This is my second painting. I am trying to find my own style but that will take time to develop. I'm just enjoying experimenting with the paints and mixing and blending colours. All the while, I'm listening to all sorts of wonderful classical music and opera while I'm painting. Somehow, I feel I "hear" the music better while I'm focusing on the brush strokes.
Soon I'm going to start a scrap quilt. I wonder if I can commit to making a block a day. I will try. ;)
What a fun day I had yesterday, painting with my sister. We were sitting side by side, totally absorbed in our work, listening to some great classical music in the background and in between brush strokes, we managed a few sips of wine. My astute brother-in-law affectionately referred to us as "The Group of Two".
I used to paint with oils some 30 years ago and I never forgot how much I loved it. For me, acrylic paints dry too quickly to properly blend colours, even with the use of a retarder. But with oils, I can relax and take my time.
Here you see my first effort after many, many years. I wanted something fast to try and get the feel of the paint and brush again. The are a lot of things that are not right about this painting but I have a feeling it might be well received by the outsider art groups where I sometimes post my art. Tomorrow we are going shopping for more art supplies. I need smaller brushes for detail work and a table top easel wouldn't hurt either.
My sister allowed me to post a picture of a recent painting of hers. She is new to painting as well. I really like this one.
I extend to my readers good wishes for this holiday season, however you may celebrate. Hubby and I are very low key about it, preferring to spend quiet time with my sister and brother-in-law, solving the problems of the world.
When I was growing up, in our culture, Christmas Eve was the main event. My father never brought the tree into the house until the night before Christmas. We would decorate the tree and then open our gifts and eat lots of fattening stuff.
Now we have no tree and we don't exchange gifts, but unfortunately we still eat too much of the fattening stuff. Tomorrow, my sister and I will spend most of the day oil painting and I hope to have a respectable result that I can post here in a few days.
Click the play button below to hear my favourite rendition of my favourite Christmas Carol. It's a simple, haunting, repetitive melody which requires a great voice to do it justice. Listen to Jessye Norman's stunning performance.
In the bleak midwinter
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim worship night and day, A breastful of milk and a manger of hay: Enough for Him, whom angels fall down before, The ox and ass and camel which adore
Angels and archangels may have gathered there, cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; but his mother only, in her maiden bliss, worshiped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give him, poor as I am? if I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; yet what I can I give him: give my heart.
Here again is the pattern I created, only this feline is facing the opposite direction from the one in my previous post. Her face is the colour of those spray tans which I think looks very nice on her. I had to go through all my Christmas fabrics to find the right colours to compliment her "tan". She sparkles with red sequins and tiny beads.
I am hoping to find time to make a few more Christmas ornaments. Hubby and I are quite busy this time of year with our British food and chocolate business. It's good that business is good and it's good that we're not stocking any chocolate (temptation) around the house. Below are some of my favourite UK imports (Aero Mint Bubbles, Walnut Whips and Cadbury Flake).
It's been a while since my last blog entry. With Christmas just around the corner, I felt like getting busy again. For starters, here is my design for this years' Christmas card.
