Sonnet Challenge #21

It’s almost flip-flop weather here.  Well, it was, and then it got cold again, but it’s not quite back to being socks and shoes weather so I’m just letting the toes go cold and staying inside in the morning.

Flip flops
Flip flops are such a comfy thing to wear,

the shoe with a relaxing attitude.

Slip on vacation hooves and then you’re there –

Flip from a boss into a cool dude.

Your toes feel freedom, something that’s so right.

No more stuffy socks inside the thong!

They’ll fit feet that are narrow, deep or wide,

and waterproof!  You really can’t go wrong.

If it’s too cold for flip flops, stay inside

and flip around the house until it warms,

then hit the beach and dip them in the tide,

the sand won’t chafe your heels, you won’t get corns.

And when you crave a lazy day that’s tops,

kick off the pumps and slip into flip flops.

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The end of a class

Over the winter I have been teaching an intermediate watercolor class at a gated community in La Quinta.  I’ve done a number of exercises that have produced multiple paintings in a category that I don’t usually sell work in.  Now that the classes are coming to an end, I have a set of perfectly good paintings in a box kicking around the bottom of the studio.  So, Etsy time!  Here are three paintings I put up this morning, ready to go to a new home for a reasonable price. $80!

Riverbend II

Conejo Barn at Dawn II

Afternoon Nap II

Symbiosis Opening

We  had a lot of visitors to the Hermosa Beach Artist Collective last Saturday evening – and sold about 10 pieces of art.  Two of which were mine!

Closing reception is next Saturday.  Yes, there are still a few paintings that don’t have red dots!

 

Messing about in boats

I have to say that this was one painting (or pair of paintings) executed under the most hostile of weathers.  No, not so much heat, but the desiccating wind.  I had to stop on the second morning and go back for a short session closer to dawn on the third day, and then it was a struggle.  The good news is that once I’d drawn up the letters, I could quickly go from one side to the other, painting layers, knowing full well that that my start point would be completely dry by the time I returned to it in about 25 minutes.  At the end of the second day I had to quit because the paint was drying on the brush.  The east side of the boat was too hot to work, and the west side, in the shade and wind, I was shivering.  And I still had to figure out how to spray with an acrylic glaze with the UV component – in a stiff breeze.

Nevertheless ‘Poseidon’ has its name on its sides and today will be test launched.  Eventually this boat will carry a solar powered pump which will pump water from the Salton Sea into the marina ‘fingers’ in Desert Shores, to maintain the water level and mitigate red agae.  Launch day is on Sunday.

Calexico 110th birthday art show.

Yesterday evening was the reception for the Calexico 110th birthday celebration at the Carmen Durazo Cultural Arts center. The art show had 110 pieces of art in there. Fortunately it’s a big hall, and there were some paintings in the lobby of which I didn’t take photos.
The reception was well attended and there was a short speech by the Mayor, followed by a group photo of all the participating artists that were present.  Enjoy the show!

Cloud Appreciating Society

As some clouds are turning from gray to pink to orange over the Salton Sea, I thought I would pass along this recent Cloud Appreciation Society newsletter.

 

Childhood friends

“Childhood friends”

My intermediate watercolor class at Trilogy gated community is dwindling as many snowbirds fly north.  Nevertheless there were a few for this Monday’s class and we painted a nursery scene, based on a couple of stuffed animals that hide in my cupboard on a little rocking chair that was once the subject of a commission.

The class all did a great job, though I think they perhaps started to understand the benefits of working in a larger format – some of their paintings had some really tricky tiny details to achieve.

Three more pairs of childhood friends.