Waiting To Eat

So nice to get out and have some fun in Port Townsend the other day.  Jim and I went to see a movie at Rose Theatre after a lovely lunch at The Fountain Cafe across the street (just before they closed).  A funky place with outrageously wonderful food!  I'm getting faster at sketching, now, and enjoy establishments or scenery that are colorful and different.  Or textural.  LOVE texture!  This was done in my little Moleskine with pen and Cotman watercolors, some of which I've pried out and squished in my own colors because I like them better.  Funny, after having been a portrait painter for so many years, you'd think I'd do more sketches with people in them.  I guess I can't get over the privacy thing.  

A Dream of Sierra

Another shot of our geriatric kitty, Sierra, that lent itself to painting digitally with Procreate.  This week is her last with us, Jim is creating a sweet slideshow with music as a tribute.  I like that I can take the photo of the cat and play with her fur, ears, whiskers, body shape, eyes, and recreate a version of our little friend that is more dreamlike.  A fantasy version of Sierra.  

Imaginary Village Perspective Revisited

Along the lines of my previous blog postings, I photographed with the iPad outdoors my original sketch of "Imaginary Village Perspective" (refer to my 4-28-12 posting), then put the image in Procreate's gallery, and went to work on it.  The photo was imperfect, so the paper came out blue.  I liked the blue and ran with it.  Using a slight purple palette, I drew, painted and smudged until the Village had filled out.  Do you like it?  I am learning something new, so PLEASE feel free to comment!

Forest Extensions

Another try at fooling around with Procreate.  This was a photo I took with my iPad from our office window upstairs.  The photo only went so far, so I "painted" forest extensions (think hair extensions) at the top quarter of the page.  I enhanced some tree trunks (on the lower part), twigs, shadows, plunked in a little sky.  As I seem so miserably inept, so far, at painting a "canvas" from scratch on Procreate, I'm practicing my skills on imported photos until I'm a little better.  Sometimes I get so into it I forget it's not a "real" painting, and I impulsively try to dip my stylus in my ice tea and swish it around.

Wizard Princess

Now that bulk of house projects is tapering off, Jim and I are gradually getting back to normal.  Getting laundry done, re-hanging a houseful of paintings and prints, replacing furniture, and even more important, getting a little creativity in here and there.

This is a photo I had taken with our iPad about three months ago of our elderly Maine Coon, Princess Sierra Frost (or just Sierra).  I've been trying here and there to get a little play time in with the new toy, particularly the painting app I've put on it, Procreate.  It's a marvelous tool, and one can become quite proficient in no time at all, working with it's sketching, painting, and pastel techniques.  However, it's been slow going, and now that I've got mail installed, I can send these to myself and post them on my blog!  As you can see, I enhanced Sierra's fur quite a bit.  I simply captured the color of her fur with the eyedropper, then drew extensions on the photo of her locks.  Coming back with a smudge tool, I blended each curl nicely.  I'm having way too much fun!

Groping Along

There are days my creative efforts feel like I'm whistling into the wind.  They are caught, dissolved and dissipated before they can congeal into something meaningful.  The ground for the seeds of my ideas sometimes feels incredibly infertile and everything dies on the vine.  Can I squeeze any more metaphors into this posting?

Today, though, sitting at the computer and writing on my literary project seemed to be the best use of my time. Some really satisfying stuff was accomplished.  I think I'll go watch the exquisite sunset, now, with a really nice glass of wine to mirror it's colors in my hand.

At Rest

It's been a lovely day spent with various friends, great conversation between bites of sumptuous food, and enjoying stimulating art with fellow painters at a gallery opening.  Now, curled up in my favorite chair in the twilight hours, I need to release a little of that creative energy on whatever happens to be in the room with me.