Rain's Image Gallery

Book cover

2012-02-24T17:30:00.001-08:00

Creating covers for my eBooks has been a growing process as I try to figure out the right images. Here are a couple that I am going to use for now but that could change. Any of it could change. It is a learning process.

Instead of the following. It's all a changing process. I think the latter will be inside the book though as I do still like it but maybe not as the cover.

For the moment

2012-01-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

When I began to look over my 2011, I decided I'd look through photos of the year and make a digital painting from at least one for each month. That turned out more work than I expected, but it also reminded me how much I had enjoyed the beautiful places I had been last year, many shared with loved ones-- as well as the ones that came from life on the farm here. Putting that together with music was the next step.

Unfortunately since I have music here (this was almost enough to make me take it off), I can't share that element of the slideshow here but also put it at another site where I do not have music already there-- [Only a Moment] where you can hear it as I intended. Otherwise hit the link below, go to slideshow, extend the time of each slide to 14 seconds, and let the music already here work with it. It isn't bad.

Who knows what 2012 will hold. Last year found me very involved with writing again, putting my stories into eBooks. That has been a real joy as a mix of the writing with digital paintings for the books covers.

Only a Moment is about my fantasy world as well as my real one, the work of the books and the life I lead.

2011 Through the Year

Snowing on the Past

2011-12-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

Okay so I have become addicted. It's especially nice when the snow doesn't get in my way of doing the necessary things outside. I can turn it on and off which is why I have always loved snow globes. In this case I used one of my own digital paintings. What I want now is a software program that lets me do this, enlarge and then turn it full screen without having to go back to the Blingee site. I'm going to research that

Cabin in snow

2011-12-21T13:21:00.001-08:00

Christmas in my dream cabin

Nothing wrong with a little dreaming now and again...

profile pictures or not

2011-12-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

Of the silly, meaningless things I wrestle for the blogs or any social media, my profile picture probably takes the cake. It's silly because what difference does it make? Who looks at it besides me? But I grow to hate them almost as soon as I have one up and while others might only look at a photo once in a blue moon, I look at it more critically far more often.

It's not like I care if they are flattering. Sure I don't want them to look ugly but I want them to do two things-- look like me and depict a mood that seems right for the blog except, of course, that is bound to change and hence one of the problems. Sometimes I take one from the digital camera but often cutting those down doesn't work so well as the face will be a small part of the photo-- although that might not always be bad.

Instead generally I use the webcam which gives me more control over expression-- except what expression would be best and why does the expression seem to change from the time I took it to the time I looked at the photo?

I know this isn't really an art form but it is a creative challenge with which I don't seem to ever quite find myself satisfied. The current profile photo seemed a little on the long side; so I experimented with squishing it just a bit... but then when I looked in the reflection on the laptop, the long side did seem most accurate. Does a mirror really tell us the truth either though?

And then there is color. No matter how I think it looks like natural color, it never quite does and can go from nearly black and white to orange tones, none of which are right. Maybe black and white would be the ticket-- except I am not black and white... well my hair in front has a lot of white these days.

I have thought about putting a photo of something I really like in the profile, like say the full moon or maybe a mountain top but I like seeing other writers; and so I keep playing with this thinking someday I'll get the one photo that depicts the right mood, color, still looks like me, and of which I won't hate in a week. From the way it has appeared, it'll probably never happen!

Cattle on leased pasture

2011-11-14T11:47:00.000-08:00

Our cattle moved into leased ground right behind the farm here. I went back to take some photos of them enjoying their new pasture but the lighting was off and the photos didn't come out sharp... but they did come out like a pointillism painting. Which inspired me to give it a try to do a digital of the cows on their adventure. So a lucky accident led to a digital sketch which might someday lead to an oil painting.

None of which was what I should have been doing this morning. Sometimes I am sooo easily distracted.

Lens differences in photo images

2011-11-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Because I am into photography especially of people, I was interested in this article about how the different lenses created different faces. I knew this happened but wasn't sure exactly what would give the most accurate results. He claims 135mm is closest to the real thing.

The webcam is especially interesting for the possible distortions or sometimes more accurate view. It all depends. Sometimes one wants the distortion. Maybe the secret with the webcam is move back a bit... or maybe not... This particular webcam, from which all these photos came, has more trouble with color but sharpness, I can't complain at all. Getting accurate color is trickier. The color, that I choose to wear, and whether there is sunlight outside make a lot of difference and this is true of photos taken with the Canon Rebel or the Logitech webcam.

Where I want the most accurate possible for any photo (flattering is good but secondary to accurate), it can be a challenge, and this article just affirms what I have believed but have a harder time figuring out how to work around.

Proof Lens Difference Between Pretty and Ugly

hmmmmmm

Combining painting and music

2011-10-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of digital painting is the ease with which it can be used in many ways. In this case, with creating the images for my eBook covers, I also decided it would be fun to combine them with music. I keep trying different ones that are for the blog about the books; but this is song I particularly liked because it speaks to the lasting kind of love, the kind that goes through shifts and changes but keeps chugging along. Romantic love is the start but it has to have within it the depth to last or it's shallow and won't be making it to the long haul.

Romantic Love

I did two versions of the cover art with different songs. This song is more about that first bloom of love, which is really what romance books are about. I haven't decided which I prefer or want to use with the blog about these books.

Romances with an Edge

Creative spaces

2011-09-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

One of my problems as a creative type person is I want to do too many different kind of things. Sometimes I see that as a serious flaw, and other times I think it just goes with the territory. One thing has remained true, whatever element of art I have been concentrating on, I am always working at something. It's just not often very focused.

