Janice Law's Blog, page 23
August 4, 2012
Migration
It’s August and still hitting the 90’s more often than I would like, but the migration season is already underway. I haven’t heard the wood thrush singing now for several evenings and the catbird that stripped away every single one of the early season blueberries must be headed south because we have been picking the late crop.
The little chipping sparrows are all flocking and the tree and barn swallows, too, and I saw a solitary sandpiper the other day at the pond where I swim. Clearly the signal has gone out and more and more of our ‘summer’ birds will start to slip away south.
August 2, 2012
New Color
One of the pleasures of painting is discovering a new and useful color. A few years ago I found that cadmium yellow deep was excellent with white and a red for light skin tones.
Now another cadmium, cad green, has proved useful for what I find are the particularly tricky greens. In particular, it makes a nice bright sun struck grass when mixed with light cad yellow. The downside is that its unmixed emerald has a tendency to be overly bright and strident. But greens are always hard.
July 25, 2012
The local Congregational church has a summer Bible school.
These...
The local Congregational church has a summer Bible school.
These little people seemed to be having a good, if non-Biblical, time.
July 16, 2012
Tour de France
The Tour is now two thirds of the way through and the weekend illustrated both the romance of the Tour and its vulnerability.
Friday, David Millar, a personal favorite won stage 12 at age 35 after a monster breakaway. Very exciting and nice to see one of the older riders in top form.
Sunday, some idiot dumped tacks and nails on the top of the last climb, causing thirty punctures in the peloton, one disabling crash, and three changes of bikes/wheels for the fourth place rider and defending champion, Cadel Evans. This sort of nonsense is one of the chief dangers for the riders, a couple of whom had received minor burns earlier in the race from over- excited flare- wielding fans.
But the response to the punctures from the race leader, Bradley Wiggins, and the various team managers was in the best tradition of the sport. Under Wiggins’ direction, the race was ‘neutralized’- the peloton turned off the gas – until Evans and the other riders were able to rejoin. Wiggins and Evans completed the race riding side by side.
This display of sportsmanship was in the best traditions of the Tour and one of the indications that road cycling, despite many problems, has preserved a touch of romance.
July 15, 2012
Old women & dreams
I noticed a woman running down the road the other day in her nightdress. No crisis, I suspect. Just the usual- missing cat, dog in the neighbor’s yard, message for a friend.
When I painted her, she came out looking quite different- a mix of a variety of different people- and her very ordinary background took rather a dreamlike turn. That made me think how seldom surreal or dreamlike paintings feature anything but nubile beauties. So a little faintly surreal painting with a woman unapologetically of ‘a certain age.’
July 12, 2012
Dragonflies
The butterflies are all over our front garden, but down by my friend’s pond, the dragon flies hold court, and their beautiful colors give the butterflies real competition.
Besides the usual brown- black dragon flies, there are blue-green ones, deep red ones, and some with particolored wings, pale blue and black and sometimes with a double blue stripe on black, making them look like old fashioned biplanes.
They hover over the dark and gold water of the pond, keeping a wary eye on the many hungry fish below.
July 10, 2012
Unending struggle
Our nice new hybrid day lilies have all bloomed in this their second year in the garden. The blooms are still on the plants thanks to deer spray, drops of ghost pepper sauce, and fishing line strung between bamboo stakes.
Deer dislike mysterious things that touch their faces, and I suspect that they are not fond of hot peppers, either. Interestingly, they are connoisseurs of lilies. The old hardy orange ones bloom undisturbed. Only expensive delicate hybrids tempt the local herd.
Well defended hybrid daylilies
Well defended hybrid daylilies
