Labor Day Weekend!

"When a bad patch shows up patch it up with a smile." Sally Huss
I thought I was going through a rough patch until a friend and member of my yahoo group shared with us the loss of a house! A lightning strike of all things! Nature at her worst!! They weren't home which was probably a blessing, but I can't even imagine going through such a tragic thing. My heart goes out to her and her family.

It seems that appliances and technical things keep breaking down all around me; it must be time to return to painting! Tubes of paint and substrates don't break down or fall apart, though, painting can be quite challenging. The glass on the oven door shattered on July 4th, then the computer mouse died and the replacement keyboard was defective. The Janome Embellisher was delivered to the wrong house, the laptop computer has a virus and is in the shop for repair. The portable AC unit we bought for the garage only works if the ambient temp is below 97, or so we were informed when we phoned customer service inquiring as to why only hot air flowed out of it. We had hoped we could place it on a high shelf and vent it out of the garage vent near the ceiling, but alas, it likes to be on the floor with the exhaust vent aimed out of the side door, not perfectly situated because of course the intense heat pours through the open door. I was finally able to use the work table in the garage this morning with the AC unit aimed directly at me along with 3 fans when the surge protector died! Why not?!? I don't want to cool down the entire garage, all I want is cool air in a very tiny area so that I can work in the garage. I was so close!

On the health front mom says she doesn't feel well, but can't explain what's wrong. Stacy's BP has been extremely high again and the side effects from the meds are giving her problems. The humidity from the tropical storms has plagued the Coachella Valley for about a week and the dampness has taken a huge toll on my health but has also reminded me that for the most part I do feel better living in a dry climate. And so it goes . . .
These photos were taken out of the car window in route to Loma Linda Medical Center last Thursday. The windmills aren't exactly photogenic, or at least I've never thought so, but after looking at the images and playing with the second one in PSE I've changed my mind. The simplicity of the lines might be abstract enough to use in something. They're of great fascination to my grandson who tries to count them every time they come out to visit.

Where did the summer go?! September is my birth month and every year I'm amazed that I've survived another year. This one has been full of trials and grief while I watch mom slide further into the Alzheimer's abyss. But, there is much to be grateful for as well and I'd much rather remember the highs.

I haven't posted scans of acrylic paintings in quite awhile. This tiny one, 4x6 inches, was literally painted in 20 minutes. Abstract experimenting continues to be the force behind practically every thing I create.

The two black-and-white photos are examples of seeing abstracts everywhere. Graffiti on a retaining wall caught my eye while walking with workshop participants along one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. I aimed the camera at it while everyone else was photographing the rocky shoreline.

On another field trip during a workshop to Moss Landing I photographed the decaying buildings while everyone else headed for the beach. The buildings no longer exist; the entire area is now "upscale." I did take some photos of the pier that vanished during a storm a few months later, and that photo is a favorite of mine.

Quote:
What a funny thing painting is. The abstract painters always insist on their connection with the visible reality, while the so called figurative artists insist that what they really care about, is the abstract qualities of life. Marlene Dumas

Photos - Portraiture - about

A couple more of the Cirque Du Soleil series. Unhappily, I saw one of mine on someones blog, taken without my permission. Flattered, but . . . (click on each photo for a larger view)


A friend asked my why when she looks into the mirror she doesn't see the same signs of aging she does in a photograph. I completely understand how disturbing this is. I had my hair cut in Vegas in a salon at the Bellagio and of course wanted a record of how I looked afterwards. None of the photos will be shown to anyone! The very nature of mirrors is that they soften our features and we only look at small areas at a time. Photos on the other hand are viewed in their entirety and may have been taken under harsh lighting conditions, never a good thing for most of us over a certain age. A flash may have been used and that highlights things we don't wish to notice, or the camera angle might be unflattering. The best portraits are taken in studios with proper lighting so the best we can do is play with filters in PSE or other software programs and get rid of what disturbs us. The other thing we can do is to be photographed in the shade without flash, hold our chins up and try for a 3/4 view rather than straight on; we can also learn to accept the aging process which right now isn't something I'm inclined to do.