For the last four or five months my emphasis has been on writing and in this case editing all the manuscripts I wrote mostly in the 1990s and early 2000s. That has been not so much creative as craft. But then I believe creativity has to have equal portions of craft connected or it's just finger painting for fun or keeping a diary. You have to have the skills (except for a few geniuses) to translate your ideas through a medium of some sort in a way that others can connect with the end result. To say otherwise is to say it's all play.

Anyway the end result of this time of intense writing has meant, where it comes to art, I mostly have done digital covers for the future romantic eBooks or I have been writing or I have been learning something about the writing. For this summer I have stayed focused, but it was not on things that could go here in what I consider the art gallery although I have taken a ton of photographs; which I guess qualify as being creative and I could have put here without it demanding much time as photography is the one constant whether it's photos of me or photos by me.

Anyway the article below is something I came across and loved the ideas about this painter and the studio she has, her lifestyle too. Frankly I believe that part of living a creative life is exactly that-- creating an exciting life. I work on that for myself and see this kind of studio and art experience from her as something I'd like for myself someday.

Right now my paints have to soon be brought inside and I have to figure out a good place to put them with the idea I might do more with them with fall here and winter on its way. What I did with them this summer due to all the writing time was exactly nothing. I am sure that will change but then I am always sure that will change with so many things.

You'd think by almost 68 that there'd not be a someday in my mind but there is and maybe will 'til the day I die. Anyway for anyone interested in creative spaces, check out this link. I hope it lasts for awhile.

A studio opening

Pusch Ridge

2011-05-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

When in Tucson I really didn't do very many paintings. Okay I only did one as the mood simply wasn't there. When the color was right, the temperature was in the mid 90s. I liked the little oil I did though and left it hanging on the wall in the Tucson house.Pusch Ridge 8"x10" oil

2011-04-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

As I've been working on book covers, music is a part of that. Characters and music often enrich each other. Now the digital painting above isn't the kind that has the characters on it. It is the kind that suggests what the story is about. It is way back before my latest favorite song was written and sung. Come Monday by Jimmy Buffett is for a different story, maybe even my own.

Daffodils

2011-03-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

Although I am enjoying the drawing practice, the going outside in the rain or the cold, not so much. It has led to me drawing what is in the house, all over the house, especially the cats, who rarely stand still beyond just long enough to tempt me to start the drawing and end up having to guess my way through the rest of it.

These daffodils had been brought into the house where it was easy to sketch them and pretend they were outside. Pretending is good sometimes.

The drawing a day challenge

2011-03-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Since the first of March, I have been doing a drawing a day with only missing one. This is a challenge suggested by Parapluie. When she mentioned it, I was attracted to her idea because I had found how much I like plein air painting where I paint what I see while I am there. It really gave me a feeling different than I get from painting from sketches back at home. Emotionally more of that was what I felt I needed. Maybe drawing could do it.

At this point, I am about half way through the challenge and the results have been mostly mediocre to be honest. I used to be good at drawing. Where did that go? When I went to the beach, I did sketch quite a bit but nothing at all exceptional.

Still I was doing it and nobody said the sketch a day had to be wonderful. I thought maybe my problem is materials; with a coupon worth 50% off, I bought a few drawing pencils, some charcoal and drawing pens to see if that would do any better. Not sure it did.

Thursday in riding along to get a load of hay, I was reminded I had forgotten my sketch pad and pens. Great. My one chance to get out in the main valley where the clouds are more formed, the hills show up, and I forget my pad. I do have an explanation as I was working on writing a story with characters more on my mind than lines; but I was disappointed.

Even more so when I saw where we were going and so many interesting opportunities for mid-valley clouds, for vistas. One thing I have learned in doing this is we don't get the great cloud formations out in the hills. It's like they form here or are broken up here but when I get to the main valley, that's when I see them, these great cumulus columns, the strata, all the shapes that work together to create a feeling of energy.

While the boss was off getting the hay, talking to the owner, I quit bemoaning my stupidity and realized I had what I needed-- pens in the glove compartment that I liked better than mine at home and a napkin from a Subway. Voila.

Actually I liked the little sketches better than any I have done this month (which given the quality of the rest, isn't saying a lot. Still, I taped them to my sketchbook page for the 17th. Nobody said the sketches had to be done on sketching paper...

Rhapsody of Waves

2011-02-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't done much painting recently of the digital or oil sort. Mostly it's been getting my room set up so I have a place to do it as well as a temporary lack of interest. I have done a lot of photography though. The following video using music and slide show will be in my main blog later under one of the topics on energy but I thought some might enjoy seeing it here. The ocean is so pleasing to the soul and when you add the right music, it really is a

Rhapsody of Waves

released but not forgotten

2011-01-05T13:58:00.001-08:00

My goal was to take that slide show of snow and combine it with one particular version of Auld Lang Syne. I ordered the holiday album from Barenaked Ladies and when it arrived, I was pleased to see the music worked with the images as much as I had hoped. I think it's very fitting for the end of a year or a cycle. We release the old, whatever that might be and open our arms to the new.

Releasing but not Forgetting

Snow-- digital images

2010-12-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

As one year closes a door

another is opening one--
This is a nostalgic yet beautiful time
as we leave behind
experiences,
people
some good-- some not so good
but it all is making room
for the new.
The beauty of the past now is in memories
ahead awaits the making of new ones.

Smoky Sun

2010-12-28T02:36:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I had this idea for an oil painting. It required putting a background wash on a good sized canvas-- 31 3/4" x 44". One day I started; but instead of a single color wash as I had intended, I ended up using two other colors.

