The summary of what I learned in April doesn’t seem to fit my normal end of month list. A paragraph will suffice.
Uncle Tucker, the guardian
In April I learned how to plein air paint. I also learned to use a cell phone, how to navigate the world of travel that is now dependent on cell phone ownership, usage, and competency, and that a green lizard in Georgia is actually called an “anole”. I learned that a small cat can have 5 kittens, that a cat with a stump of a tail can have tailed cats, stumpies, and rumpies. (We don’t know yet if the “rumpie” is healthy. Stay tuned.)
So, here is a beautiful and dramatic photo for you (because it was a beautiful and dramatic month) and tomorrow we will resume our adventures in plein air painting.
So many things to choose from for my final plein air painting.
More “tabby cabins”. I don’t know why that name bugs me. Maybe because it is whitewashing a segment of our history.
THIS is what I wanted to paint, but minus the palms.
Like this, but waiting for the light, which Laurel explained would come soon.
Step one, only 2 hours to complete this.
Step two, adding in the dark colors which make the light places appear.
Step three
Preparations for a wedding on the outside of the chapel. That’s unusual. I thought people got married INSIDE churches. But actually, very few do anymore. That’s a different topic for a different sort of blog.
Time for the critique. I didn’t get a good photo of this painting but have asked my hostess to photograph it for me when it is dry. I left it on top of her refrigerator.
And that’s all, folks. Suddenly, the carriage turned into a pumpkin. I told Laurel that the entire experience was so perfect that I’d think it was just a dream if I wasn’t sweating so much in the humidity.
So, back to the host and hostess’s home in Brunswick, rearrange all my supplies to pack for flying, say a quick good-bye (like ripping off a bandaid), hit the road for a silent drive back to Jacksonville (since I never did figure out the fancy radio), return the car, oops, go back to gas up the car (less than $3/gallon in Florida when it is over $4 now in Calif.), get a ride to the hotel, find some dinner (grits! because I was in the south), fall into bed for a 4 a.m. wake-up call. “Pumpkin”? More like a squash.
It was a fabulous adventure, a time of new sights, learning, friendships, challenges, new wildflowers, and, umm, sweating.
After class on day 2 and before class on day 3, I went driving around, looking for things, taking in all the sights. I love exploring!
There is always time to look at wildflowers.
Laurel told me this church, which was in the Eugenia Price novels, was a must-see. When she said Eugenia is buried in the adjoining cemetery, I asked for directions. Something was happening inside the church, so I didn’t go inside.
I wondered around among the graves, but didn’t take many photos. It was tempting, because I saw a plot called “Graves” and another one called “Coffin”. There was also one called “Outlaw”. These were people’s names, of course.
I met someone who showed me what I was looking for.
The next morning I drove through the Victorian neighborhood of Brunswick, just being a looky-loo. It isn’t often I get to see such fabulous houses or such a variety of architecture, so I was definitely gawking.
For sale. I wonder how much they are asking. I ducked it (DuckDuckGo is my preferred search engine) and saw there are 800-1600 homes for sale there. Not gonna find this one easily.
Churches on every corner. I didn’t have time to capture them all, but none were the plain-Janes of Tulare County.
No kidding!
I couldn’t figure out the meaning of this. Finally my host explained it to me. It means that bridges ice up sooner than the roads do.
These flowers were profuse and beautiful. I bought a wildflower guide to learn the name. None of the people I was hanging out with had much interest in wildflowers, definitely not the way we have been going gaga in Tulare County this spring.
Marsh, marsh, marsh. This is one of the draws of the area. What’s the difference between a marsh and a swamp? Do people go wading out in the marshes? Are there wildflowers out there? wildlife? Do people drown? So many questions.
My wildflower guide was grossly inadequate.
But, it did have the name of this beauty, an unfortunate moniker of “Spiderwort”. What??
Trail Guy wanted me to show you Scout and the grandkitties as they appeared yesterday. They are almost 2 weeks old now.
Now, back to Georgia. It took some focused discipline to concentrate on painting a new way when there were so many new sights to see. I was a good student, but I was eager for the next stage of exploring the area after class.
