Scattered Thoughts . . .

K enzie had spent a few days with us last week and, during that visit, she and I did a couple of art projects.  This week, both Lukey and Kenzie were with us so we pulled out the art supplies again.  Kenzie didn't feel like painting so Lukey and I tackled what I initially thought would be a simple project.  Honestly, in hindsight, it was not the best project for someone completely new to watercolors but we still pressed on and did the best we could. We chose to paint a silhouetted girl on a swing against a colorful sky.  Since the girl on the swing was silhouetted, we wouldn't have to worry about depth nor details.  What I didn't think about was how difficult it would be to paint the fine lines of the rope holding the swing.  Drawing is one thing once a child learns to control a pencil but painting fine lines is completely different and requires a different skillset.   Painting fine lines is really a skill that requires a lot of practice.  Th...

T oday, Kenzie and I had a really nice "art day" and we produced some nice pieces of art.  I need to purchase a few more frames and mat board because I realized today that I don't have any on hand anymore for framing small pieces of artwork.  Actually, I found that we are short on a few art supplies so I'll need to remedy that also before I forget. After spending far too much time searching for and digging out our art supplies, we sorted out what we would need for today and then came up with a plan.  We chose a couple of ideas and decided upon some nice compositions for two pieces of artwork each.   We sketched a few ideas and then did a little practice on some scrap paper before we touched the watercolor paper.  Then we talked about shapes, colors, values, light and shadows for our compositions.  Below are a couple of our initial sketches to help iron out sizes of the basic shapes... The first watercolor piece of art was sort of a memento of our Chris...

I had a few relatively "good" days so I tackled a small art project over the past two days.  I decided to shoot some photos of my HO scale Dreyfuss Hudson steam locomotive which then, as usual, morphed into a larger project.   This distinctive steam locomotive was perhaps the most famous locomotive of the New York Central Railroad, specifically, of 20th Century Limited passenger service fame.  This was considered the fastest passenger train service between New York City and Chicago back in the 1940s.  The route ran up the Hudson River then traveled westward along the Great Lakes.  Today, this route is named the Lake Shore Limited, a route Sheila and I have traveled quite a few times.  Unfortunately, the Lake Shore Limited is not nearly as glamorous as the 20th Century Limited once was but it is nice to retrace this historic route nevertheless.  The Lake Shore Limited can be referred to as many things but glamorous is definitely not one of them. I...

W hile Lukey and Kenzie were staying with us this week, we did a little bit of painting.  Sheila and I have been wanting to do this with them for quite a while so it was great that we finally had some time to do this with them. This was supposed to be a lesson in watercolors but we chose to use the kids' new set of acrylic paints instead.  Honestly, I didn't feel like digging out the watercolors and the acrylics were already sitting on the kitchen table so we painted with acrylics.  I needed to adapt my lesson due to the last minute change in paints and because I haven't used acrylics for artistic painting in decades.  So, I demonstrated each step before having them do it.  This would allow me to adapt my plan as necessary.  That being said, this also seemed to introduce some unnecessary confusion.  If I had been more concise without adapting, what I was attempting to teach would have been more effectively communicated.   On the previous day,...

I was sitting on the couch in the living room yesterday evening before starting on cooking dinner and picked up my notebook.  I write thoughts and ideas in this notebook everyday (I now have a whole library of notebooks tucked in all sorts of places around the house) and, quite often, add some sketches of some of my ideas or thoughts.  Yesterday, I was thinking about Christmas and the lake house. Every year of my life, in the few months preceding Christmas, my mind always drifts to spending Christmas in an Adirondack lodge-type of home or lake house setting.  I have not had the opportunity to do this just yet but I do plan to do this at least once before I have no Christmases left.   The closest I have come to living this annual dream of spending Christmas in an Adirondack-type lodge or lake house has been a few Christmases spent on various air bases.  Back in my earlier years of my Air Force career, the Airman's Club was typically the hub of social life o...

I 'm still trying to figure out how to paint with watercolors.  I'm making some progress but I am still needing more practice. Although I am learning and making some headway after the few paintings I did in the past week or two, I am slowly changing my painting supplies too which also causes a need for adjusting technique.  For instance, I purchased a different brand of warercolor paper, different brushes, and a few other supplies.  Each of these changes requires some practice to get used to the new characteristics of the new supplies.  I seem to be learning fairly quickly though. Here is my latest painting from yesterday... I need to start with having a specific plan for each of these paintings.  That is definitely a problem that is making things a bit difficult.  I'm sort of winging each painting with not much of a plan in mind.  Also, I really should be working on just one part of these paintings at a time.  Once I get a handle on each part, th...

After our exciting and memorable walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, we boarded a Presidio shuttle bus to make our way to the other side of Crissy Field to the Palace of Fine Arts. Because this iconic landmark is right outside the gate of Crissy Field and the large dome is seen from many points on The Presidio, I was constantly being drawn to it.  This was definitely a place I wanted to visit and to photograph. This landmark, which is seen in many movies and television shows, was built after the great earthquake of 1906. As fires burned throughout San Francisco and spread across the eastern parts of the city, survivors moved west toward The Presidio.  The Presidio set up refugee camps which housed 16,000 or so residents as the city recovered and rebuilt.   Within four years, the people of San Francisco were eager to show the world that they "had risen from the ashes".  In 1910, the city's leaders decided to host the twentieth century's first great world...

After raking and playing in all the leaves out in the backyard, we headed indoors with a collection of colorful autumn leaves that Lukey and Kenzie had collected. Gee pulled out some wax paper... some crayons... some newspaper... and then Gee, Lukey and Kenzie put together two pieces of colorful art by diving into an autumn leaf art project. This art is being shipped to Uncle Adam who recently commented that he was missing some of Vermont's autumn color. Although he is missing some of Vermont's autumn color, Adam is fortunate enough to be enjoying an authentic Octoberfest in Germany (which definitely interests me far more than some funky-colored trees) .  The kids had a lot of fun putting together this little art project with Gee... After cleaning up the kitchen, the kids then made some delicious chocolate chip cookies, from scratch, with Gee's help. Then Kenzie picked up the telephone and called Nan and Pop to brag about making cho...