When I had finished, I looked at what had happened by accident and saw something unrelated to my original idea. Kind of abstracted and with the feel of a river, cliffs and trees with that big sky and a rather abstracted shape running across it.

.
For a few weeks, I let it sit as I thought about what to do. Follow through on the original concept? Take the bones of what I now saw and create something new?

What I had reminded me of something I had seen and photographed once when I was in the Lamar Valley while a lot of Montana and Wyoming was on fire. The cliffs were different, but that sky was the same color. So I debated and didn't do much as I had Christmas related projects to finish.

One day before Christmas, I thought I had nothing to lose as I could always scrape off any new paint. I moved up the suggested trees, began to define the cliff, put in that sun I remembered, and took some strokes through the sky. I used three brushes (#10 and #12 sizes) and my favorite palette knife. I absolutely love painting with large brushes like these and this time the palette knife was just an aid, not a primary tool.

It was all happening with only four colors, no complements which is unusual for how I generally work (which is a limited palette but at least one complementary color). Whenever I thought of adding more colors though, it was as though I figuratively slapped my hand.

When I was finished, I liked what the accident had brought me, and I don't plan to do more with it... although I never really know until I have lived with them awhile.

When mentioning this later to my friend, Parapluie, she said she often starts with a wash and sees what will happen especially with something somewhat abstracted like this one. I might see if this approach works again as it became, for me, a minimalist painting with the least number of strokes and suggested shapes. It was also a lot more rewarding than painting often is for me. It all just happened and that felt good.

It combined the scene I had photographed years before, the wash, the final result while I was reading a book on sychronicity which is about lucky accidents, recognizing coincidences when we see them and then finding their meaning. I am not sure about the meaning in this other than this light approach to painting was much more emotionally satisfying to me.

Wintery State of Mind

2010-12-25T10:01:00.000-08:00

I am in a wintery state of mind maybe because I don't get a white Christmas which has led to digital images of winter from Oregon, my travels or imagination. Some are new and some from a few years back. I wanted them all in one place. I haven't often painted snow with oils (only the last one is an oil painting) but like doing it with digital for just an emotional lift.

They go well with the song White Christmas, and I might put them all into a short slideshow. I might also add a few more as the day goes on to add to the energy especially if I turn out a slide show. For now, if you visit this site, let the song White Christmas play while you imagine these places as the snow is falling or has just fallen.

Make custom Glitter Graphics

Christmas Eve Dreaming

2010-12-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

Digital painting

My Cabin in the snow

2010-12-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

Actually this cabin is not mine but I saw it once. I dreamed it many times. Since I will likely never own it, I decided a digital painting is the only way to make it real. It's all ready for Christmas. Inside are people who love each other. It's warm and cozy. The carols are playing and a fire is in the fireplace, white candles are lit. The snow is falling outside. Can you see and feel it?

Poetry and art

2010-11-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

When I was attracted to doing the earlier digital painting based on a photo of my granddaughter and myself that hadn't quite come out, I kept thinking maybe I should try an oil painting using the same general subject but with the freedom an oil would give me to slant it slightly differently. Part of me felt like no, I should not do it. It's too personal. It won't work out. Part of me just had to try.

The pose my granddaughter chose for the photo was a gift to the painting as she's like a flower opening. I could not have thought of such a thing if I'd planned it.

These two females are at the opposite ends of their lives. I didn't know what to title the oil and still don't but when I remembered the following bit of poetry I had wanted to use someday. I knew it belonged with this painting.

The grandmother has had her barefoot days or maybe still is having them but less than what was. The girl is at the beginning of so much. It seemed logical that the grandmother would be looking in the distance, remembering, while the girl is looking toward the future. The oil is 14" x 18"

"I was born to catch dragons in their dens and pick flowers, to tell tales and laugh away the morning, to drift and dream like a lazy stream and walk barefoot across sunshine days."

James J. Kavanaugh
Sunshine Days and Foggy Nights

Opposite ends of the spectrum

2010-10-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Whenever I am with my granddaughter, because she is just entering puberty and I am entering old age, I find the juxtaposition of these two ends of the spectrum to be artistically interesting. This time we had a photo taken that didn't come out right. It was pixillated due to the lighting which led me to think of doing a digital painting of a grandmother and granddaughter who have in common their love and the approaching change in both their lives.

Painting on a trip

2010-09-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

It seemed a good idea when making a trip to Montana and Yellowstone National Park that I would take several small canvases, my oil paints, and the new portable easel along. The truck had plenty of space although there was one difficulty in planning to sleep in the back while in the park. That meant packing light and I kind of thought I had... if I didn't consider the easel.

What I learned was that the easel was not needed and was in the way. It takes too long on a fast trip like that to get it out and set it up-- not to mention it was not necessary as I actually like sitting on the ground with a canvas propped against a rock and mixing my paints right on the canvas. So next trip, no easel unless I have a trailer along to carry the extra supplies and plan to spend more than one night in a location.

The other thing I learned was that wet oils are a problem to transport. The need for a small box that will hold the oils apart from each other and protect everything else from getting paint splatters is obvious.

I have to get used to the curiosity some feel when they see someone painting on location. I was asked by one man if I was a painter. How does one answer such a question? I said I want to be but thought that I need to decide if I am or if I am not than what am I doing?

All in all I enjoyed the painting and felt good that I was able to do it at two places I love very much while my traveling partner was fishing and enjoying his time also. First painting is at Rock Creek, east of Missoula, Montana. Second is Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park. Both are 8"x10" oils on stretched canvas.

Abstracts

2010-09-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

This week I played a little with oils as I had no subject I wanted to paint. I thought perhaps doing abstracts would loosen up my landscapes. I have a lot of small canvases (Michael's had the packages of 10 on sale). Small seemed more promising than big. At least if they didn't work, I had less invested in them.

