Ocotillo Dawn is one of my early oil paintings – as ever the favorite subject – Dawn off my back porch. A few weeks ago one of my neighbors was visiting for lunch and took a shine to it! So, its forever home ends up being in Salton City, about a mile from where it was born.
#1288 Let Dreams Through. Watercolor collage, 5×3.5 matted to fit 7×5″ frame.
Here are another couple babies from the bin. For the first painting, I was definitely in my right brain when I was inspired to name it. On the second one, I just love the way I’ve been able to find the clouds that flow throughout the collage.
#1289, Continuous. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 3.5×5″, matted to fit 5×7″ frame.
I always enjoy passing along the Cloud Appreciation Society Newsletter and this month it has two things that I especially love – a beautiful day’s edge cloud, and a poem.
Salton City, August. Weather coming in, I hear the thunder getting closer. I hope it will clear before I go out for an arts meeting this evening!
Yes, 9 days since I blogged – I’ve been on the road for most of those. I have seen a lot of skies, a lot of roads and was astonished by Mount Shasta – whose awesome beauty I was unprepared for.
While I was in Bellevue, WA, there was a lull at the fair, during which I was able to add to my list of sonnets. One step further to that bucket list item.
Tree Work
The upper leaves spread up to gather light
The lower leaves reach out to seek the sun
The branches stretch and grow with all their might
Until leaves redden when the summer’s done.
The colorful flowers that bloomed bright in the spring
Are now brown crisps around a precious seed
that wait for autumn’s winds to find their wings
and fly to other grounds that might just lead
to sprouting from the earth when spring returns,
to rooting and to spreading and to growth
into a new tree; life’s desire thus burns
for life itself will not succeed with sloth.
Look at a tree and it will show you how
To plan tomorrow just by doing now.
#1271 Night watch. Mixed media on solid pine panel, 14×24″. $250.
This is the last of the current batch of cloud-shaped paintings Theoretically the shape is great for a kids room, but not necessarily the poem written in it, if you want your child to ever sleep:
Night Watch
Stars between clouds
a night to stay up and watch
until the sun rises.
One of the things that didn’t get on camera when I was taking photos of my Paint-the-night class was that earlier in the afternoon Rick (Rick Archer, President of Moreno Valley Cultural Arts Foundation and Vanguard Gallery) and I had hung up a 14-painting solo show on the left wall.
<Sigh> this is by far the first time that I have put up a solo show and promptly forgotten to take any photos of it. Senior moment!
Blissfully I was passing not far from the gallery on Monday morning and (seeing as I’m on the advisory committee and one of the tutors and I have a key to the gallery) stopped in to rectify this. The show will be up through August and there will be a reception on August 19th, 7-8pm. Rick should have the labels up by then! Actually many of these are available through my Etsy store at the moment (though it might take a little longer than promised to ship….).
This Newsletter is a lot about their upcoming cloudwatching vacations. However, you just have to see June’s Cloud of the Month, it’s truly amazing. If I painted that, no one would believe me!
