Panorama Photos

Route 17, Addison, Vermont
Snake Mountain (center)
Green Mountains in the distance
Left Photo

Right Photo

Cropped center left
Note the cumulus cloud

Panorma View
Route 17, West Addison, Vermont

To paint from photographs, I sometimes create a panorma image. 

I crop from a point where in both pictures, there is an identifiable feature. In the photo above, the cumulus cloud with the dome is a good place. From there I can see the section that overlaps in each image.

The scale of the painting is another story. I can condense, and lose the vastness of the landscape or I can go wide vertical to capture the breath of the image.

This particular landscape is perfect for a 4 season photograph. The fields in early spring will not all be plowed. In summer, there will be corn growing there. In fall the corn will be dry and in the stages of being harvested. In winter, there will be snow on the fields and/or on the Green Mountains.  

When the pictures were taken, the ground was in the process of drying out from lots of rain. You can see on the left center where some of the fields are plowed (dark soil).

🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

Once again it is overcast, dreary, and raining. I managed to have a sound uneventful sleep last night, and a nap this morning. I'm reducing my stress by switching my get out around people more, (a chore for sure) by going to a library no hassles just show up gathering. For exercise today, laundry. For soul fun, a few watercolor sketches of the photos above.  And for the brain, watching the Moorsea calming video from the YouTube channel, My Tranquilitee.

Have a Lovely Day!

A Morning's Internet Browsing

Homemade Coffee Frappe

Thinking of summer this morning, I browse American artists listed on Wikiart.org. I was looking for a nice bright sunny beach  painting for a mid winter pick me up. I see a line up of walrus mustached old men, and very few women artists. 

Reading the artist's names, one that sticks out, Cadurcis Plantagenet Ream, 1838~1917, American still life painter of mainly fruit. All right, painting still life fruit is art. But, what was going through his mind to paint a bunch of raspberries on a cabbage leaf?

Raspberries on a Cabbage Leaf
C.P.Ream

On the theme of interesting names, I find an American female multiracial sculptor, Edmonia Lewis, 1844~1907. Her first name has a beautiful musical vibe.

The marble sculpture in the photo posted below is part of a series she did from H.W.Longfellow's poem, "The Song of Hiawatha," 1855. The young woman at the feet of the arrow maker is Minnehaha. There is also a Lewis' marble bust of Minnehaha.

The Old Arrow Maker
Marble 1872

Finding new to me American artists is a better use 

of my time than playing computer games online.

I also look at an American impressionist, Lilla Cabot Perry. Her name, to me, screams Boston. And Boston is where she was born in 1848. She died in 1933 at Hancock, New Hampshire 91 years ago yesterday. 

Does she have a summer beach painting? No, but the painting in the photo below, has soothing summer sunlight that is just as good. The scene reminds me of a place near Walden Pond, Lincoln, Massachusetts where we had picnics when I was a kid.

The Violoncellist
1907 by Lilla Cabot Perry

What do you like to browse online instead 

of playing computer games?

When Less Is More

Upstate New York in the Fall

The above color sketch is from a photograph as well as a memory of either Eagle or Paradox Lake, Upstate New York. I was on a foliage tour in late October when many trees had shed their foliage already. Not driving, I had a chance to take more pictures. The reflections in the water with the stone outcrop caught my attention.

What surprises me about the watercolor is that despite least amount of detail or notes for when and where,  I remember the location, driving west on Route 74, it is on the right. 

We went into Schroon Lake before turning around to go east on Route 74 back to Ticonderoga, and back to Vermont. I know on the drive we pass both lakes. I don't recall which lake the scene is from.

The artwork got me to thinking about less is more. Creating art should be relaxing. Yet, many of us, I feel, try so hard to fulfill our ideal artist image that Earth flattens and we fall over the edge. 

Ideal. Not bad to have an ideal image of something. Not good to strive to achieve an ideal when in reality, we are unique, not necessarily an ideal. We might fit a person's ideal image, but that is their opinion. Thinking more, I ponder how to relax and just be myself without struggling.

To relax better. Quiet. No Internet, TV,  phone, music. Just quiet surroundings with normal noises. Then I thought, why not take a day to go offline? Less Internet in order to gain creative control.

The orange nasturtium exercise this week on day 2, I almost forgot to look at it. There is sunshine this morning. I slept well. Now, I have a new plan to add...being offline during daylight hours from sunrise to sunset. This week offline will not be Wednesday because there are PBS shows I like to watch. I have too much to do on Thursday. Friday is busy as well. Ah, maybe trying out a block of hours to start is better, say from 1 PM to 7 PM.

