A rainy Monday here at the cottage, and I believe tomorrow will be rainy as well.
I started a little project yesterday. I’m going to do a little oil painting every other day or so. Maybe every day, who knows? They are intended to be done quickly without too much editing (though I did do a little editing later in the day.) The intention is to simply get in the habit of painting. To see what happens. I have no idea what my style is; frankly, I don’t think I have a style. I’m a beginner, and that is painfully obvious.
So yesterday, I put a few blobs of different paint colors (I think 5) inside a little tin, grabbed a couple of brushes, and sat down on the glider on the porch. I painted one of my favorite views on the porch. It’s what? Impressionistic? Childlike? I’m not sure. But I did it in less than an hour.
That sketchbook was a gift from reader Kathy. (Kathy, I didn’t prep the paper at all. I suppose I should, but it’s thick enough to take the paint.) I didn’t have the exact colors of paint I needed and because I had vowed to stick with what I had, this is what you get.
I guess you’d call it a ‘study?’ Or a Grandma Moses-type painting? Or maybe just a Claudia-painting.
Anyway, I’m okay with this one. Don LOVES it, but I am more critical. There are things I’d do differently if I had another go at it.
I’m going to take this little journey and find out who I am as a painter. Though I loved painting all the Roseville Pottery, I don’t want to do just that. We’ll see what I come up with.
I’m posting this here to hold myself accountable. You’ll see the good, the okay, and the “what was I thinking?”
I finished the first Richard Osman – The Thursday Night Murder Club – yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It’s so well-written and plotted. How refreshing to read a book that makes me laugh out loud! While I was reading it, I ordered the next book – The Man Who Died Twice – from the library and because it turned out my local library had it on the shelves, I got it right away. I’ve just started it.
And to prove that reading a chapter a day of an epic classic really does pay off:
Check it out! Look how much we’ve read! (I say ‘we’ because Don is reading W & P, too.) We are heading toward the finish line. Sometimes I fall behind and have to play catch-up, and sometimes, like now, I’m ahead by a chapter or two. TOLSTOY!!! A frigging brilliant writer. Stunningly brilliant.
Next year we’re doing a chapter a day of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell Trilogy, which includes Wolf Hall, Bring Up The Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light. I’m not drawn to historical fiction and usually avoid it, but when Mantel died, I read a lot about these books and I had a glimmer of an idea that I should read them. Then, when Simon (who hosts the readalong) suggested these books for next year, I was thrilled. A message from the Universe, I think.
I have no idea what I’m going to paint today, Hopefully, I’ll find some inspiration despite the gray skies.
Okay. Remember our new schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
