A Little Painting Session

English is a weird and confusing language. Does the title of this post mean that my painting is little, or that my painting session is little?

Yes.

The hot weather eased up a bit, so I spent some time working on a painting.

What the weather has to do with painting is that I paint in a room without air conditioning. It has a swamp cooler, which is adequate for days as hot as about 95, if it isn’t humid.

Two canvases awaited me, along with Scout and Tucker.

Neither of these paintings will be for sale – they are slated for bigger things than filthy lucre. This may be the only time I show them to you, until more is revealed in the fullness of time. You’ll just have to hold your camels, as I learned to say when in Israel 2 years ago.

One blank, one with its scribbly beginnings
Onto the larger canvas goes a layer of the mafungo* that comes from the bottom of the turp jar, more formally known as “toning the canvas”.
Painting from back to front, the sky and clouds go on first. It doesn’t matter if I splodge some sky things over the foliage because it will all be redone.
Tucker is getting friendlier, hanging around while I paint; the normally friendly Scout is off chasing a fake mouse.
New color goes in the background mountains and trees.
Putting the twisted multicolored bark and branches on the juniper is fun. . . drawing with my paintbrush is always my favorite part.

 

*I stole “mafungo” from Chris Daniel, on Fresno’s KMJ 580 AM from 2-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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2 Comments

  1. I like your kitty Tucker. Did he just show up at your house?

    • Hi Joyce, Tucker was part of a Gang of Four, possibly litter mates, or perhaps cousins, that we chose from the ranch where we got Perkins and (much later) Samson. In Three Rivers, cats disappear rather than appear.

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