I started the first one by covering the surface with a bright orange. As my brush seemed to suggest water, the painting took off from being an abstract to a kind of fantasy sea. Well, at least the colors are abstracted. It is really hard for me to make a painting that doesn't end up being about something.

The second one, I decided to just lay in colors and then what the heck, lay in some more-- basically whatever pleased me. Between laying in the first colors, I thought maybe I'd find some ideas online for procedures by abstract painters.

The problem was I didn't like most of what I saw. A lot of abstracts just seemed to me like wall paper designs or something bright for behind the sofa. Not exactly what I had in mind but I got another idea for this one. What if I tried different techniques besides the painting. Scratching in some shapes, the feeling grew that this was a watery cave with supernatural light and symbols...

Maybe I just am not the type of person who can do non-objective paintings. Or maybe it'll take doing more.

Both paintings are oils on 8x10 stretched canvas.

trying again

2010-08-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

The tweak became a bit more as Farm Boss looked at it and told me sheep's ears don't go up, they go sideways... oops. I was too absorbed with trying to balance the painting and get the shadows and body right that I missed the ears. I might be around cats too much...

8"x10" oil on canvas

Grazing the pasture

2010-08-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

Painting any type of animals has its complications. First cp,es my desire to paint in an expressionistic style which means the feeling more than the exact replica. Then there is how I paint with as few strokes of the brush as necessary to make the point. Add to it I don't really want my work to look primitive but I do want it to be painterly. If I made the livestock 'realistic' then I'd be left with more of an illustrative painting or a painting in two parts. I decided despite the fact that animals are not really my thing, they would be a good exercise in improving my skills. If I didn't try, I'd get nowhere with learning.

Last week I bought a new easel that will enable me to be more mobile and quit painting on the ground which as the fall sets in won't be nearly as comfortable as it has been. The easel has a box for me to store tubes of paint. The whole thing folds up into a portable case for transport. So far I am happy with it especially for the price.

When I began this painting of the livestock in our pasture, I had them all white which isn't really like our flock which are a mix of colors from white to black and brown. It also didn't work so well for the painting itself.

To check out a change I had in mind before I made it, I photographed the painting as it was, put it on my computer and played with the digital painting tools to see if what I was thinking of changing would be help. I liked it and went back out with the oils to change a couple of the sheep. I will lightly tweak it more and then probably do a different painting of them from a different angle. The sheep make for a handy subject as they are just outside my door most of the day although they don't stand still for long except when sleeping.

The oil is 8"x10" on canvas.

2010-08-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Digital -- inspired by the following quote

You begin to realize that everyone has a tragedy, and that if he doesn't, he will. You recognize how much is hidden beneath the small courtesies and civilities of everyday existence. Deep sorrow and traces of great loss run through everyone's lives, and yet they let others step into the elevator first, wave them ahead in a line of traffic, smile and greet their children and inquire about their lives, and never let on for a second that they, too, have lain awake at night in longing and regret, that they, too, have cried until it seemed impossible that one person could hold so many tears, that they too, keep a picture of someone locked in their heart and bring it out in quiet, solitary moments to caress and remember. Rosanne Cash from her book.

Summer along the Creek

2010-08-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

The lack of value difference in this painting kept bothering me. When I do a painting, my goal is that my eye will travel around it, not stay one place but move throughout, ideally coming back to where it started. With the values so similar, I think that's harder to make happen.

Today the sky was a much lighter blue and I decided to borrow that sky for my painting, changing the reflections a bit to go along with it and I am much happier with the results.

Summer along the creek

2010-08-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

With a sunny morning, I took the paints, along with the .22 magnum, in case the coyote attacked the sheep, down to the bank of the creek. Two ducks flew up as I arrived and I thought about putting them into a painting. Or maybe not.

The oil is not quite dry yet; so if the ducks become part of it, it will have to be after it fully dries and they seem to be beneficial. I am thinking then it would require a splash and not sure I want to spoil the reflections.

My dissatisfaction with it relate to almost all being the same value. I tried lightening the sky but it was what it was and down there, everything is pretty much the same value. I'll think about it as it dries.

Whether it came out satisfactorily or not, it was a pleasure to have that time along the banks of the creek. That has to be one of the biggest pluses in plein air painting.

11x4 oil on stretched canvas

Garden Daisies

2010-07-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

These daisies are in my garden and I have been admiring and thinking they might make an interesting painting.

The painting itself came out as U had hoped, an expressionistic look at garden daisies, but photographing it was harder. Actually photographing of oils never is easy for me. It seems the colors so often do not come out looking like the painting.

I don't want to just paint flowers even though my last three have been flowers. They happen to be what is there right now and where my desire is to use lots of color, they make that easy.

This one is another 8"x10" oil on stretched canvas. It was a lovely day to sit on the deck; but if I do more of these, I need to set up my easel out there as painting with small canvases on the ground or my lap is not ideal. Before I invest in anything more, however, I will make sure I am going to keep doing this.

Wood River

2010-07-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

We were in Eastern Oregon, not far from Klamath Lake. The family had all headed off to do their own thing leaving me a chance to sit on the banks of this beautiful little river and make a small painting.

I had always thought that painting on site would be good for energy and it is proving to be so. This is such a beautiful little river that comes out of the ground as springs right above where I was painting. I do wonder though would it work as well somewhere that was not so naturally colorful as painting with intense color is what I enjoy the most.

