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You are here: Home / Archives for oil painting

Margaritaville, Painting & Olivia

September 6, 2023 at 9:11 am by Claudia

♦ We’ve had long talks about Jimmy Buffet, Escape to Margaritaville, and the effect that project had on Don’s life. It was truly the highlight of his career and he is extraordinarily grateful, Any disappointments with the shortened length of the run have long since faded away. Years ago, in fact. Now, Don simply has gratitude for an opportunity that came out of nowhere at an age where he thought that kind of thing couldn’t happen. Gratitude for Jimmy, of course. Gratitude for the cast and crew and musicians, and all of the people who came to see E2M when it played in La Jolla, New Orleans, Houston, Chicago, and on Broadway. Extraordinary and devoted fans who made every performance completely joyful. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years in the theater – and if I counted up how many productions I have seen, coached, and worked on, it would be in the thousands. I’ve never witnessed such happiness and joy in the theater.

Complete and utter joy.

Like these ladies, devoted Parrotheads from the Charleston chapter, who had seen the show several times and traveled to NYC for the closing performance. They were sitting next to me and we had a great conversation. When I finally said that Don (J.D.) was my husband, they were thrilled. He was their favorite. And during the last performance of He Went to Paris, when Don sang his wonderful solo and hit a very, very low note, I started to sob, and all three of them reached out to touch my shoulder and hold my hand. The spirit of these women was echoed in every fan who came to see the show. Good people, many of them chapter members who raised money for charities. I immediately thought of these women when we heard the news about Jimmy.

I was the recipient of lots of hugs from Jimmy on closing night and got to kiss him on the cheek. Lucky me!

And lucky, lucky Don for the gift of that incredible experience.

We miss you Jimmy. Rest in Peace.

♦ C’est fini.

There were lots of leaves on the ground in the photo of the Jardin du Luxembourg, and I added them, but I didn’t like what I’d done or how I’d painted them (not in my skill set, yet) so I painted over them. Now the promenade is leaf-free.

I’m not sure what I’m going to try next…I’ll be thinking about that today.

♦ Very, very hot and humid here. Truly dreadful. Grateful for working a/c and indoor pursuits.

♦ I had a great phone conversation yesterday with my friend Doug (the designer, costumer, and doll creator.) I just love him and I’ve felt that way since we first met when I was 17 years old. He’s just a fantastic human being. Yesterday, I got the lowdown on how he got involved with Gene Marshall dolls, as well as information on all the other dolls he created – at several points, having to travel to China to instruct the artists there on how to make the dolls and the clothing. He would sleep at the factory. It’s all so fascinating.

And finally, Olivia would like to point out that the limelight hydrangeas are turning pink and they match her dress!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

Filed Under: Blythe dolls, Escape to Margaritaville, oil painting 20 Comments

Monday Thoughts

September 4, 2023 at 8:44 am by Claudia

From the other night. I like this angle, with the reflection of the sunset on my neighbor’s solar panels.

♦ Thanks for all your kind comments on the passing of Jimmy Buffett. Don is having a really hard time with it. He has experienced the loss of a few friends this year, and now this. Unexpected and shocking, though we know now he’d been fighting cancer for a while. James Taylor said that keeping it quiet was very much Jimmy. We’ve been in contact with various cast members of E2M and everyone is devastated.

Don had a gig on Saturday night, so he donned a Hawaiian shirt that he wore onstage in Margaritaville  and sang that song as part of his set. The obvious things apply: it just doesn’t seem possible for such a life force to be gone, he was so loved by so many, how kind and good he was – all of it.

♦ Moving in another direction – today I am fixing something on my painting that I don’t like. I left it alone for two days so the paint would dry a bit, but today is fix it day. I went a little too far with something and now I want it gone.

♦ Animals continue to be fascinated by the porch – I’m used to seeing chipmunks go back and forth, but the groundhogs and  bunnies are a whole new thing. This morning, I was sitting in my chair in the den and the window was open. I kept hearing sounds coming from the porch, fairly quiet, but definitely a kind of gentle scuffling. Finally I got up and opened the front door to investigate and there was a rabbit. The whole thing fascinates me because of course I go out there after the animal has exited to see if there’s been any damage to plants. Nothing. They’re just exploring.

So I’m calling it The Case of the Curious Animals and the Porch.

♦ We are in for a very hot and humid week, which I am not looking forward to. Temps in the low nineties, high humidity; the kind of weather I loathe. I guess Mother Nature is giving us one last taste of summer.

