Tuesday, December 4, 2012

My Inner Artist is Working His Way Out

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I am getting ready to do some painting this next year.  My mother, my daughter and I like to paint.  But, I haven’t painted for years and I want to get back into it.

My mother got me a beautiful – and very large – easel for my most recent birthday.  It is not in the picture above, but that is a picture of me with a table-top easel doing some preliminary sketching just to get some of the feel back.

Now, to paint, first you have to move back to visualizing the world as an artist does.  That is what I loved with Grannymar’s recent sunset pictures, because she is seeing the world like an artist as when she goes to the countryside and city and does her photojournalism of the sculptures and architecture.  So, last week, I took a series of photos with a camera I carry with me at all times in a cargo pocket of my pants.  And, yes, I tend more to the utilitarian than the fashionable, LOL!

Here are my results.  First, a golden sunset:

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Our sunsets gain their beauty from the marine layer over the Pacific and the sun setting below it.  At one stage, they will look golden as in the photo above from my front porch looking West.  At other times, they will look more red:

red_sunset

I’m also drawn to the autumn colors, whether Maple leaves strewn across a grassy area on one of our walks:

autumn_maple_leaves

Or our tree out front showing its autumn beauty through our front window:

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At other times, I will be drawn to a more surreal setting like this picture off of our patio of the moon in the clouds seen next to our solar powered Japanese style lantern:

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At others, it will be a spontaneous response to something that catches the eye in the moment, like this seagull flying overhead:

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It is gradually coming to focus for me and I will have plenty of subjects to consider.  This is a form of meditation for me.

12 comments:

  1. I hope we get to see the finished product!

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  2. What better way to meditate? I recently had a chat with an atheist that would have appealed to you. He was waxing eloquent about natural selection and I said that I call natural selection God. It is a matter of simply transforming a verb into a noun. When he said that he did not believe in God, I responded that if he simply sat quietly and meditated he would know God and then he would not have to believe in God. When he expressed doubt, I asked him what is the God that he did not believe in and he could not find an answer.

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    1. @Rummuser

      "if he simply sat quietly and meditated he would know God and then he would not have to believe in God"

      That is beautifully put!

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  3. Go for it, Fossil, follow your passion. My favorite is the view of the tree through your front window, love the colors of the changing leaves.
    Blessings ~ Maxi

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  4. I long ago decided against looking up as seagulls - very dangerous unless at a decent angle....

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    1. @shackman

      An artist must be willing to sacrifice for his art, LOL.

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  5. I spent last week painting, I even mixed my own paints. The ceiling and walls are looking well now! LOL! Love the colours in the skies and the tree.

    We had a day of sunshine, so I took my camera for a walk, so watch out for some more skies....

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    1. @Grannymar

      One of the true delights of my day is seeing pictures from your jaunts. Keep them coming!

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  6. I like the idea of meditating while composing and shooting. I love to shoot people and turn my photos into a journal story. It is far from meditating, but it makes me happy. Your photos are beautiful and you have a good eye for composing. Looking forward to many more.

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    1. @Maria

      I'd love to just embrace your attaboy, but honesty actually was able to override my ego. I meant that the painting was meditation for me. The photography may be more my calling and I plan to pursue it as fully and more, but the painting is what I want to migrate back to. I kind of view the photography as part of the same continuum, of the overall process, because I will paint beginning with the photo model.

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