Oil painting on stretched canvas is 8"x10"

Mountain Kaleidescope

2010-07-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

This was painted on a warm summer afternoon in the Cascades. I sat in the shade of a big tree and painted the wildflowers in front of me adding in the others I had seen that morning as I had been walking.

Mountain Kaleidoscope

8" x 10" oil on canvas

Venus and Crescent Moon

2010-06-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

Venus and the moon are spectacular right now at least to me. I am always very fond of a crescent moon especially when the evening star is not far above it. Photo of the same scene is below. This is the first star, the one I always used to wish upon. Of course, it's not really a star but a planet and does that spoil the wish?

Land without Water

2010-06-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

digital painting-- Northern Arizona at a one time Sinagua dwelling

Soul Homes

2010-04-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

I love the concept of finding my soul home.

It could be this cabin in the rain
or this one in the snow.
It's all about finding the place I belong and I have been feeling this urge for a mountain cabin for ten years now. Then I read an article that said bringing our spiritual and earthly energies together can be part of soul growth, part of the soul sometimes moving on and trying to take our bodily self with it.
I grew up in that place but have never been able to find it again since. I had never thought it was about my soul home though until I read a piece from Daily Om about finding a soul home. That's what the cabin is-- a soul home. I can see it. Feel it, but I cannot seem to find it except in my art.

So perhaps it's my soul, my subconscious mind that is ready to move on but my earthly body is more insecure about the idea. Where would I go? It would involve a new way of life. Am I ready for that or did I miss the time I should have done it. At least I can capture it through my art.

There are many things that tie me to where I currently am. At one time, this place was that soul home. I know that but as my life changes, so does that. If I can see moving on as not about something wrong here, but more about growing in new ways, maybe it will be easier to actually do it. Maybe it isn't the right time-- except in my art.

So I can think about this through my art, matching my physical reality to my inner reality. Perhaps someday they will come together and I will be in harmony with the flow of the universe and be who I want to be as an old woman. I know the gist of it. I want to be a woman who can build my own fire on a hearth until the end of my days. I want to keep a garden, have some chickens, paint and write. I want to love and be loved. When I die, I want to have it be while I am working at something I love.

Me

2010-04-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

once in awhile, a self portrait is fun to do. Some somewhat realistic and some fantasy.

Selkies

2010-04-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

Once I opened this blog to search engines, made it public, I had a problem with what I posted that I didn't feel when I was posting things only for friends. It's the question of nudity in art. How do I avoid feeling someone will come here and feel upset at the nudity that they weren't expecting, even though I have it in the banner. If the first image is nude, then the banner won't help much.

So I guess the solution is to write something ahead of such posts, a bit of a warning, maybe a series of dots before the image shows up, so that those who do not want to see bare breasts, or whatever, can leave quickly. I could also start another private blog but that would put me back where I was with wondering why the heck I had it.

Although there are no myths about selkies along the Oregon Coast where I saw these seals, I thought why not? And if there was one... or several, maybe all four of these on the rock, what would the selkie look like when she was taking on a human form? Well she'd be beautiful, of course, because seals are beautiful. She also would be looking around with wide eyed wonder, not straying too far from her seal coat because it's what she has to have to turn back. No selkie wants to stay human.

Creating a digital painting

2010-03-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes just for the fun of it, I begin a digital with just colors and no idea where it's going. Often I start with a photograph with which I would like to play .

Corel Photo Paint 7 has the option of creating a blank canvas called new. You choose the dimensions you want, then save. The next stage is laying down basic colors. Choose paint tool which is on the menu and a second menu will open with various tool possibilities as well as further controls once you have that tool. A good start would be just play around with those tools on the blank canvas-- narrow ones, splatter, watercolor, chalk and more.

The following illustrates the process of taking one idea to a painting-- step by step. I have never painted this one in oils but sometimes all of this is just a preliminary sketch for doing that.

The first one was done with the crayon tool as it puts down a lot of color fast, then I began working with various watercolor tools and finally those shaped like pencils to further refine.

Sometimes the color you most want won't be on the palette; then you can go to another photograph, grab a small square, copy paste it somewhere in your painting and use the clone tool from the menu to bring that color where you need it. This, for me, is particularly true when it's flesh tones as the human skin is a complex subject all on its own.

Tucson Quail

2010-03-19T15:34:00.001-07:00

Tucson Quail
digital

Bareback

2010-03-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

This is a combination of a fantasy idea with something real. The real part comes from a photograph of a running horse from near Little Big Horn. The fantasy is to put a couple on the horse, riding bareback. I am not a horseback rider; so this is pure imagination but it's one of those passionate imaginings that pleases me even if it doesn't happen to be realistic. What is the point of art if not to go beyond what is realistic?

I learned something with this one as I had been unable to get satisfactory digital detail into faces when they were small like they were necessarily with two figures, a horse and a sagebrush backdrop. By resampling it 300x what it was, I had faces I could work with. When finished, I resampled it back to a manageable size for the hard drive.

My shock came when I looked at what I had saved and it looked like it had before I had started with the enlarging to work. It lost all that 'painterly' detail. So I started over, enlarged, used the tools that worked better at that size and this time, I saved it with higher resolution, something I hadn't done before. Then I reduced its size and it left most of that detail. Small will never totally get past the problem.

Tidal Pool redux

2010-03-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I had a photo taken of me in a tidal pool where I liked the angles, the rocks, the coloring but it was severely out of focus. I deliberately smeared it more and it was improved into a kind of abstract.

Recently I got to wondering if I could turn it into a digital painting. Attempting it brought up one of my greatest problems in digital paintings of humans. I have an older paint program from Corel that offers about 100 colors with three of them being pinkish 'flesh' tones, but none that really look like flesh.