♦ I’m still reading several chapters of War and Peace  a day. If I was working full time, I’d keep to a chapter a day, but I have a lot of free time and Tolstoy is one of the greatest of writers, so why not? I am way ahead of the schedule. I’ll be done in a week or so.

♦ And I’m still watching Landscape Artist of the Year. I’ve moved from the first four seasons, which are on Amazon Prime, to the episodes on YouTube, which are a bit trickier to watch in order because many of them are not identified as “Season whatever, episode whatever.” That drives me a bit nuts, but I’m getting a semblance of chronological order, maybe missing an episode or two, which I’ll hopefully pick up later in the process. I’m fascinated by all of the different styles of painting and I try to really take in the brush strokes, the use of light, etc.

I’ll move on to Portrait Artist of the Year  after I’m done with Landscape. I’m a bit less interested, simply because I don’t ever see myself doing any kind of portrait, but I’m sure I’ll get hooked as soon as I watch the first episode.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

Filed Under: books, Escape to Margaritaville, oil painting, reading 22 Comments

Sunset, Garden Update & Painting

September 1, 2023 at 8:15 am by Claudia

The sunset Wednesday evening:

I’ve always loved that combination of a blue, blue sky and pink clouds.

We mowed the front lawn yesterday. Today, we take a day off from our mowing duties to recover. Tomorrow, the corral and back forty. The grass is still growing as if it’s spring, not fall. I’m not sure when it will slow up. But we do have a stretch ahead of us with no rain. Yes, no rain until next Friday. Whatever will we do?

A deer has eaten the tops off all the milkweed plants, which is problematic because that’s where the seed pods develop. In fact, I think he ate the pods. I can see only two plants that have retained their pods, so I’m hoping they’ll distribute enough seeds for more plants next year.

He’s also chomped on my coleus in the secret garden, which is so secret that he sneaks in there without me noticing. But at this point, I no longer care, just as I no longer do any weeding. Well, I do a little, but not much.

As to the garden, some little bits of information – despite my worry about the deer chomping on the David phlox and a bush or two, every plant recovered and new blooms formed. And the calibrachoa that lives in an urn on the porch and was eaten by a groundhog also came back and is in full bloom. My lesson from this is to refrain from getting too upset by these things. Though it’s frustrating, mother nature always tends to heal and restore.

The phlox is still in bloom, though waning a bit. The coneflowers are still purple and white, but they’re starting to look pretty tired. The brown-eyed susans are still going strong, even though they bloomed earlier than usual this year. My Annabelle hydrangea is looking downtrodden and the blooms are turning brown – the rain did a big number on that bush. The limelight hydrangea is beginning to turn pink. The spirea is in its second bloom. And my two Rose of Sharons have provided an endless supply of blooms. I think there are only a few buds yet to open but I’m so grateful for their big flowers and their height. They are in the memorial garden and boy, have they enriched that particular space! Tall zinnias are still opening in one of the beds – a late summer gift. My small hydrangea (endless summer) had absolutely NO blooms until about a week ago. And even then, only two. Go figure.

And the porch plants are still going strong. It’s not too long before I’ll be bringing them in at night because of a freakishly early frost warning. And then the dance will begin until I finally accept the arrival of cold weather and regretfully let them go.

I’m in the middle of a painting – still very much a work in progress.

The inspiration is a photo I took in one of our favorite places, the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. There’s still a lot more to go, but it’s been fun. Every painting is a learning experience, especially for an amateur like me.

Last night, we watched one of my favorite movies ever – the 1939 version of Stagecoach, directed by John Ford, and starring a cast of incredible actors, including a young John Wayne (before he became a bit of a caricature – he’s so good in this) Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine and a host of great supporting actors. We often google the actors before we close up and go to bed and some research on Claire Trevor (who breaks my heart in this movie, she’s so good) showed a picture of her standing before an easel with a paintbrush in her hand. A portrait was on the easel. Sure enough, she was a painter and had studied art as a young woman. When she was older she had more time to paint. An old Architectural Digest profile showed her Manhattan apartment with portraits she had painted hanging on her walls, including one of Virginia Woolf and a young Pablo Picasso.

She was really, really talented! She also supported the arts, so much so that the University of California, Irvine named their school of the arts The Claire Trevor School of the Arts. It focuses on the performing and visual arts.

She lived to be 90 years old. I’ve always been a big fan but the discovery of her paintings is an added bonus.

I’m surging ahead with War and Peace, no longer simply reading a chapter a day. I’ll probably finish by the end of September. I’m also back to The Deptford Trilogy, reading the second book in the trilogy – The Manticore. I have six books on order from the library, some of which won’t even be published until later this month.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

Filed Under: books, garden, movies, oil painting 38 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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