'lavinia' ~ acrylic paint on hardboard, 5" x 7"

underneath lavinia lies almost all of the painting that i did for two weeks.  beneath her are two others that i spent hours - *days* on!   i have *glared* at this piece of hardboard, ha!  

watercolors and liquitex varnish in zecchi journal

i don't remember exactly, but i think lavinia was finished for a few days before i had any interest in painting again.  then one night i woke up and decided to paint in a little watercolor book that had a few blank pages left in it.  i looked at some of henry miller's paintings before i started, and then i painted what came to me.

watercolors and liquitex varnish in zecchi journal

i had so much fun!  effortless!   

watercolors and liquitex varnish in zecchi journal

houses, plants, and more houses...    

i've (carefully) covered these with liquitex satin varnish.  i like the way that it makes them look, and, no amount of water will make them run now.  i ordered kamar spray varnish to use in the future (after much going back and forth - to use toxic spray varnish or not).

i'm quite thoroughly under the spell of watercolors at this moment, and i think one reason is the isabey 3/0 squirrel mop brush that i got a couple of weeks ago.  it's a *joy* to paint with!

 

the small watercolor journal that is now finished.  i started it in 2010...

it was beautiful every day last week so i was out walking.  at this time of year i'm mostly looking for wet weather streams;  they're one of my absolute favorite things.  i like to walk beside them, knowing that in a few weeks they'll be gone.

 i was happy to see the first wildflowers!

 and tiny bones excavated from an owl pellet...

i think of last summer as the 'rust summer' because i found so many rusty cans for drawing on, but this spring/summer is off to a good start!

ruth

last fall i resolved to buy a good daypack - one with a hip belt and one that did *not* make my back sweaty!   i was determined to save up for one, no matter what, but i didn't have to because my sister gave me the pack that i wanted.  it's a mira 26, by osprey, and i've named her ruth.  she makes walking even better...

before i go, a couple of artists that have inspired me lately...   takatoshi sano and pablo auladell.

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"Just as there are days when I can't talk or write French, so there are days when I can't draw at all, even a rectangle.  Itching to paint, nevertheless, I concentrate on color.  If I can achieve the color combinations I am after, to hell with the drawing (I can always go 'abstract' or 'non-quasi-modicus.')  So I begin mixing colors.  If i am in a quiet, patient mood I will lay down thin, transparent washes, working on three or four paintings at once, in order to permit each layer to dry before applying the next.  To work in this manner is a joy.  Though the procedure demands patience it also stimulates the flow of ideas.  One works cautiously and cunningly, as if stalking one's prey..."

~ Henry Miller, 'To Paint is to Love Again'