If I paid for a more advanced program, I probably could get skin tones I would like better. Besides the cost, my old computer couldn't handle a program needing that much operating memory (I have tried a few others with unpleasant results). I like this program in every other way but would love the capability of making some of my own colors.

Part of the problem is skin is actually translucent and paint is not. With oils, you do a thin wash but with digital, that's more difficult as even semi-transparent color 'washes' are solid pigment dots. In bigger digitals, I get around it by adding other tones that aren't flesh colored but capture that feeling of underlying layers. With a small one, that isn't an option. It is an ongoing challenge which sometimes is helped by copy-pasting in a color from another photograph, setting it somewhere I can easily later cover it up; and then using it as a clone to get the impact of a wash... kind of.

There is also the option of doing value and color adjustments after the 'paint' has been laid down. That is a plus that oils don't offer.

When I am feeling down, not a lot of energy for other things, raining outside or cold, this kind of creative play is about my level. The meditative advantages it gives me are a major part of its appeal. When I am not working on something arty, I tend to think all the time. When I am doing something like this, I only think about it. It's a welcome break.

Summer along the John Day River

2010-03-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

Summer along the John Day
digital sketch from a photograph taken in September

cabin in a summer rain

2010-03-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

This cabin sits on a small ranch far up the South Fork of the John Day River in a small canyon. I photographed it quite a few times and only later got the idea of doing a painting. I love cabins. And this one seems about perfect in its setting-- if a bit far from stores or anybody actually. That's okay. I would have my animals and a monthly trip to town... oh and my dish for the computer and tv!

After I had done the digital sketch, I thought it'd be interesting to try and create the feeling of rain falling. It probably needs to be enlarged it to get the effect. Painting or photographing rain is never easy for me

Rocks and water

2010-02-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

Rocks and water. There is nothing I like spending time around more. These were in the Sabino Canyon out of Tucson Arizona

Tucson Mountains

2010-02-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

In putting together a kind of collage for another project, I realized that for years, I have not done many paintings of the desert. Oh there was the one of the petroglyphs, another of the San Rafael Valley, but not the saguaros near where I live when I am there. Mostly I photograph them and those come out so good that I don't do more with what I am seeing. That was a mistake as actually the color you feel when out there is far more impressive than what you see.

So this is a digital painting which might or might not end up an oil. It is from a gravel road out in the Tucson Mountains looking back toward Tucson which would be over that ridge if you could see over it.

Spring comes to Alsea Falls

2010-02-21T13:16:00.001-08:00

digital sketch from Alsea Falls -- February 20, 2010

By the boab tree

2010-02-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

Until a friend mentioned the song, By the Boab Tree, (playing alongside this art blog for now) it basically had gone right over my head even though I had watched Australia several times and liked the movie very much, especially the aboriginal spiritual belief that they can sing someone to them-- in a spiritual sense. Maybe we cannot do that but it's nice to think someone can.

Although boab trees are often leafless, I will pretend this one is during the rainy season and it's leafed out lushly like the love song that inspired it. In reading about the boab trees, I learned they only are in western Australia's Kimberley region. They provide food, medicine and shelter. The belief is their seeds came on the ocean waves from Madagascar and Africa as they are a relative of the baobab trees.

Some have asked why I do digital since there is no end product. The no end product is its main appeal. It costs me no dollars or space in the house since I already have the computer. It lets me explore my creativity and spiritual ideas in a way that doesn't end up with canvases piling up.

These little digitals are a meditation time for me as when I am working on one my mind can't be thinking about anything but it. While painting does the same thing, with painting I am more critical of the product. Here I am not. I am free to just do and give my brain a time out for awhile.

Sometimes one comes out in such a way that I think it might make an oil and the digital has served as a preliminary sketch. Mostly they serve their own ends.

When the rains come

2010-02-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

In a dry land, rains are a precious thing. They are awaited for eagerly-- especially by those who depend upon the land for their living.

digital

When it didn't work out

2010-02-15T16:25:00.001-08:00

digital

Dolphin Play

2010-02-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes painting is just play for me and this was such a time. The beginning doesn't always have a purpose. Here I started with a general concept and some shapes and then a 'what if' idea grew.

What if in a moment of magic, shining down from above, what if dolphins take on a different form just for a time? Are you that sure shape-shifting can't happen? Most know the legends of the selkies where the seals take off their skins and can become human for a time. Since dolphins are smarter than seals, why not them too?

Because this was digital play, I could expand what I had begun and change the emphasis from the magic to the dolphins. I have been fascinated by the possibility of shape-shifting. Perhaps most humans are hence the many myths about it.

An Award for this blog?

2010-02-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

Although I have had this blog for quite awhile, I had not made it findable on a search engine. I decided last month that if I was going to use it, I should be sharing it with more than a few friends.

My reluctance to share had come from its nature. It's very personal, far more so than Rainy Day Thought, which is my main blog. Here is where I paint my dreams, my ideas, art that comes from deep inside me (not to mention sometimes is of nudes). I think I was also reluctant to think it was good enough for others to want to see it. I am gradually getting more comfortable with sharing myself here.

I appreciated the email I got from Gerardine Baugh saying, "This is a way for people to connect on the internet" as she nominated me for the following award for this blog. It was an encouragement to me that I had done the right thing in opening it up. Maybe I'll even open up comments eventually :)

I cannot right now fulfill the requirements of passing it on to 12 other bloggers but will keep it in mind for the future.

