Both of those paintings please me and the second was painted in a day. That is extremely rare and I`m taking it as a good sign that this long project of painting abstractly is going somewhere. I sure hope so. I painted on location recently and that didn`t feel right. Beautiful place on Oswego Creek too. I will return to the field this summer, it`s so nice to just be outside. Yet I wish my desire for the landscape were stronger.
Unbeknownst to me, I was told 'Feedburner' , a service or subcontractor or something with Google, will no longer send out this blog to you as an email beginning in July. John installed it on the upper right on the blog where many of you subscribed by adding your email address. I`m going to put a new one up there run by follow.it Seems quite a few of you never sent back through email a required confirmation of your subscription. You may not receive future posts. If you write me at randalldavidt@gmail.com I`ll add you to the new service. The people at follow.it are saints, let me tell you. They hoped to sell me all kinds of analytics for my business but even when I explained I only wanted to preserve the readers I had, they still helped me transfer the addresses which were confirmed. This was a grueling experience because I`m old. It required days of correspondence. I wore out one employee and ground down another. These bright young IT types must dread interacting with a dinosaur. I couldn`t figure out where the correct CVS file was. Day after day they coached me. John got involved after long days at the hospital and we couldn`t find it. Until we did. They deserve a lot of credit for their patience. I wish they had something I could buy that I could understand.
Took the first road trip in years recently. My brother Mike and I went to see our cousin in Port Angeles WA. She is dying of pancreatic cancer. That`s the same one that took out my brother Gary and at the same age. I haven`t seen her much since we were kids but I wanted to go. My brother`s death was one of integrity with very little pain, so I hoped to reassure her. We expected her to be in bed but she was up and around though extremely thin. We had the best damn time! Conversation and laughs just flowed. Having the same grandmother alone was a source of delight. Our low expectations were overwhelmed and driving along the Hood Canal was as lovely as I remembered.
Soon we are flying to Omaha for the wedding of one of my closest, oldest friends. I met Todd in 7th grade and now he is getting married again at 68! New starts of any kind that happen in retirement just please me so much and marriage is an ultimate gesture of hope. For the second time, he asked me to be the best man. The first was in 1976 and I had just moved to New Mexico and I was broke. I said no because I was so determined to pay my own way and be responsible for myself. Later I wished I had borrowed the money and been there. Now I have a second chance.
I have to say I`m nervous to fly. Regardless of new CDC guidelines, I think masks will be required. I hope so. Until the violence with Israel and Hamas knocked it out of the news, the pandemic situation in India had my full attention. The suffering has been unspeakable. I love that country.
These subtle mysteries were painted by the Australian, Clarice Beckett. Though appreciated and collected now, she died at 48, was ignored for decades and a huge amount of work was lost to the weather due to lousy storage. For most of history, women artists didn`t matter. What a loss for humanity.
I saw this on Facebook. Not elegant but sure to the point. Why would we ever think it could be easy? Every time I begin a painting, I fervently wish for the rare experience when decisions flow organically and the process is elevated. The joy in painting then is indescribable! At last, I have reached my apex! But like everything, it passes. What is surprising in comparison is that a lot of worthy work is completed through sheer struggle.
The entire Western United States in is drought. Even the rainforest I live in. Yet we`ve had the gentlest spring, so full of sunshine and fragrance it`s like heaven itself. But many fear a reckoning to come. The fires now are on a scale never seen before. Take it from me, they are truly terrifying. With the entire region so dry there is no safety assured anywhere. Wish us well. Every summer now will be fraught with tension. At least we have a president now and the party in charge that recognizes Global Warming. We cannot address this soon enough.
Hope you all have your vaccine! Covid 19 is nasty, protect yourself! Protect your neighbor!
Click HERE for work for sale in my studio
3 comments:
Randall,
I love second chances where I get to correct a bad decision I made earlier. Many times I am just not emotionally mature enough to do the right thing to begin with so another opportunity is often welcomed. I hope the wedding goes well. Wear your mask. I would, frankly.
Glad that your trip went well. I am sorry about your cousin though. I hope her remaining time will go well and be as easy as possible.
I was never a good landscape painter; couldn't exactly connect with what I saw and didn't have good technical skills. Good for you for sticking with your abstract efforts to connect with something, anything. The struggle shouldn't be painful but only mildly uncomfortable at times:)
We have had several fires so far, some of them in the same place year after year. It's a real wonder to me. I just try to be as ready as possible but really dislike having to live this way. So, I feel your anxiety about the fire situation.
Take care. I follow you on "Feedly" but once you put up a following link for your new service I will look to see if I need to do that too. I don't want to miss hearing from you:)
Libby
Enjoy your blog, your art and especially your links. You are a talented and interesting person. This drop your mask thing is weird. I'll wear mine a little longer though vaccinated. Enjoy your travels. I'm glad you got to connect with your cousin. It probably meant a lot to her.
Re: your upcoming flight. A friend just flew Southwest. She said the flight attendant was very stern saying"You must wear your mask. I will come down the aisle to offer drinks, No talking! Raise one finger for Pepsi, 2 fingers for Coke and 3 fingers for water. Slip the straw under your mask to drink. Do not ask me to repeat this when I get to your seat." May your flight be similar.
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