2023! 

Once again, I’m checking in after being nudged by those who wonder why I’ve been silent.  I have not been silent, I have simply spent more time putting pencil and paintbrush to paper and canvas, than I have writing words.  It is still telling a story, just using a different tool for expression.  

Like many others I had days of quarantine and used the time to work on a painting a day, some of which I’ll share in following posts.   On this day however, again like many others, I’m revisiting events, insight from the past year.  

One of the challenges (meaning out of my control) was the damage done to my garden beds as a result of the removal of dead Ash trees the previous summer.  While working on the flower beds I noticed some things growing that I didn’t recognize, or things not where I originally planted them (which could mean I have garden elves).  I also noticed things that were damaged or looked dead but that are very much alive… I left it all alone to allow the garden to heal on its own and will asses how to move forward with it this year. 

And then there was the issue of the car.  It had been damaged in an accident.  Much of the damage was visible, but what everyone was curious about, was the gap left by the damaged hood.  No one dared to force open the jammed hood until the car was in the shop for fear it couldn’t be closed again.  After more than a month wait, the car was repaired, no damage under the hood.

And later … a painting.   After much practice at sketching and painting faces, I have found that I’m drawn to figures without facial features.  Their expression is in their posture, hands, background, clothing, etc.  This painting is one I worked on for a day during isolation, after exploring icons and tutorials.   I accidentally grabbed a water solvable pencil instead of my regular HB pencil for the basic sketch and when I applied the water color to it, it smeared into a grey mass.  Since it was ruined I decided to explore further.  I ended up using acrylic paint, metallics, gesso and more and am quite happy with it.  

It occurs to me that this new year is like the garden beds and the damaged car and the ruined painting.  There is often more to a story, an accident, than what we first see.

The painting on the right next to another I’m working on …