Wednesday, October 31, 2018

More Watercolor Wandering


 I continue to explore my new watercolor tubes. 
I focus on not judging what I see happening 
but on watching closely how the water & paints react.
It's like watching raindrops on the windshield,
slow, careful observation of a drop as it morphs & changes.
I ponder: 
What is the difference between being influenced by 
& learning from an artist~ & copying them?
Artist Mattina Blue, in a brief workshop, had a big influence 
on my waterpaint experimenting
To see her work, click HERE.
 I loved her designs & motifs, 
but I knew I didn't want to copy them.  
What I got from her was a spirit of allowing the water 
to carry the paint,
of allowing the colors to respond to one another.
(Fun when working on a slanted surface.)

Mattina told me to work in series, 
each painting leading to the next.
What will be discovered along the way?
I think it is enjoying the evolution, 
rather than just a brief dabble of something new.
A spirit of "More will be revealed."
Motifs & designs emerge by themselves. 
All of us have our own.

One of mine: Light peeking from behind darker lines, 
In this season I see it in sun on thinning colored leaves,
behind dark branches & twigs.
These "plaids" have other meanings for me too,
which come to me after I'm done painting. 
They are grids, they are boxes, 
& even when I don't know what they mean,
they are pleasing to draw.

While painting (I try) to think of nothing 
but what I'm observing,
& this meditative focus calms me, fills me with serenity.

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Common Ground Fair 2018

The Common Ground Fair: 
Delights every year as if for the 1st time!
Put on by Maine Organic Farmers & Growers Association.

Waiting to get in at the gate when you arrive early!

The Fiddler's Showcase, put on by Maine Fiddle Camp,
included various traditional instruments & even a clogger.
Different ages & levels perform. They must wait their turn.
Storytellers Showcase. And a tent across the way.

The Veggie Parade!

 You can bring your own, 
but there is a tent full of costumes made
by a woman who lives on the coast.
 The Farmer's Market, a variety of stands!
Lots of vegetables, dried flowers...
Natural soaps, tonics, honey... 
The scents, the sights!!

The tastes!
Unlike most places, 
here I have healthy, delicious choices!
 The handmade crafts to buy! Pottery, clothes, bags, 
caps, jewelry, wooden furniture...
Anne Brooks woven woolen scarves, my favorites!
Not your traditional horse show.
Riders were putting large workhorses 
through their paces.
Bareback!
The animals!
The Fair celebrates bicycle power, wind power,
& human hula power.
 One of the pleasures, walking over a half mile through 
cultivated woods to get to & from the Fair.
(Though hay wagons are there for those who need a ride.)

It's pretty & artistic, yes, but it is also a place 
where people of good health, good will, of cooperative spirit
and kindness come together to celebrate
traditional arts & local enterprises. 

Monday, October 15, 2018

Back to Acadia, Autumn, 2018

Excursion to Acadia with an art friend. 
I got to add another panel to my Moleskine accordion book.

The 1st panel created in June, 2016 
The one before yesterday's: Last May.

To see some past posts re. Acadia, click HERE. And here.
From the path down to the (large) Pond, 
from the Jordan Pond House,
where lunches, popovers & views are divine. 
The left shore. Some years ago I hiked the trail 
around the entire lake.

The shore nearby, the carmines & corals 
are waving, Look at us!
Rather than hike we walked gently along carriage paths.
 
Design, color, dancing lights & shadows, 
translucence, luminescence, 
sparkling, shimmering, glittering leaves!
In the woods a stream that flows into into Jordan Pond...
...My friend, who takes gorgeous photos, 
captured my physical surroundings: a dark shady pocket 
in the midst of sunny, brilliant color.
What she didn't know is that she had also captured a mood.
I was remembering happy times spent with a childhood friend 
with whom I used to play in our woods by the creek.
I was grieving, because
I learned of my childhood friend's death last week.

Eagle Lake, how different 
from our explorations around Jordan Pond.
Places, flora, time of day, weather, mountains, bodies of water, 
changing light, so many varied images... 
I said to my friend, 
"Sometimes the beauty seems unbearable in its immensity."

A National Park like this, open to the public, 
is one of America's treasures.
It's an enchanting glimpse of Mother Earth 
for us town & city folks.
  On the way home, a Maine Blueberry field, at sunset...
That was yesterday...
Autumn is passing through Coastal Maine.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Exploring New Watercolors

My new watercolors are 
much more saturated than the old ones.
Still getting to know them. 
With these new paints
my small sketches are more abstract these days.
(This was a scene in shop of pretty things
here in town.)
Sadness has come into my life recently...
I release it onto paper... 
Life has it's darkness as well as lightness.
Colors change from day to day, month to month...
C'est comme ça.