I want to know how many of the outbuildings were slave quarters, now referred to as “tabby cabins” because of the building material, called “tabby”.
This was not a fancy plantation house; the owners had their fancy home in Savannah.
The wildflowers weren’t profuse like they are in Three Rivers and most parts of California right now, but they were present.
Fresh flowers on the mantel of the fireplace in the building that housed the bathrooms.
Fresh flowers in the bathroom too.
I took the official tour of the plantation house. Our guide was knowledgable but less than vigorous, so the outbuildings were not included.
The rooms felt crowded to me. This is probably because we are giants compared to the era when those folks were alive.
Someone spent many hours knitting this bedspread, but what else was there to do, besides tell slaves what to do? So hard to imagine that life.
On the way to Laurel’s house after we painted, she dropped me off at the beach. THE ATLANTIC OCEAN BEACH!
It rained on me while the sun was also shining. I was ridiculously happy about it all.
Lots of weird jellyfish, and I only found 3 shells, which I left on the railing when I put my shoes back on.
After our visit at Laurel’s house, where she gave me a much needed private lesson in brush washing (how have my brushes survived my ignorance all these years?), I went to find the lighthouse that was featured in Eugenia Price’s novels, where I first learned of St. Simons Island. This is not the lighthouse.
THIS is the lighthouse! It is so much fancier than I imagined, all dressed up in a well manicured park area, surrounded by perfectly maintained historic brick buildings.
Look at these shadows on the side of the lighthouse. And you can bet there weren’t perfectly pruned shrubs around it in the era of the book I read.
I wonder if this lightkeeper’s cottage was the original. I wasn’t there during touring hours.
I walked back to the car along the beach, just full of gratitude that I got to be there and see these places.
Leaving for a trip involves lots of preparations. Whether or not there are specific deadlines, there is a need to finish things. This is mostly due to not knowing what else will be stacked up when I return.
Besides, if I am learning to paint plein air, maybe I’d better finish all my working-from-photos-in-the-studio paintings because what if I hate them all when I get home?
These paintings have been varnished and are drying.
These paintings are all that remain to be finished in the big goal of 32 new paintings.
These are actually finished now, but I didn’t photograph them in their final state for you.
Scout is waiting for me and I am waiting for our grandkitties.
This one is finished now, and very very wet. Will I hate it when I return because I will be completely sold out to plein air painting?
SCOUT HAD 3 LITTLE TABBIES and 2 GINGERS! THEY ARRIVED ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 5. 2 TABBIES HAVE TAILS, THE REST DO NOT.
This is the small stash of some supplies I for the workshop. The rest have been ordered and now I need to learn to pack them correctly. We have been also instructed to bring a few photos in case it rains so we can paint indoors. See? Studio painting is okay! Take that, you Plein Air Snobs (one of which I hope to NOT become)
To top it off, I discovered that I thought I had mailed 5 Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names but I didn’t actually send them. What a goof. I am sorry, and you know who you all are because I emailed you and then sent you your delayed orders.
And, FINALLY, my business phone is working again. I wonder how many missed calls; there was no voice mail the past 4 weeks, so I’ll never know. The number remains the same as the previous 17 years. (It is on my contact page.)
I might need a secretary. Or a nap. Or some calming knitting.
I read about St. Simons Island, love the beach, learned that an artist needs to paint plein air, “met” an artist who teaches plein air on St. Simons Island, and met a real person who lives there.
Poppies at the Beach, pencil and colored pencil, private collection.
The real person invited me to stay with her and her family at their home by St. Simons Island.
So, I am going next week. Flying to Jacksonville, Florida, driving to Brunswick, Georgia to stay with my friend’s cousins, meeting Laurel Daniel in person, and joining a three day class on St. Simons Island to learn to paint plein air.
This is Uh-May-Zing. Truly.
Normally I NEVER say that I am going away before I go, because this is the World Wide Web. This time is different. Trail Guy will be home with Scout when she produces our grandkitties and is taking that duty very seriously.
Who knows what sort of stories I will tell you next week? Time will tell if I will be able to post to my blog in real time the experience of being on St. Simons Island, meeting Laurel, learning to paint plein air. If I go silent next week, just figure that I am completely in the moment.
