Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Friday Thoughts

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The other day, after the rain.

Rain. We just had an another storm, this time an early morning rain. I woke up too early from coughing in my sleep. As soon as I woke up, my brain went into worry mode, so I got up and made some coffee. Unfortunately, I also woke up Don, who tried to get back to sleep. No dice. He came downstairs to join me about 15 minutes after I got up.

I am really sick of all the rain. The ground is incredibly saturated. Our new dehumidifier is fabulous and it works so hard to dry everything out, only to have it rain again and again. I don’t think I remember a summer that’s been this intensely stormy and wet. I guess we’ll say it’s “one for the books.”

I finished the second book in the Thursday Night Murder series and I’m waiting for the third to arrive at my local library. In the meantime, I’ve returned to The Deptford Trilogy. I’m reading the second book in the trilogy – The Manticore. I’m a couple of chapters ahead in the War and Peace  readathon.

I’m going to sit down at the easel today and start a new painting. Speaking of which, I finally signed one of my paintings on the painting itself, rather than on the back as I had been doing with the Roseville Pottery series.

That’s due to Don. He always urges me to “sign the painting!” I finally listened to him.

The sun has come out after this morning’s rain. Hurrah!

I’m rather addicted to Landscape Artist of the Year  and spend far too much time watching it! I started with the 4th season (on Amazon Prime) and now I’m on the the 2nd season. Going backwards. Then I’ll head to YouTube and watch the more recent seasons. It’s fascinating and I try to really take in all the techniques and styles. I love that there are so many different ways of  “seeing” a landscape. When I’ve finished with Landscape Artist, I’ll watch Portrait Artist of the Year.

Must force myself to paint today and not get distracted by other things.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Flowers

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We’re almost halfway through August. My goodness, time seems to move so quickly. The long awaited summer turned into something not-so-wonderful in terms of the weather. However, I work hard to find little pockets of wonder and gratitude no matter the weather woes.

It’s turned humid again and the temps have been in the low to mid eighties. When I was growing up in Michigan, August was the humid month. Philadelphia was unbearably humid for a big chunk of the summer. Boston? More like Michigan. San Diego was rarely, if ever, humid. We didn’t need an air conditioner. Now it can be humid for several weeks. I’m lucky to have lived in San Diego when it had that perfectly moderate weather that people raved about. My husband grew up in that climate – lucky him!

Today is a mowing day. The front lawn has grown way too much and we have more rain coming this week so we have to get on it.

Finished.

I’m not happy with the leaves, but I’ll work on leaves another day. This painting was mainly about the rose and I like the way it turned out. It’s my first time painting a flower in detail and as the main subject matter and I feel pretty good about the result.

I’m still contemplating what to choose for my next painting. Since today will be about mowing, I won’t start a new painting. But ideas are percolating!

Don had a gig on Saturday and has at least three more slated for September. I’m so happy he’s doing this again. He needs to perform and share his music with others. He’s a born entertainer and I know he’s been missing that. It’s been a very tough 4 years with no acting work at all and it breaks my heart. He’s such a wonderful actor. I hope, once the strike ends, that things turn around for him.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Painting

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We are at the end of our first week on the new blog posting schedule. It’s worked out very well for me. Though I loved the discipline of writing every day, having three days free at this point has been very nice indeed. I still have to write ‘Blog’ and ‘No Blog’ in my planner, but it will soon become habit.

So remember (if you somehow missed my post about the change) Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are the days I’ll be posting. I will not post on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.

For the past three days, I’ve been working on a painting based on a photo I took of one of the roses in the memorial garden. I’m more pleased with it than I thought I would be! It’s still very much ‘in progress.’

Here’s what I have so far:

I’ve just sketched in the leaves as they were in the photo.

I find I love – just as I did with the Pottery series – the process of adding and subtracting and refining that comes with a little time away from the painting. I often discover that I’ve been looking at a portion of the subject the wrong way, that I’ve been missing a little detail.

A big bonus: I tend to lose myself in the process. I think there’s no better feeling than that.

I was going to paint upstairs in the office but it’s a bit too warm up there in the summertime and I find I like painting at the kitchen table. Don is usually around, often strumming his guitar, and I like knowing he’s there. There’s a shared creative energy in the space. Plus, the light is much better in the kitchen, which has windows on every wall.

I am a beginning explorer of this medium, someone who grew up feeling that my talents were focused elsewhere, that Dad and a couple of my siblings had the talent for this particular medium, not me. That was fine, because I knew I was a singer and an actor and that I would make my living in the theater someday. I knew I’d been blessed.

But I can’t help thinking how chuffed my dad would be to see me playing with paint. I often think of him during these sessions. I miss him.

And to add to that, we began watching another Nordic series last night and one of the lead actors looked so much like my brother that it momentarily took my breath away. He could be his twin.

I miss him, too.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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