Studio Pets

It is my humble belief that animals bring joy into your life. OK, so when the dog pees on your carpet, the joy can go right out the window. But most of the time, it's nice to have that four legged furry companion. Some artists have dogs, some have a cat, others have the interesting household with both, some even have something more exotic, like a reptile or bird.

My little furry bundle of joy, Troy, passed away this past February. He was a 16 year Min Pin. His body was slowly shutting down. My husband took him over to the vet and they proclaimed that he was slowly dying of old age. I couldn't go to be him when they put him down and that hurt. I couldn't even take care of him his last two months because of my injury. Poor Troy. I broke my ankle slipping on ice, going out to bring little his little geriatric butt in the house. (I did this Troy sketch many years ago.)I'd love to have another dog but it's hard to replace a best friend. Troy was a big dog in a small package.

As I mentioned briefly before, for my birthday, I got a Betta fish. It's not Troy, but he's pretty cool and he won't pee on the carpet or lay in a basket of clean laundry. He's PINK and an iridescent purple and boy can he put away those Betta pellets. People don't give fish and parakeets much credit, but both are pretty smart in some way. I have heard of Koi that will allow their humans to pet them and I had a parakeet that was more loving than some people I know. This Betta knows me already after a month. He seems very friendly and happy, I couldn't think of anything more original to name him than Fishy, but he doesn't seem to mind.

So here's a sketch of Fishy the Studio pet.

Fishy also has company now across the room. I found another Betta tank that I didn't realize I still had. I sterilized it, went out and picked up another Betta. He's not as sociable as Fishy, and he's some sort of fancier variety with frilly fins, he's purple and red. His name is Pisces. I will sketch him and attach his sketch another time. He likes the pellets, too.

Plein Air Painters

So what does it mean to be a Plein Air painter? What is Plein Air painting? The term comes from the French en plein air. Meaning, painting in the open air.

I like painting plein air because I like being out of the studio and in the fresh air. I love recording what I see what's in the world around me. Being a plein air painter can be very special. We paint things as we see them and Mother Nature is the best teacher. You learn a lot by painting outside. You have to deal with the elements, changing light, potential obstructions or changes in the environment. Sure, you could take a photograph, but it doesn't have the same feel to it and when you paint on location, you remember everything you see,feel, smell and hear with each mark of the brush or stroke of the pastel. When I sketch on site, I can open the sketchbook later and remember the place like I am there all over again.

Another thing my husband and I noticed when I paint a place and then return to it at a later time, is how things change. Artists, when they paint plein air, they paint time frozen in place.....a memory....We've gone back to places I have painted and have sometimes even been dismayed by the change. A once colorful eatery is now a drab plain jane sandwich shop. A trendy and unique boutique is closing and up for rent, the furnishings for sale, everything must go....a sign of the times, the economy taking its toll. But the memory I painted is frozen in time forever, and it makes me realize that as I paint, I record history as it is, at the time the painting has been completed.

Have I painted a location multiple times? Sure. I've lost count how many times and angles I have painted the Cape May Lighthouse. I love that whole area, the bird sanctuary, the hawk spotters, the beach, the monarch butterflies that fly by in late summer, like they have their own private expressway....I've painted the lighthouse midday, early in the day, several sunsets, from behind the beach grass....the lighthouse has a special place in my heart. There is something special about Cape May, the lighthouse and the Painted Ladies that draws me to paint Cape May.

I also love Chincoteague and Assateague, Annapolis and many other areas up and down the East Coast. I have painted in cow pastures in the mountains and have set up my easel on city streets. But no matter where I paint, I bring home a memory of a place that tells a story that no photograph can match.

New Studio

Well April and May have been bringing in warmer weather. A welcome change, my Spring flowers are popping up all over the place.

Hubby built me a new studio, well actually, he moved me into a larger space. It's so nice that my daughter loves it and is paying me frequent visits when I am in here, we usually have to pry her away from her computer. The nice studio space makes my confinement a lot easier and more pleasurable to bear, though I am gimping around somewhat better than I was a month ago and I need a cane to walk. I can't believe I am still not able to walk normally yet and it is still very painful.

On the one wall in my studio, I asked hubby to put a cork tack strip up so I can tack brown paper to it. There's a box of good old fashioned Crayola Crayons and some markers so that anyone that pays my studio a visit can succumb to their urge to express themselves on my real wall...Much better than a Facebook wall. I also got a studio easel from my Hubby as a birthday present so I can paint on a real easel instead of one that collapses when I push hard on the canvas. I don't know what people see in those French easels, they are so unstable no matter how hard you try to secure them. My Guerrilla Box is TOTALLY amazing when I use it for painting en plein air.

I have this totally awesome pink chair that I can sit and read in....I mean this chair is PINK as you can see in the picture.

I also have a studio pet, a Betta fish with no name as of yet....he's a really cool color, almost an iridescent purple. I just got him for my birthday. He eats like a pig. Maybe I should name him Pinkie to go along with the pink chair....

I have some projects I have to get back to working on. My studio is now supplied with a footstool so I have a place to rest my foot when I am in here. It's a nice cozy place to create after I get off work. Standing at the easel is still a challenge but I can sit at my desk a little better now.

My usual Plein Air plans are out the window because I can't stand up to paint. Sketching is a little less of a challenge, but even sitting has it's aches and pains. It's amazing how even the simplest tasks still have to be handled delicately. I can't kneel or squat down to get something. It's hard to stretch and reach things up high. There's a constant pain and stiffness that I have to deal with and it gets frustrating because all I want to do is be normal again.

Still going on with the Fake Journal

Wednesday evening I sat in the car (still gimping too much so the car is where I can stay out of trouble and not re-injure myself) and did these two sketches while I was out for sketch night. I used two different techniques. I did the beach scene in ink first, then added the color. I did the tree by the lake with watercolor first, then added the ink. I was showing another member of the sketch club how to use watercolor when you sketch and wanted to show her the different ways that the medium could be handled in a sketch book. It was a nice, although chilly, evening. These aren't the best pix, but they aren't bad for using my IPhone.

International Fake Journal Month #2

Here is today's IFJM addition.....went down to the water after dinner and sketched....it was cold and windy.

International Fake Journal Month #1

This is my post for IFJM. I started a new sketchbook since I filled up my previous one last week. I am trying a new brand and I am running it through the gamut of watercolors, gouache, etc.

It has nice crinkly pages after they dry.

I took the picture with my trusty IPhone.

Getting back to the Easel again, almost

Had a bad stretch the past few months so I haven't been posting. Right before Christmas, I fell and broke my ankle. It was nothing even exciting, I went out to get my dog and slipped on ice. The ankle was shattered, three hours worth of surgery and I was left sporting some nice new hardware. A plate with seven screws on one side and a very long screw on the other side. And a lot of time on my butt with the ankle propped up on a pillow.

Walking is a slow relearning process. Unlike the line where they say, "It's just like riding a bicycle!!" It's not, toddlers have the edge on me right now. Standing at an easel is out of the question for a while. It's all about taking one day at a time.

On the bright side, I had three months of an upper body workout, we'll not discuss what a cast and no walking for 8 weeks did to the bum "wheel." What Muscle???

I was waited on by my wonderful husband who did not complain once when I needed help with anything and he did all my chores. He's very encouraging and he's having a lot of fun at my expense.

The poor dog who indirectly caused this? My poor beloved Troy, my little old man of 16 years, who couldn't see or hear anymore. We had to put him to sleep because old age finally caught up with him. He was a saint in Miniature Pinscher clothes.