Bouncing around

Clematis
watercolor, watercolor pencils, Caran d'Ache
8x10

Here's the last of the 5 watercolor flowers I've been working on. I should really call them water media paintings, since I'm not using only these lovely Windsor and Newton watercolors.


I've also been using Derwent watercolor pencils and Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons again, bouncing around between these three water media at whim. I've found that I really like to switch between painting and drawing to get the result I'm looking for.

(detail)

So now I'm ready to bounce over to something really different. A new idea is brewing, but I don't know exactly what form it will take yet.

Someone else who is bouncing around at times is our old dog Beau. (I wrote about all his health troubles a few posts ago.) Automatically giving him two pain pills a day is helping him quite a bit, but I still don't like the idea of an animal being constantly medicated. He's so smart, though. Because he can't count on his hind legs all the time, he has started to sometimes use them together, rather than one-at-a-time. So when he wants to run a few steps, he actually hops, or bounces, with his hind legs together until he gets his legs going the "right" way.

All I can say is that animals are amazing! Bouncing is working for our old Beau, getting him where he wants to go. Bouncing around seems to be working for me, too.

I'll also be bouncing around the internet in the next week or so, visiting all my favorite blogs. It's been too long since I've taken the time to do that, so I'm really looking forward to it.

"Change
is a bouncing ball
on the circumference of a circle."

~ Kin Hubbard

Authenticity

Crocuses
watercolor, watercolor pencils, Caran d'Ache
8x10
(SOLD)

This is how I've decided I wanted to paint crocuses this time. There are already many others who can paint them to look more authentic. But, I'm trying my best to be authentic to myself in all things these days, so this is how I paint crocuses. Today, anyway. These things can change quickly, when you're listening to your inner self.

I've been thinking about authenticity a great deal this last year or more, but the video I shared in the previous post has really had me thinking about it more than ever. So have all the lovely comments that the last post inspired. Thank you for sharing your ideas about introverts and extroverts and everything in between.

In this world, where everyone seems to want to label everyone else, and where the extremes and extremists get all the attention, I feel we need to be reminded that people and ideas are not only black or white, right or wrong, right or left. Just like no one who is truly mentally healthy can be only an introvert or only an extrovert. Fortunately the vast majority of us fall somewhere along a wonderful spectrum.

spectrum

We are all unique, with our own glorious combination of genes, and ideas, and influences that makes us who we are. I hope we can all start to celebrate who we really are along this spectrum of possibilities, by being as authentic as we can be.

“The privilege of a lifetime
is to become who you truly are.”
~ Carl Jung

Something new, a thank you, and a question

Bleeding Heart
watercolor and Caran d'Ache
8x10

Just a quick post to show you #3 in my new series of watercolor flower paintings.

I also wanted to thank you, all of you, who commented on the previous 2 posts. Thank you!

I always wonder how best to acknowledge all you lovely people who leave these nice comments, and I'm going to try something different. I noticed that blogs with the comments embedded underneath the posts now are able to reply to each comment individually, right underneath the comment! So I think I'll try that with this post.

Please let me know what you think about this. Do you return to blogs to see if anyone replied to your comment? Are you having problems leaving comments in this new format?

*** Update 3/10: Thanks for the comments! I'm changing the comment form back to the way I had it before. The popup window, without the reply buttons under each comment, seems to work best.

Me a la Chagall #2

Me a la Chagall #2

Just a short post today, since I'm pressed for time. When I recently painted a self-portrait inspired by an early Chagall self portrait, I knew I wouldn't be able to move on until I also at least attempted a self-portrait inspired by his later work. So I did a quick Caran d'Ache sketch, with a few changes. My face is red, not green or blue, representing the 14 years of hot flashes I have enjoyed so far in my life.
:0)

And rather than the Eiffel Tower, my background depicts the Quirinus-Münster in Neuss, Germany, an impressive church built between 1209 and 1230. I spent many happy times in Neuss with my Oma (Grandmother) in my younger years.

Quirinus Neuss

After this exercise, all I can say is I have even more respect for the genius of Chagall.

My first papier mache project is coming along. I've added a base, so it will not tip over, and several more layers of papier mache. I hope to be preparing it for paint and painting it soon. I've also experimented with recycled egg-carton papier mache, and will show you how that turns out in a future post.

My life is extremely hectic right now, and I haven't been able to visit very many other blogs, or leave comments, but I hope to do that later today or tomorrow. In the mean time I hope you're all having a good week, and I'm thinking about you.
:0)

Me a la Modigliani

I was paging through one of my art books a few days ago when I came across this painting by Modigliani, and I thought I'd try doing a self portrait Modigliani style. Like last time, I used my Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble crayons and had a wonderful time.

I don't usually sit with my head tilted like this, but it does look a bit like me, with a Modigliani twist.
:0)
I wonder what I should try next. Definitely something more complicated and with more texture. Hmmmmm. . . . . . I'll be back with more soon. This is fun!