Have you tried a whole day being offline? 

Did you feel more relaxed?

Waldemar Tells The Story Of The Rococo | Before Bedtime (Full Series) | ...

This series of art documentaries is outstanding! I highly recommend the viewing.
Note, the video runs for 2:59:39 hours.

Day 293 of Week 42 October 2023, Thoughts About Moxie

Live Study in Pastel 2001

This week has been slow. Overwhelming by the new painting to start?. I expect the first post tonight because I am anxious to set up the canvas. Time got away from me.

I saved about 90% of my live study drawings from both drawing courses, 101 and intermediate. They are reference for confidence when I'm feeling depressed about everything. The reminder that I am not without some talent is like the voice of a best friend we always listen to. 

The night before handing in my final project, a portfolio of drawings, I was up into the wee hours of the morning, running on empty, sheer will to finish the way I want them. After the grading, I went through my drawings. To my surprise, I  didn't remember making the wavy line on her right arm. It was a disturbing shock.

After a while, the memory began creeping back as how I felt running on empty. Empty is when you are beyond too tired, without sleep for well over 24 hours. You can physically and mentally feel the empty as a clear uncluttered thought plane. Whatever you have, your moxie is there in its raw form.

Each time I begin a painting, I remember that thought plane. It helps me push away cluttering ideas, grand ideas, unrealistic ideas that can obscure what I want to achieve. There are several factors than can impact on a person's ability to make decisions. As we age, our sharpness can diminish. Decisions are uncomfortable when they don't flow easily. Memories that hold us up are nice to have. 

I might frame the pastel. 

Post Hiatus

The Middlebury River
Acrylic on canvas 2022
M.Flannery

Post hiatus (hi ay tus). Projects are lined up along with canvases. I feel refreshed. I am especially pleased the comments to my political post are positive. 

Art. Remember the painting series posted last year for the artwork in the photograph above? Well, I will be starting another series from a different photo as yet to be taken. Once again, the series is for an impressionism landscape. 

Internet. In my travels, checking this blog's name on Google, I learned a website that promoted blogs for free, (send in email and URL), has changed to a free plus paid service. It is good to have a plan to promote your blog if you are in business or want to increase traffic to your website for advertising income. That is beyond my small blog world, but other's might consider such a plan.

I believe it is a good idea to Google  your name as well as your blog's name on a regular basis. You never know what might be out there. 

Cereal. Instead of sugary snacks, I treated myself to a box of Special K Blueberry cereal. Breaking up the monotony of oatmeal feels great. Besides, I sometimes like to have cereal for dinner. 

October. Starting this month felt to me like walking into a twilight zone. October 7 actual date. My brain date, September 30th. It is a good thing I had to grocery shop or else I would have missed the oranges of the distant mountains. The trees nearby are just beginning to turn color. When they are at peak foliage, the mountains are past peak foliage.

Over the long weekend, on Route 7, Saturday morning I saw long lines of vehicles traveling south where the foliage and mountains are poplar drives. There was also a quilt show in Middlebury that day. My mask and I stayed home.

Shots. The senior flu shot, done deal, I got it. Arm was sore going in from wrestling with an Ocean Spray juice bottle. (Even after cutting the plastic connectors to the cap, I struggled to get the bottle open.) My arm is tender two hours after the shot. When I lift my arm, I feel the injection site. No redness or swelling. An ice bag later will help keep it that way.

Please read the CDC, and other sources about covid, flu, RSV shots and decide for yourself to get injected.

Remember, being healthy decreases the burden on the health care system as well as your income.

Starting the Month Ouch Right

Handmade composition viewer
from a cracker box

Preparing for photograph excursions this fall, I want to make my own composition viewers. On YouTube I found a lovely tutorials. 

So there I was chomping on whole wheat Carr's crackers when I decide to cut up the box and make a composition viewer.

