Belated - Happy New Year!

 It seems I have been very absent from my blog. I just noticed that my last post was in December - at least it was 2023!

So where have I been? I'm still occasionally doing journal pages - I'll post some more of those in upcoming messages. I have given several books talks about the book I put together with George's essays. I have done a few paintings for art league projects.

I begin with this post by catching up with my banner painting for 2024. A little history - the St Michaels Art League - SMAL - has provided banners for the poles along our 'main street (which is really named Talbot Street) since 2010. The theme for this program is 'Celebrate St. Michaels'.

I have been painting a 'cartoon' crab for years. A friend named him 'Mikey' - appropriate for St. Michaels. Each year Mikey is doing something that represents what happens here. My idea for 2024 was to have Mikey be an oysterman. 

Oysterman are hearty souls. They begin in the Fall and work through all the 'R' months. We are now in April - they have been out on their boats through the winter months and their season in now about over. I have great respect for them. I wanted Mikey to honor them this year.

My initial idea was for Mikey to be holding an oyster knife, having just shucked a platter of raw oysters.

Eh, not quite right... what about a bushel of oysters, some shucked oysters and oyster tongs?

 Trying it again with some color...

Still not good... I tried moving the tongs...

Awful! Oysters just out of the water are usually dirty... these look like a bushel of potatoes! Several  disasters later and a friend said "No one ever sees the dirty oysters. Just paint the clean shells."

A few more tries and this is what I ended up with...

"Eat More Oysters"

This painting is currently hanging on the gallery wall at the St. Michaels Library. It will be there through the month of April and then will hang at Blue Crab Coffee (next to the library). The banners will be hanging along Talbot Street soon and will stay there until next November! 

Posters of all the banners are available at Creative Xpressions (store in St. Michaels). 

A Berry Merry Christmas!

My last couple of posts have been describing some of my watercolor efforts on Yupo paper. When I was beginning to plan my Christmas card for this year, I was very much in the experimental yupo phase.

I wanted to do something like I had done with the Pumpkin Patch (see Nov. 8th blog). This time I had in mind a multi-green background. I wasn't sure what I would do with it...maybe fir branches, a pine cone. holly leaves... something 'holiday-like.'

I began by using a lot of different greens and then added some blues and yellows. I really like the way the different colors add depth to this image. This was not the final background, but gives the idea of how I began.

The fun thing about Yupo paper is that I can paint something and if it doesn't work, I can just wash it off! Beginning with the background which had dried, I wet a tooth pick and began to draw freehand. I draw with the toothpick and then blot with a Kleenex to lift the wet paint. I tried several different branches before I got to this one. 

It was 'OK'  - a good start. I had such a fun time drawing the pine cone, I experimented with just doing the pine cone...

It was an 'eh'... what about adding color?

Fun to try, but, no.  Back to the branch! I thought the other one had too many small pine needles 'messes.' I splashed some green paints over a few spots and covered them up.

The branch looks better, but still not happy with the pine cone. I lifted more color from it and added some highlights to make it look more round. Unfortunately, (or maybe not) I do not have any images of these next few 'fixes'. I continued to work on the pine cone and lifted more color from the fir needles.

I put it all aside and came back to it a day or so later. It was so GREEN! More COLOR - was what it needed! I look a Q-tip, dipped it in red paint and started adding berries! I got a little carried away, but what was once a chore, became fun again! A dot of white to highlight each berry and I called it finished!

A Berry Merry Christmas to all!

Honorable Mention!

More than 15 years ago I made a commitment to myself to enter artwork in every exhibit sponsored by the St Michaels Art League. For the most part, I have kept that commitment, even entering shows that we not my usual medium. (I began with watercolor, branched out to charcoal, graphite, pastel and then acrylics.) In December each year, SMAL's exhibit is in memory of Martha Hudson, a local watercolorist. It's our annual "Martha Hudson Excellence in Watercolor" exhibit. 

It was time to put aside my acrylic paint pouring for a bit and work with watercolor again. I had no energy for this, but pushed myself to do something. I had done some watercolor on Yupo paper (see last blog) for the November show and had been working on a Christmas card using that same technique (my next blog - in another week or so).

I decided to just 'play' with color...maybe that would get me to a happier place. I love bold, bright color! I wet the Yupo and began splashing color all around. I wanted to balance the bold reds with the blues and greens and then added some yellows. The wetness of the paper allowed the colors to flow - where they wanted to go - with little help from me. (I'm encouraging myself to 'let go' more!) Well, not entirely...there were a few puddles of color that I blew around with a straw.

