Laurelines

2011, the Unplan

Before anything else,  I must pay homage to my loved ones who died during this year: 

http://laurelines.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/margaret-rabb-2241953-132010.html

http://laurelines.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/index.html

http://laurelines.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/09/my-mothers-death.html

After such a year of loss and for the first time in my life, I have no appetite for control.  In past years, I devised intricate plans and goals for my art life: here are two examples:

2006, The Plan and 2007, The Plan.

For years, I loved making my plans. I needed them, I benefited from them, and I (mostly) kept to them. 

Now though, I want to let go, be responsive to each day, follow my inner prompts, live more for my art than I ever have. I feel free, hopeful, and excited about what might happen when I pick up brush, pen, pencil! To tell you the truth, I can't wait!

I know there are those of you out there who have been following along with me for a long time. I am, as ever, grateful for your support and interest and your friendship. To new or infrequent readers, welcome and thank you, as well.

Happy 2011 to us all!

 

The pleasant land of counterpane

WHEN I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Change the 'leaden soldiers' to 'little brushpens and 'among the bedclothes' to 'around the pages' and you have, sort of, MY land of counterpane for today. I caught a wicked cold from the under 3' crowd around here, since I could NOT resist kissing them and hugging their little germ-spewing selves. Soggy and sneezy, I lay abed, having strewn a bunch of random art supplies and a new journal on the counterpane, and played and brainstormed for a while. This is a foretaste of the year to come. I'm going to let go and explore for a while and not worry for now about great polish and finish. I'll tell more on New Year's Eve about my plan for 2011, so come back, if you'd like, and see what'll be up!

 

Norway, finale!

Is it so wrong to covet a place? Well, too bad. Think of all the blue, dark, big paintings Norway would engender!! Okay, I'll calm down. Still, my eyelids and heart are permanently etched with the colors, angles, lines, splatters of wintry Norway.  In another life, perhaps, I'll be Norwegian and then won't we have fun!

Norway sketches, first part!

So here we are, home again, filled with memories of driving snow, northern lights, and polar nights! It was as exhilarating a time as last year's but colder and much snowier--which I, of course, loved.

 

Here are the first sketches. All the snow and otherwise opaque weather decreased visibility, thus I had fewer opportunities to sketch the scenery. But I loved every minute of being there and that, in the end, is what counts.

A little taste of Norway in our garden! A palette for Norway, too!

 

I'm hoping to post a pic of my new travel palette and gear before we leave for our second Norwegian coastal voyage (yay!!!), but first, I have to pull all of it together and then, I have to have the time to photograph and post it. Will I make it??? Check back tomorrow and we'll all see ;D.

I'm back with my new sketch gear to show you! I loaded up my palette with the warm colors I've been playing around with lately (see below.) Some new flat brushes are going along, too. The warm colors seem a bit counter-intuitive for coastal Norway, but there we are.

These are the colors:

Schmincke Alizarin crimson

Daniel Smith (DS) Perylene scarlet

W&N Cadmium red

DS Transparent pyrol orange

DS Quin sienna

DS Yellow oxide

Schmincke Cad yellow

DS Utra turquoise

DS Manganese blue

Schmincke Cobalt blue

Schmincke Ultramarine blue

DS Lunar blue

DS German green ochre

Schmincke Burnt sienna

Schmincke Burnt umber

Why all the pens? I keep trying to find the perfect drawing tool! It's an occupational hazard. See you soon!