Power of the Wolf Moon

2010-02-08T18:52:00.001-08:00

"In medical astrology the Sun represents the physical heart, but the Moon represents the emotional heart." Lynn Hayes

One with the canyon

2010-02-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

digital drawing

Our One Chance

2010-02-03T12:41:00.001-08:00

Abstracted view of the ocean and then with words by Mary Oliver that seem to go with the stormy sea.

For Imbolc

2010-02-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

"Into the night as the stars collide,

Across the borders that divide forests of stone standing petrified,
To be by your side.
Every mile and every year,
For every one a single tear.
I cannot explain this, Dear,
I will not even try." --Nick Cave

This is a digital experimentation using my photos and photoshop inspired by Imbolc and geese massing for their migration. It is not digital painting but purely manipulation of original photos to create something new.

Wild Woman

2010-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

Winter on the Metolius

2010-01-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

winter seas

2010-01-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

Swans in winter

2010-01-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

Autumn Skies

2009-10-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Digital painting

Friends and a computer

2009-10-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

Concentration

digital

Eye of the Storm

2009-10-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Experimenting, I used that digital photograph for one more idea, expressing how it feels sometimes to be in the midst of so much turmoil when you are trying to keep your bearings despite what is swirling around you.

Beyond the Beyond

2009-10-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

Because Samhain (Day of the Dead) is soon to be here, I got the idea of making a digital collage that would combine photos of my family members who have died with one of my own recent digital photos . My idea was that when I die, some of these people would be the ones I'd like to have help me to the other side. I tried two color combinations for background and not sure which I like best.

Painted Hills

2009-09-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

8x10 oil
abstract

Land of the Wind

2009-09-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

32 x 44
Oil painting

I would like to think this painting is now finished but sometimes things come along that let me see one more thing that isn't right. I know I am much happier with it now than before.

I think the problem was it was competing for what was dominant in attention. There wasn't a circle that took you through the painting but a conflict over center of interest. Maybe that's resolved now... It would be nice to have a painting work from the get-go but they rarely do for me. To see its progression, go down the blogs to the one where it has the original photos that led to the original premise.

Update: Well it wasn't finished as that one corner to the right simply was too flat. I felt it drew the eye out of the painting rather than carrying it back up into the sky. Changing it wasn't as easy as going back into a finished painting rarely is but now I think it's right and done... hopefully.

End of a Dream

2009-09-05T17:15:00.001-07:00

Digital painting

Webcams creating a mood

2009-09-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Brushing Hair

2009-08-05T04:03:00.000-07:00

The Future in Her Hands

2009-05-15T11:17:00.003-07:00

Thinking of how I want to combine, in my own thinking, mysticism with the practical, I took some digital photos hoping I'd get one that illustrated my feelings about it.

Land of the Wind...

2009-05-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

32" x 44" Oil

I am not sure if this painting is finished even now but when I looked at the previous views of it, I knew I hated the middle ground and nothing short of wiping it out was going to fix that. I also came to feel that the windmill was too large for the feeling I wanted to suggest with the painting.

This is a painting of a big land where wind is very important to its identity in the shapes of the hills, the storms that bring occasional rains, and the power through a windmill to bring water from underground to the surface. Maybe it's done now.

The second photo is of it before the windmill was added again. To be honest, the windmill from the standpoint of the painting might not have been needed except that it's part of the theme.

spring and winter along the creek

2009-04-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

It is spring along the creek with new growth everywhere; but it is not spring for her life but rather winter. She reflects on what has been and wonders over what is yet to come.

I decided to do a digital painting from photographs that gave me the idea of this winter to spring concept but where the photograph didn't say what I wanted. The digital painting above is not what I was feeling along the creek specifically but rather the place I am in life-- and after a week-end with the family where spring and youth were so strong, I saw my cycle of life in contrast. Not so much today but tomorrow.

Land of the Wind

2009-03-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

Land of the Wind

32" x 44"
Oil
This may not be finished. Below are some of its stages. The goal is to have the feeling of the wind, the shadows of the clouds moving across the land, all suggested by strokes of color, not photographic likeness. When you are in places like this, you feel the power of the wind and I would like to paint what can be felt but not seen. So far, I am happy with the foreground, sky and butte but less sure about the middle ground.

I will let this go for awhile and see how it feels in a day or two. It is still a work in progress-- which is one reason I have been doing the digitals (below). They are fun to work with while an oil is drying between stages. If I had a studio, I could have several oils going at once.
As part of understanding how a real place and imagination go together in paintings, these are two photographs that I used as beginning inspiration. They are in the San Rafael Valley, Arizona.

Old Lady and Old Cat

2009-03-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is a digital that has yet to become an oil

Grandma and the Boys

2009-03-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

Digital Painting from March 7, 2009

Child of the Moon

2009-02-05T04:19:00.000-08:00

Digital painting trying to depict the feeling and power of the moon.

Once more with feeling

2009-02-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

Sorting out the Dreams

2009-01-07T10:25:00.001-08:00

Sorting out the dreams
digital painting

Earth Mother

2008-07-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

digital painting

a Montana stream

2008-07-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite things is to spend time along a river or creek, photographing or painting a fisherman is good too.

Reworking old paintings

2008-05-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Offering to the Ancients seemed to be finished a couple of years ago but I kept being bothered by the sky. I finally decided it would be stronger with a stormy sky.

I am having a hard time getting my photographs to capture what the painting shows. A new challenge. This one has more of a grayish sky than the camera seems to indicate.

31 1/2" x 44 1/2" oil

37" x 48" oil

Canyon Madonna was a second attempt, originally painted in the mid 90s, to do a woman in a meditative pose. She is inspired by the many petroglyphs I have seen across the West and always wonder not only who painted them but what they were intended to represent. Mystery

Tidal Pool

2008-05-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

From a Dream

2008-05-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

A feudal couple that I saw in a dream story May 5th.