I let it dry and went back to look at it later. I wanted to play some more. I love this paper! I took a wet toothpick and a ruler, drew three lines across the yellow blob at the top of the paper and blotted them. Liking that, I did it again. I thought the second set of lines were too narrow so I used a wet Q-tip and did it again. The Q-tip made the line thicker and also with a softer edge. I liked the look of the hard and soft edges, so I began making all the lines hard and soft. At this point I wanted something round so I found a small plate, put it down on the paper and drew around it twice with the toothpick and then softened one of the lines with the Q-tip! 

I liked that and wanted to keep going... I looked around for other things to trace and saw a pair of scissors! I traced the inside of the thumbhole in three different places - connecting them to each other. I also added a couple of blots of very wet color and blew the color around with my straw. Now I knew I was 'on a roll' and had better stop! Sometimes I get too carried away and really make a mess! Fortunately, I walked away.

It's always better for me to go do something else...  I came back to this the next day. I liked what was going on but felt it needed something more in the lower right corner. Those three little ovals needed to be connected to the rest of the painting. I got out my scissors and began to make a chain of ovals. I didn't want to intrude on the large round, but decided to subtly connect to the three thinner lines...sort of weaving in and out of the paint. One more blast of dark color in that corner and it was finished. 

The whole painting felt like fun with a mix of control and letting go.

I was so surprised to win an Honorable Mention ribbon! 

The show will be hanging at the library gallery for the month of December. Stop by and see an amazing collection of artwork.

Where has the time gone???

 I think I just "came to!" I have ignored this blog - not on purpose...just not in the right 'head space.'

Looking back at my calendar since the end of July - my last post - there is nothing remarkable about it. I think it's just that i haven't been doing much art. Nothing to show for the past few months.

I do have two pieces of artwork in local exhibits right now though. The Academy Art Museum in Easton has an annual Members Exhibit. Anyone who belongs to the museum is allowed to enter something that they have created in the past year. Most of what I have been doing has been a part of my Expressive Journal, so I framed two pages in a single mat and entered it. The show runs through most of November. I have not seen it yet. I was unable to attend the opening celebration, but hope tp get there next week.

This is what I entered. It is actually two separate pages that I redid and then put them in a single frame. 

I have been trying to be transparent about this grieving thing. the comments I have gotten have been so positive. It seems to have been helpful to a lot of people.

The St. Michaels Art League also has an exhibit hanging this month. We are on the gallery wall of the local library. The theme of this show is "Capturing Autumn." We were a little late getting this show going - no one had signed up tp chair it, so I jumped in at the last minute. It has been good for me to begin to get involved in art again!

I am still not excited about 'going back' to painting like I did before, so I wanted to try something different. This painting is a watercolor done on Yupo paper. Yupo is a 'plastic' paper that doesn't absorb the paint like regular watercolor paper does. 

Capturing Autumn seemed to call for lots of red, orange, yellow with a few darks. I got out my Yupo and paints. Lots of water and color and 'slopped it around on the paper. What fun!

I let it dry thoroughly ...and then... I used a toothpick to 'draw' on it. I wet the toothpick, drew a little and blotted it with a Kleenex. Over and over... Where it was wet, the paint lifts off the paper to reveal the drawing.        It's now a "Pumpkin Patch."

Here's a detail do you can see it better...

It was fun and has gotten me back to art...a little. Hopefully, I can get it together to post again before the end of 2023!

There are some amazing pieces of art in this show. Stop by the St. Michaels Library during November and take a look!

It's Saturday. It's looks beautiful outside...there is a lovely 'sailing' breeze...but the heat index is over 100 degrees again. Hoping for some 'summer storms' to roll in - which may or may not cool those of us who live around the Chesapeake Bay.

It's a good day to write about a few more pages from my journal before another month ends.

This first image is from a month or so ago. There was a man in the grocery store who looked exactly like George (from the back). When I came home, I looked through my picture file and found a picture of him wearing the same clothes!

A few days after my grocery store 'sighting', I had another encounter. I had a delightful time singing with what I found out was a Carolina Wren. 

Grief to Grateful - I'm working on this. I was looking through George's black and white photographs again and found another favorite. The bedforms at Henlopen Beach appear and then water rushes through them to transform them again and again.