So far we have learned that I love to read, love the beach, and have wondered if it was possible or necessary to learn to paint plein air.
I have a virtual friend (is that what it is called when you are in touch with someone you have never met in person?) named Laurel Daniel who paints very well. She paints plein air and she teaches a few plein air workshops every year. She even gave me a list of tips and helps when I had to do some public plein air painting 4 years ago. It helped, but didn’t make me feel any more confident or competent. (One painting session does not make an expert.)
Remember that I loved some books by Eugenia Price based on St. Simons Island? That is one place where Laurel teaches. When I learned this, I was gobsmacked by a great desire to attend her workshop there. This probably doesn’t surprise you.
How about this for a surprise? Last summer I was with a childhood friend at her family cabin, and we visited her cousins at their neighboring cabin. Her cousin lives by St. Simons Island! Again, I was gobsmacked.
Beach Birds, pencil, sold (This drawing is not St. Simons Island.)
In yesterday’s story beginning, we learned that I liked the beach and reading. Where are we going with all this?
I also loved to draw and figured that when I grew up, I’d live at the beach and be an artist who painted. Instead, I live near and sometimes in the mountains, and I used to only draw. I also paint now, but this has never felt as good as drawing. Doesn’t matter, because I can learn to paint better.
When I began painting, a painter I admire a lot told me that although he is a studio painter, it is very important to learn to paint “plein air”. This means to paint on location rather than from photos. I thought, “Ick, no thanks”. I may have said that very thing, and he responded that it really helps an artist develop skill.
That was in March of 2006, and I did try plein air painting on four occasions. It was much harder than I imagined. I didn’t enjoy the experience (such terrible incompetence on public display) and the results did not please me. I had to do a lot of work in the painting studio afterward to turn them into paintings that I was willing to sign.
Painting plein air in Mineral King in 2007
Painting on location in Three Rivers in 2011.
Painting outside in Three Rivers in 2015.
Why am I telling you all this? Come back tomorrow.
When I was a kid I loved to read (and still do). My mom took us to the Ivanhoe library, where I worked through the kids fiction section until there was nothing left that interested me. Eventually I realized that some of Mom’s books might be good, and I read a couple of historical novels based on St. Simons Island off of Georgia. Of course I wanted to go there.
As a family, we spent time at both the beach and the mountains (we lived in the Central Valley of California, so both were accessible), but I tended to like the beach best. Now I am torn between mountains and beach, fated to live forever between both.
It is possible that I didn’t learn much in March. Perhaps I spent too much time on hold with both Huge & Rude and Small & Bumbling. But now we have faster internet, so that’s a good thing.
FWIW means For What It’s Worth. (Thank you, SD!)
Donald Miller has a podcast and is a delight to listen to. I’ve always liked his writing (Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Scary Close), and now he has a business called Storybrand, where he helps people market their products by telling their stories.
I figured out a new tool for teaching people to draw. (Why did it take 25 years? I didn’t have the tech skills and equipment until a few years ago – there’s one excuse.)
One of my new students taught me a little trick for seeing things when you don’t have your cheater magnifying glasses. Make a mini telescope with your fist, put it to your best eye, and look through it at the thing you are trying to read. It helps a little.
I relearned that everything is harder than one expects it to be. We have Spectrum, finally, sort of. It took 5 days of visits by 6 different installers, and another visit by some sort of technician (or more–I’ve lost track). I still have no phone in the studio, but finally bought enough gizmos to bounce the internet signal to the outbuildings. The sales boy sold this to us on February 7, and now it is April 1. Am I a fool? Nope, but I’ve been fooled by Small & Bumbling into thinking the switchover would be easy.
Posts about walks I take garner more comments than posts about drying paint (unless it is the progress of a mural).
Getting a new book is fun fun fun! (I already knew that, but just wanted to push Mineral King Wildflowers a little bit.)
My new teaching tool shows 4 versions of the same image. The students in my most recent workshop really took it and ran with it. They were very quick to pick up the techniques of drawing.
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $19.78 including tax (unless you pay cash because I’m not making change or unless my website charges you, and I can’t figure out why it does that sometimes and not others.)
