Can you tell I am having a lot of fun painting in Chris Crite’s style? This time I tackled a pose of Donald’s that I particularly like, of course, he was talking.
Once upon a time, Donald was training for Ramrod -that’s ride around Mount Rainier in one day for those of you that do not know. It’s about a 160 mile ride that must be done in one day. It’s a ride I was never interested in, because it was so long and hard. But one day he started talking about riding Hurricane Ridge, which is an out and back of a lot less miles. Seems to me it was about 30 miles up and then 30 miles back, or something like that. So I decided, to his absolute astonishment, that I would join him and whoever else wanted to do the ride. Our friend Ruth was the only other person crazy enough to want to do this ride, so the three of us went over on the ferry on a cold rainy day and rode up and down that mountain. Ruth left us far behind, because Donald kept my pace. He was absolutely amazing, coach, cheerleader, friend… And about an hour after Ruth got to the summit, we did too. And then we all went downhill as fast as each of us was comfortable. Ah, yes, the painting.
That’s me, actually laying on my back on a bench on the return ferry, looking at my best buddy while he took my picture.
This is an acrylic on paper painting. Thanks to Chris Crites, I am exploring Acrylics and having a lot of fun doing it.
Chris Crites is a brilliant young contemporary artist who happens to live in Seattle. I have enjoyed his work for years, his most prolific venue is painting mugshots on brown paper bags. Check out his website!
He offered a one day “Expand your Palette” workshop at Pratt, one of many fine art establishments near me, so just for fun, I attended. We all worked in acrylic, and were told to choose 5 colors. He explained his theory, and the whole class jumped in.
I decided to paint a picture of my nephew. It was a lot of fun, and I might do a few more like this! If you’d like one of you, let me know. For a donation to a wildlife charity, I could do it. Contact me for details.
I was needing inspiration, so Enza came over and took the chair next to me. She is a thirteen year old tortoiseshell former feral cat that took over our lives about 13 years ago.
This morning, I was able to sketch her twice for some small quick paintings, this is the first. I experimented using “dry brush” technique for the first time today. Interesting and fun. The first painting is not for sale, the second is. $50.00 takes it home.
Inspiration for a painting can come from lots of different things; and since I have always been particularly in tune with my dreams, I use them and a few of them are interesting enough to paint.
Now that my husband Donald is on the other side, I look for him in dreams, but I still was surprised to see him (in a particular dream) at the airport, walking with an elephant and a goat. The goat was less cooperative, she found her surroundings very interesting and continued to stray from Donald and the elephant. He was happy to see me, but he was busy with those animals. Silly me, I rushed back to my car to get my camera, and they were gone when I got back.
Anyone that cares to discuss the symbolism of this dream, feel free. I think it’s just a picture of him and his new friends.