Quotes:
is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. ~Mark Twain

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~Samuel Ullman

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~Chili Davis

In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days long. ~Nikita Ivanovich Panin

a man's middle years there is scarcely a part of the body he would hesitate to turn over to the proper authorities. ~E.B. White

Balboa Park

This photo was taken in Balboa Park and digitally enhanced; I changed the washed out sky. I could have photographed every inch of this building and not run out of interesting textures or shapes. The lighting on the building was perfect; talk about timing!

Quote: Every artist dips his brush into his soul and paints his own nature into his pictures. Henry Ward Beecher

Kangaroo Paw

There are three Kangaroo Paw plants in the garden and while the red blooms are wonderful I almost prefer them when they start to die and begin to look even more other-worldly than they normally do. Without the spiky red blooms the plant isn't very exciting. I tried growing them up north; all I got for my effort was one tiny spike that lasted about 3 days. These have been in bloom for two weeks; they seem to thrive in the warm weather.

After an hour of playing with various shots I opted for the black-and-white version. This image reminds me of a vintage photograph. The background is painted paper towel. I've been slapping paint onto paper towels in an attempt to come up with something abstract to use for a postcard exchange. I couldn't understand the current hoopla about painting paper towels but I'm beginning to understand it. In fact, painting paper towels can be quite addictive.

Nasturtiums

My cousin gave me some metal pieces she was no longer using; for the life of me I can't figure out why she'd give them away! I was thrilled to be on the receiving end of the sculptural pieces that are now residing in the backyard. This particular piece used to hold a glass vase that I immediately discarded. I cut down a coconut plant receptacle and slid it into the vacated vase space (try saying that fast!) and planted nasturtium seeds in some of the organic top soil left over from the flower bed. After a week a few leaves finally popped up.

We're having another epic windstorm; the second one in two weeks, and I'm sitting here biting my fingernails hoping that the plants and trees survive!

Quote: The only thing better than the nearness of flowers

is the closeness of friends.

Sally Huss

Crater

What is a photographer to do when there doesn't seem to be anything to photograph? Point the camera at the ground! Two holes were dug and concrete poured in readiness for the shade structure that hopefully will be installed on Monday or Tuesday! The pieces are stacked against the back wall! While viewing the hole from my bedroom window and lamenting the fact that I haven't felt inspired enough in days to point my camera at anything I thought that it might be fun to keep a documentation of the backyard. In a storage container I found a spiral bound notebook with pocket dividers in three sections perfect for storing tags clipped off of plants. I used to save the tags in a Sunset gardening book but now that I'm in the throes of planting a yard from scratch a notebook might be a better approach.

I just hauled 4 huge newly planted pots containing fragile tomato plants out of the garage back into the sunlight! The wind seems to have abated and the forecast is clear sunny days again. I had hoped to spend the weekend experimenting with something worthy enough to post on ExpressionVillage only to find that the energy levels are closer to zero than I had hoped for! Stacy is very ill with a cough that kept us up most of the night, mom is wandering around in an Alzheimer's daze and I seem to have a version of "the cold." DRAT!
I've decided to start posting on http://rocky-point.blogspot.com/ again!

I bought some muslin yesterday that I had hoped to play with. Armed with a couple of patterns for some quick pants and tops the idea is to cut out the pieces and stamp, paint and embellish them before sewing them together. I need some clothes to wear when the temps soar and can't find ready-mades that I can afford. I did cut out a top a couple of days ago and have been working on it. After a 30 year hiatus from sewing I am a bit rusty but what a delight to discover that fusible pellon has replaced that nasty heavy need-to-basted pellon that I had stopped using. Now if I can just keep edge stitching lines straight!!