Digital painting using the soul mates digital from earlier and changing the features enough to fit the dream characters.

small oils

2008-03-12T13:30:00.001-07:00

buffalo along the Yellowstone River
oil 11"x14"

Haying Season

oil 8"x10"

An Oregon Winter Sky
oil 8" x 10"

The lighthouse

2008-02-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

Supposing the places where people have lived,
they can return.
That was the idea behind this computer painting.
The first one is perhaps the couple returning in the spirit
are they real or is this their energy?
This second one was done with intensifying the colors,
wondering what they might have looked like
a hundred years ago when they tended this place
perhaps when they raised their family here.

Alternate realities.

2008-01-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

These paintings, first two digitally created and second three acrylic oils, are to depict some things I have heard of spiritually but have never exactly figured out how to paint -- most especially when it's on the spirit end.
Twin Flames, is still in process and might change if I figure out how to show something that is spirit while using something solid-- which even painting with light is. Spirit and flesh, two halves of a whole, a concept more than the individuals (or would that be individual). Are these the faces of fleshly beings or only how they'd be seen in the spirit form? Spirit ones might not look like people at all. Maybe they'd be just light beings with no recognizable features. Maybe it would be through the energy that they would be recognized. To paint it though requires faces and I created these for this concept.

To take the mythic image and make it human, it should be a reflection of the higher soul. I worked hardest on the eyes as they say that where we might not recognize someone's face when we have been with them in other lifetimes, the eyes stay the same. When we look into them, we will recognize that person. The second painting, digitally using the same couple as above, relates to something a psychic told me this fall that I was doing-- my soul currently living an alternate life-- not just mine but another somewhere else at the same time. Naturally I don't know if that could be; or if it was what that life would look like or even what country it would be in, what cultural group.

Last summer, before that soul reader told me what she saw, I imagined such a possibility when in the Big Hole Valley and wrote about it in Alternate Lives.

The Bible speaks of twin souls as the beginning with Adam and Eve, but it is also in other myths like of Isis and Osiris, and today in new age books. Shirley Maclaine described what a twin soul would be, how it would be created, in her book The Camino about as well as I have heard it explained.

Through the years, I have both sculpted and painted this idea. These next three paintings were done over ten years ago and are acrylics. The first I called Twin Souls
In that same period, a Navajo wedding vase became the inspiration for a painting of a younger man and older woman. Is this his mother who is his other half? Or an older woman who is not letting go of her younger lover easily? Wedding Vase is in acrylic.Last there is Adam and Eve the second time around-- the concept being the first humans screwed up the earth and must start over-- acrylic but with some oil

snowy cabin

2008-01-12T19:51:00.001-08:00

I have always wanted to find some way to add snow to this image and then there it was on one of the blogs.

The cabin represents my dream. Snowy outside but warm and cozy inside--

Make custom Glitter Graphics

Sadness

2008-01-09T19:54:00.001-08:00

(computer painting)
A woman who cannot quite find a way to put it all together. The awareness of this is in her eyes, not so much tearful but more resigned.

landscapes (computer paintings)

2008-01-07T11:14:00.001-08:00

Winter Sky in Coast Range

Fall in Siskiyous

Woman on Fire

2007-12-15T16:38:00.001-08:00

(computer painting)

Warming Up

2007-12-12T16:40:00.000-08:00

(computer painting from magazine cover)

Sunset is Coming

2007-12-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

Computer painting inspired by another artist's painting which although I changed certain elements, it is still close enough that I won't paint it in oils. It spoke to where I am though and what I see for my future.

Guardians of the Bath

2007-09-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Illumined Freedom

2007-06-06T19:36:00.001-07:00

For years, this quote stayed in my wallet. By the time it got so tattered it was ready to fall apart, I had it ingrained in my heart.

working from a poem

2007-05-18T11:31:00.001-07:00

I had this idea about taking quotes I really liked, doing a piece of computer art that reflected the feeling of the poem. As I worked with it, my idea changed into taking the original thought from the poem and doing my own writing that hopefully depicted the feeling and idea behind the poem. Following are two such examples in their beginning stages of development. After each will be the quote that inspired my own versions.Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a winged bird that cannot fly.
Langston Hughes

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver

Master of his Range

2007-02-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

My goal here was an impressionistic view of a man with his cattle. The dominant subject is the man and his horse. Each painting is slightly different but with the same basic concept.

Having brought the cattle to the summer range, the boss takes a few moments to survey the area before he is off again.

Oil 20" x 24"

Moving Cattle
Oil 8" x 10"

Moving' Cattle

2007-01-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

Taking the cattle to summer range

Memories he can't leave behind

2007-01-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

(Computer painting)

Whether it's of a place,
a family he left behind,
or a woman he once loved.
For the moment,
a memory takes him there.

Moving Cattle in Montana

2007-01-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

(computer painting)

Hummm how did I miss that one?

With cattle, there is usually one
with the knack for disappearing
and reappearing.

Ropin' for the Brand

2007-01-18T11:06:00.001-08:00

computer painting

Not much to say about what is going on here. It's part of my desire to paint working cattleman and women of today. There will be more on this venue as I begin to learn how to do this from photographing the working people; then trying to turn the photographs into paintings. It's going to take some work on my part to get out there for the photographs, find ranches willing to let me come in with the camera, and then back home, getting the paint right. I have a few to work with to start learning the techniques and feelings that go with painting the modern west.

Forming the Circle

2007-01-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

(computer painting)

We draw to ourselves
what we need.
The battle is not one of the flesh
but of the spirit.