Skies on the Open Road

I love the open road

there's always the sky to watch

at dawn

                                                                 with billowing clouds

                                                            
                                                                       or glowering

Magic in Everyday Life

Driving down the Big Sur coast recently in the dark because I had left San Francisco a bit later than I planned, I overshot the campground where I had intended to spend the night. I should add here that driving the Big Sur coast is not for those with acrophobia, especially in the dark. I am not prone to the terror of high places but was taken aback by the precipitous cliffs and extreme angles of the drop offs on this drive. High drama and what a waste to be doing it by moonlight. So I overshot my desired campground and ended up at another state park several miles south. Waking early, I opted to retrace my steps back up the coast a ways to see some of what I'd missed in the darkness. I found the campground and understood why it had been recommended to me. Grassy green terraces on the edge of those steep cliffs and with high surf warnings the breakers below were record breakers. I drove through the small campground and all sites were occupied except for an especially beautiful one that afforded a view down that jagged coast. This was the ultimate coastal scenic spot and I was yearning to stop and spend a day just painting, but my inner voice was reminding me that I "should" keep driving south and keep to my schedule. Such a beautiful morning, and such a spot, should I stay or should I stick to schedule? Stay or go? What to do? I stood there torn. The campsite number card that said "unoccupied" had a note to "look on reverse side" to see the when and who had the next reservation was for after tonight. So I turned the card over and had to blink a couple of times seeing that the next reservation was for a party by the name of "Caldwell". So I stayed and painted at that magnificent site knowing that it was meant to be.

Anna Maria Island by Night

Palms fronds and louvered shutters

A romantic balcony

I

Red shirt on night pier

Illuminated fisherman

Ready for conversation

Caribbean colors

Vintage

Bar window

Old Florida.  Does it exist anywhere any more?  I think I found a few fragments at night wandering around on foot with my new camera ap.  

Painting Big Bend

Big Bend National Park in December is bleak. Very bleak.

Easy to understand why there are all those signs saying you can die out there on those trails.

But, drop down to the Rio Grande canyons that are lined with Cottonwoods and you are confronted with color.

Especially at dusk on a clear day when the sky color is reflected by the river.

Tweaking Colors

Rebecca at Isalos Fine Art is printing a catalog for my show Fields to the Sea. It's an interesting process, photographing the paintings so that the color matches the originals. Even adjusting the white balance on the camera, colors are very different if the photo is taken on a cloudy day versus a sunny one. The colors are even different taken in full shade on a sunny day, versus a cloudy day. As artists our eyes are fine tuned to color. Today I took the Munsell Color Acuity Test and got a perfect score. It's like having perfect pitch in the music world. It doesn't guarantee we'll be a stars, but we can tell when we're off. So we tweak and tweak and tweak again.
It's the same when I'm painting. Make the blue a bit greener, now warmer, now add a dab of black to subdue it. On and on. A painting is never finished until it's hanging on someone else's wall.
Oh, if' I'd just made that a bit brighter.

Here's a sneak preview of the catalog cover.
Unrest, oil on canvas, 20 x 20"

Letting Go

     So,  the next lesson from the trapeze world is that in order to catch the next trapeze you have to let go of the one you're clinging to.  You just have to let go and trust that it will be there and you'll catch it.  

    A couple of weeks ago I said goodby to a gallery that just wasn't working for me,  and also took a load of clothes to the dump that  I needed for my "day job".  What's happening is that you create a void for the new (and wanted) to enter.

     Offers from two new galleries appeared and I'm much too busy painting to do my "day job."   It's all working out.

       Just let go.
    
   

Trapeze Dreams

     I love dreams where I wake up feeling wonderful.  Recently I dreamed that I was part of a group learning trapeze.  There were safety nets but I was afraid to climb up and leap.  Then another woman scrambled up to the  top and I saw I that if she could do it I could, too.   So I climbed quickly to the top and grabbed the trapeze and hung from my knees and felt the exhilaration of flying through the air effortlessly.

  Why don't we do this more often?  The net's there, and we may find bouncing off the net fun, too.

My intention for the new year is to grab that trapeze and enjoy the flight.  How about you?