I have always lived where there are mountains on the horizon. We took a family vacation once and traveled east where we saw the sun rise up out of the ground in front of the car. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. I admit that I feel a sense of comfort to be surrounded by mountains.
From a Distance
Unforeseen circumstances kept me away from both my studio and my computer the past few days. There are just some things you can't do from a distance. But today you can see Manzanita Beach on the Oregon coast from a distance. I love how one single brush stroke can make all the difference between a muddy mess and exactly what I wanted I wanted to say.
Emerging Face
It's always interesting to see the painting digitized and uploaded. Of course you can't see all of the detail that you see in real life. But it's more than that. When I'm painting my nose is (very literally) so close to the canvas that sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees. Several times I have considered a painting finished, photographed it, viewed it on the website edit page, gasped, and gone back to the canvas. Obviously I don't think I'm finished this time, but it is another moment when I am seeing things I didn't see when I was sitting at my canvas. I actually like how her face is emerging from the canvas almost as if she is passing into the room through an ethereal veil. And even though her hands are just barely blocked in, they already feel as if they are hanging on to something important. At this stage I feel very much like a new mother looking at her perfect infant and praying that she will just not mess him up...
Profile
A profile is a view of something from only one side. Today my subject got a profile. She has her face to the light and is soaking up the warmth of the sun. But there's more to her than just this one side. And yet, that's all we'll get to see.
How often do we see only one side of a person? How often do we create a profile in our minds of what a person is? I'm working on getting to know people more fully and accepting them as a whole person rather than just certain aspects of them. This isn't always possible. So I try to remember that everyone is a whole person whether I can see all of them or not. I guess this has become important to me because I want others to see me in the same way.
The Light
"Go toward the Light", "The Light at the end of the tunnel", "I saw the Light"... we've heard the phrases. For a moment I thought "I think gratitude is the light". But then I really started thinking about it. The Light can represent hope, faith, peace, rest, inspiration... but gratitude? On further reflection I concluded that gratitude is actually when we act whether the Light will be there or not.
Sage, Rosemary and Time
Today I tried adding a little sage to the porch. It was later in the day and the lighting in my studio wasn't quite right. Looking at it now all enlarged on the screen I realize I'll need to go back and futz with it a little more - when the time is right.
Green Green Grass of Home
It never ceases to amaze me how following the rules actually works. There were certain elements here that just felt so wrong. I just kept following the rules anyway, and sure enough, the grass became grass behind the railing, the dirt became dirt, the leaves came forward but stayed behind the railing, and the railing bent in all the right places. It's not until after we follow the rules that we can know of a surety that the rules are right.
Perspective
I've been working so hard on "Sunday Dinner" the past couple of weeks that I haven't taken the time to really get out and enjoy the incredible weather we are having here on the coast. So today I decided to just do it. And, as I typically do, I tried to squeeze in too many errands and of course ran into glitches, so my artist date time got eaten up.
As I was driving along 101 looking out over Tillamook Bay I saw this flying saucer... I mean castle... I mean mountain... I mean... what is it? I pulled over and took a photo.
When I got home I was frustrated that my afternoon out produced only this one photo. As I was processing it I was thinking about how what it is depends on the perspective of the viewer. And then it hit me. The success of my artist date depends just as much on the perspective of the viewer.
If I had been determined to drive down 101 and look across the bay to see Cape Mears, I would have been sorely disappointed because a fog bank only allowed me to see the point of the mountain. Instead, I was delighted at the view the fog created. So maybe instead of being upset that my time wasn't spent the way I intended, I can be delighted that a handful errands can be crossed of my list, that I got to spend some time with people I love, I did an act of service, and I got to be out of the house breathing and seeing and listening and feeling an absolutely perfect day on the Oregon Coast.
Perspective...