during a storm,  there are sometimes massive, but weak, luminous flashes above the clouds.  They are described as large scale electrical discharges high above cumulonimbus, normally reddish-orange or greenish-blue with hanging tendrils below and arching branches above.

The first photos of sprites were obtained by accident in 1989. Since then, thousands of photos have been taken from the space shuttle and aircraft.   Early research referred to them as “upward lightning” or “cloud-to-ionosphere discharges”.  Now because of their whimsical, fleeting nature, they are simply called sprites.  I think it’s so much fun that “scientists” would give what sounds so serious, a Transient Luminous Event or TLE, a wonderful, full of personality and life name.  I imagine them dancing around above storms sometimes singly and sometimes in groups like nymphs in the moonlight.

There are some subjects and ideas that just grab a hold of me and I want to know as much about them as I can.  I love living in the day of the computer.  So much is being discovered and shared…..it’s so exciting!  I kept thinking about these red sprites and decided to bring them to life with my paint and brush first with small studies and then a large painting.

When I imagine our world, our universe, I imagine life…..life from the smallest particle to the largest expanse…..life that composes the air we breathe, life that forms our sun and stars and the life responsible for and embodied in the red sprites that dance above our storms.

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Cropped photo of Red Sprite 34″x51″.

In Progress

Beauty of Nature, Deep Thoughts and Musings, Watercolor Paintings, , , , ,

I am plugging along on a painting and pleased with its progress.  It’s pleased with its progress.  I know this because it all but said “ta-dah” as I stood back a ways and checked it out.  I get to a certain point and get anxious to be “done” and start something new.  But, one thing is for certain:  a painting is not done until says it is.

I’ve realized through the years though that once a painting is finished, I lose interest in it.  My enjoyment comes in the doing, in the painting, in the mystery of not knowing what it will end up being.  In this case, there is no question it will be a pink rose.  But there is the potential of it being much more.  It could evoke an emotion or a feeling or a memory of a feeling.  It could draw you in closer only to divert your attention to something lurking in the background.  There’s really no way to know until it’s through with you.

pink rose 001

It’s occurred to me that everything is in “progress”.  Everything in life is always unfolding and expanding. And, it is in the becoming that we find the fun…..the joy.  It’s our job as the creator of our life to lighten up, relax and listen and enjoy the progress.

The Fry Zone

Watercolor Paintings, , , , ,

I’ve started painting again.  I took my time gathering all of my supplies from nooks and crannies in the garage and basement.  I had forgotten that part of my life…..the brushes and tubes of paint, of course, but the staple gun and boards the wet paper is stretched on and dried…..the boxes of resist, graphite powder, sketch books, art books and things I don’t even remember using.

Another thing I had forgotten:  the fear of the blank white paper.  Like writer’s block, it can be paralyzing.  I’ve heard of a teacher telling a student “Put your paper on the driveway and run over it with your car tire.  Now, it’s already ruined.  Paint your heart out”.  So, mentally, that’s what I did.

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Two sessions of sketching and painting and my brain hurts.  It’s fried!  I’m so out of the habit of serious focusing.  Don’t laugh.  The Fry Zone is a real place.  Haven’t you ever been there?

The Yellow Rose

Beauty of Nature, Deep Thoughts and Musings, Watercolor Paintings, , , , , ,

Several days before Thanksgiving, I bought some beautiful yellow roses to use as centerpieces on the table.  It took a couple of days for them to unfold.  Slowly they made their way from compact buds to full flower.  I kept taking pictures of them, moving them around in the sunlight.  With each move, the light bounced around and kissed the petals in a new way and cast intriguing shadows.  Wow!  They were inspiring!

Since I’ve started blogging, I’m taking a lot more pictures…..of everything.  It’s as if I’ve got to somehow document everything I’m doing.  At first, when I noticed this, I thought it would wear off or at least slow down.  But not so far.  In this case, I’m glad I did.  It’s fun, for me, to see how The Yellow Rose progressed.

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This is the finished The Yellow Rose.  January 22, 2015. Watercolor 22″x30″

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I often wonder just what it is about a subject that inspires the artist, the writer, the sculptor, or the inventor.  I’ve had friends tell me that an idea “struck” suddenly…..out of the blue so to speak.  We use so many phrases like let’s brain storm to come up with an idea.  You know, blue meaning sky, ether; storm…..weather, electricity, lightning, thoughts.  Then there’s the whole light thing.  It’s light and lack of light that defines shapes and how we see them.

Actually, what we need to fully investigate these deep thoughts and musings is a glass of wine and a few philosophical friends.  Probably a Pinot Noir.

 

I Live With Lots Of Teddy Bears

Deep Thoughts and Musings, Watercolor Paintings, , ,

 

Teddy Bears make fabulous artist’s models.  They are so patient.  They’ll sit there in the same pose for hours and never complain.  In fact, they seem to enjoy it.  They don’t need to fuss with their hair or makeup and seldom ask for a glass of water.  They never make comments about how the painting isn’t a good likeness or their eyes are too close together.

teddy bear 001

Teddy Bears make wonderful family members.  First of all, they don’t judge.  They never leave their stuff strewn about the house.  They’re good listeners and they always have plenty of time when you need to talk.  They don’t talk behind your back.  Or if they do…..they’re very discrete about it.

When others rush off to prior commitments just when you have a few minutes to sit down and watch The Good Wife on TV, Teddy Bears are always companionable and willing to cuddle up on the couch.  And then there’s my husband.  He’s the biggest Teddy Bear of them all.

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The only problem is that after a while, even Teddy Bears yearn for the rowdy, hustle and bustle, of family life.  The running in and out of the doors, the car and the dialogue at the fridge…..”isn’t there any orange juice?”

Shadows

Watercolor Paintings, ,

In the late summer this year, the days were still in the 80’s.  The night temperatures would plummet and signal to the trees that is was time to think about dropping their leaves.  I watched.  I took pictures.  It was impossible not to.

As the breeze made the leaves flutter, I couldn’t decide what intrigued me more,  the branches lifting and swaying or the shadows…..constantly changing in a soft, lazy way.

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