There is something about music...it touches the heart. Every now and then Alexa picks a playlist that includes music filled with memories...

Again, there is something about music... I needed to include another 'our song.' This takes me back to Emory University where I met my first husband. So long ago, but the music brings the memories and emotional connections directly into the present day.

Another of George's photographs. He called it "Significant Other." He was such a stickler about 'highlights in the shadows'...talked a lot about 'black blacks' and 'white whites' when he was doing his darkroom work.  I love the phrase about the highlights. I find it hopeful...

I rediscovered the quote at the top of this page, but didn't realize I had used it before. It is interesting that after several months the same words can take on different meanings. I think I am trusting myself more and am honored when I can help others find their way. 

Another black and white photograph... we got so excited when we first saw the light reflected in this way. That was years ago. I am ever more thankful that we had a year together after receiving George's terminal diagnosis. We were able to shed light onto/into some dark places.

Year 2 is hard. And this brings me back to working from Grief to Grateful. Creating new 'firsts' and occasionally being pulled back and forth. It's not as hard giving up my old car as I thought it would be. It is filled with memories of many medical appointments - times together. The new car is a fresh start - and a healthy one... grateful.

Sunrise at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. We got there before sunrise on a chilly morning. George had his camera ready... the sun peeked above the horizon and the camera's lens fogged! (Like going outside in the summer when your glasses fog up - air conditioned air to humidity.) 

All photographs bring back stories! 

Laura Oliver is a writer who now writes an essay each week in the Talbot Spy  - the slot that George used to fill. I am using more of her quotes. I emailed her about this one. A portion of her reply is the quote 'in the water.' 

I know I am sliding into year two with hope and a look to the future. I find that I am not needing to use this journal as much as I had been. We'll see...

Thanks for spending your time reading! 

The Expressive Journal continues...

 I no linger feel compelled to create for this journal everyday... after all, the class was only 30 days. But, I am finding it helpful to continue to put my thoughts and feelings on paper. It occurred to me the other day that it's too bad I didn't use archival paper for this exercise. The old book that I chose to use is truly falling apart and the paper tears easily! 

Thankfully, I do have photos of all these pages!

These pages come after the anniversary of George's death. Much of the focus is about how to move forward.

The "What's next?" question will continue to plague me for a long time. I can not be in a hurry - just need to sit with the question and be open to nudges. 

These next two have similar themes. It takes a lot of courage to begin something new...and I do have this inertia problem. It's hard to move! I go back to the phrase in the 'Silence' caption - it's just so loud! 

A friend, who has been a widow for several years, told me before the first anniversary that the second year was harder than the first. I wondered how that could possible be true! I am finding out...  there is something about 'holding my 'breath' through all the 'firsts' and getting through year one that at least had some purpose. Now, in year two, I have to create my own new firsts - alone. It's a wide-open, direction-less future! 

I recently looked through a lot of George's photographs and found some that would be good backgrounds for my pages. Each of the photos has a story - its own unique time and place. I love this story in the parchment type box. Telling stories does bring them back - just for a little while. I guess that's why I was looking through old photographs!

This next one popped up on Facebook one day. It certainly tells its own story. I am blessed with people who reach out to me...words are not always necessary!

This last one (today) is another photograph. As it says here, the photo is made with two different negatives, taken on different days. My task is to create my own photo (new life) putting together 'a combination of talents to discover a new image of me...'

George and I used to say, "We have all the time that there is!" The process of re-creating myself does (and will) take time. 

Stay tuned - more to come. 

Celebrate St. Michaels - the banners are up!

The St. Michaels Art League (SMAL) has sponsored a banner program in our small village for over ten years. SMAL artists create artwork that is scanned and printed and then hung on poles along our main street from April until November.  We 'decorate' the for the locals and for the many tourists that visit here. 

Kevin Snelling, owner of Creative Xpressions (shop in town) makes prints of the artwork and has them for sale in his shop. 

The theme for this project has always been 'Celebrate St. Michaels' so I try to think up new ways to 'celebrate.' Several years ago I created 'Mikey'  - a St. Michaels crab - who celebrates in various ways. In the past Mikey has been fishing, eating an ice cream cone or an ear of corn, dressed as an artist, captain of a boat, etc. You get the idea.

This year Mikey is truly celebrating with the town flag. I particularly like the top hat! Look for him as you drive through town.