July Studio Recap
Mostly watercolors
In retirement, July is my least favorite month. Heat, glare and humidity, and an abundance of mosquitoes, gnats and ticks make me stay indoors. I love watching the morning light burnish the edges of the trees, as I do every season. The soothing green of spring has given way to a duller, stressed look in the woods, the greens are beginning to look like they were mixed with yellow ochre on someone’s palette.
I spot yellow leaves here and there. It’s August now, and the turning of the leaves becomes more noticeable week by week.
July has had a different pace this year. Charlotte the doe comes by less often in the daylight hours, so I was able to get some cosmos to bloom. I know that coyotes have been seen in the town just north of us. I have no way of knowing if they are in our woods yet.
The latest tickborne illnesses are all over the news these days, so I am not walking as much. It requires strong tick deterrence steps (long sleeve, permethrin treated clothing, treated gaiters, a layer of bug spray on all exposed skin, immediate shower and tick inspection when returning indoors. I’ve had Lyme, have alpha gal. I know someone who was in the hospital unable to walk for two weeks here with Ehrlichiosis, and a local man died of the newly discovered Bourbon disease. Oh, and tularemia is on the rise here as well.
I have been concentrating on some watercolor skillbuilding, using a small square format (8”) block of my practice paper. My goal has been to concentrate on painting people, animals, flowers, and architecture. These are usually difficult for me. Also, I would like to rely less on masking fluid.
People (notice I painted them in the winter, just so I can distract myself from the summer heat)
A fox - I did mask him off
Some light architecture - I could have gotten better value contrast in this.
But this one turned out better, except for the shadows on the path, they are a little too messy and washed out.
A landscape with flowers. I was very relaxed when I painted this, and I was surprised it turned out so well! No masking for the flowers, I just painted the green in quickly and put several layers of green on, leaving space for the flower spires. I added a bit if splatter with dr. Phil Martin’s Bleedproof white at the very end. I wish I hadn’t put the birds in. They seem to be a distraction.
I was happy to mail in my registration for my usual watercolor class fall semester at our town’s adult education program.
I also have some sewing projects underway, but I think I will put those in a separate post, once they are in a more complete stage. I am knitting more often these days, and I am itching to warp up my loom. I guess this is what is known as hobbymaxxing, and I am now trendy?
How has your July been? Travelling and soaking up the sunshine or hiding from the heat and humidity like me?
Your art works are really cool!
Hi, Jo, it’s good to see more of your painting. I’m sorry to hear that you’re having a difficult summer from the standpoint of the weather. Bonnie Jean and I are having a much cooler summer than usual and for the past few days we’ve been closing the windows at night. Our house faces north and there’s been a cold wind from that direction after the sun goes down. The downside of this cooler summer is that we might have a terrible winter. The last time I remember it being this cool in summer we had the nightmare winter of 1977-78, which has gone down in Buffalo history as the worst in memory. The Blizzard of Seventy-Seven shut down Greater Buffalo for days on end and was largely responsible for our bad reputation across the country as the snow capital of the Lower Forty-Eight. It’s our 42nd wedding anniversary today and Bonnie was too sick and in pain for us to celebrate as we had planned. She was really sick this morning but feeling a lot better this evening. Your paintings look really good to me and I’m glad that you’ve signed up for another course. I wish I could paint half as well as you do. Lots of love to you and your family, I look forward to catching up on you, your husband, Derek and Carynne in the chat. Talk to you soon. ❤️!