The small viewer is covered in blue painter's tape to give it stability. I'll make one with a larger opening, and one that is adjustable.

~~~~~~~

The last week of August was slow with a few nice weather days. Not summery, but when the sun is out, I feel grateful.

Fall in the air sends my thoughts to a garden project where I plan to put in a nice autumn scene with mums, corn stalks, and pumpkin cut outs in wood and painted.

The short of the story, looking for a jigsaw, I found my old sander on the cupboard top shelf. 

Wrangling it to the edge, I had it right towards my waiting hands when the wire tiered basket (2+ feet tall) on the shelf next to it decides to also tumble. I saw it. I knew where it was going. I just didn't have hands, time, or fast enough reaction to get out of the way or stop it from landing across my forehead above my eye. 

You know what I have now?

An eye sore.*

😬

laughing

*No bruising or wound though, just sore. 

Correction, light blue bump, 

Small ice bag slides off when watching YouTube.

 

I Google head injuries to refresh what I already know.

Head injuries can impact the retina. Years ago that happened,

flashing lights in my peripheral vision. Doctor back then said not detached, but be careful, and go to doctor if it happens again. This accident wasn't that bad, thankfully.

Watching Videos Versus Staring Into Space

Watercolor practice

 

How we spend our time is an investment in our future. With depression, too much time can be spent sitting in a chair or on the sofa doing nothing but thinking. Staring into space for hours on end need not be a session of thinking random thoughts. Think Screen.

A monitor screen in front of us playing a video instead of looking into the space in the room, is in my opinion, (being a hours on end staring into space person with chronic depression), the better investment in our future and our present.

Thus, my computer screen for the last few weeks has been music (for energy), art, history and archaeology videos on YouTube and the Quest Channel websites.

The benefits are an increase in energy (on day 4 or 5 of exercise bike), feeling less bored, and, being inspired to think of how I paint differently.

Watching other artists' styles develop in the artwork is amazing to me. I tell myself that I can't paint that way. Then I tell myself I can paint any way I want to because I have a style of my own. I'm not sure what it is, but it is there. I just need to do more of it.

Thank you to all my blog friends who watch videos, tutorials and such. You have inspired me to do the same. I am very grateful for this positive aspect of living.

Summer Is Today, No Promises for Tomorrow

Grumpy Cosmos

Today is Summery!

Partly cloudy with nary a whiff of rain in the air. Is this Earth, my heart wants to know.

For dinner* I am pondering to have cold squash soup, a squash fry up or a baked veggies with rice medley on a bed of salad greens.  

On day 3 of exercise bike routine renewal, I have yet to feel any sore muscles from it. 

For the 3rd time in my Wordle doing life, today I guessed in 2 tries. The day before, I had a 6.

Life as life goes.

Does anyone know of a good language learning program for Irish, Welsh or Scots? I want my daydreams to be more authentic.

The more episodes of UK's, "Landscape Artist of the Year," the more I question the judges' decisions. There are too many very good artists not chosen than in the potrait series.

Are there art documentaries or shows you like to watch?

*Late lunch. I got lazy, had graham crackers and a small glass of beer.

Slowing Down July With Art

2015 Dry Corn Husks

In 2015 I had a fascination with dry corn husks. Found objects have a way of capturing my attention in ways that result in small stashes of things that I have yet to decide what to do with. A recent closet dive turned up a plastic bag of dry corn husks, none of which have a tint of green.
 

More Dry Corn Husks 2015

My current interest is handmade paper. This morning I tore up a piece of an old cotton sheet. I will cut it up more with scissors, and then try my hand at pounding it to make a paper slurry. I have good pounding stones. It is the mortar that I need. I'm thinking an older microwave bowl is  sturdy enough.

Then, I saw the photographs of the dry corn husks as I was searching for a photograph. Hm? Handmade paper and corn husks? A quick Internet search tells me dry corn husks are good for making paper!

If you are busy, then time can fly by faster. However, if you are engaged in creating art, when your art concentration spell lifts,  it is amazing how time feels as if it stood still.

Now I wish I hadn't thrown the bag of dry corn husks in the compost bag.

Thoughts On Being

Walden Pond 2004
Digital photo, M. Flannery

Nineteen years ago feels like last year to me. I'm not sure if that is a perk of aging or a personal flaw to have the past feel so close. The photograph is in my To Paint folder. I did begin a small acrylic many years ago. It is stored with the other small unfinished paintings. That is a flaw others have as well, not finishing paintings and/or taking years to complete them. (That doesn't make me feel less lonely though.)

Analyzing why I do or don't create when I know that doing so is a part of my soul, I believe, is a waste of time because after decades wondering about it, nothing for me changes. I was slow back then as I am today. 

Energy arrives in waves and bursts of inspiration, the apparitions of what I could be. 

I think if I paint more, then that will be the part of what I need to be.

 

Thoughts after midnight

Looking through old photographs is strange the older the pictures are. 

I do not have that paint rag anymore. I posted about it years ago, but have little memory of what I wrote about. 

Thinking about changes in the approach to being a creative person, there is more to consider than I expected. 

I thought all it takes is to decide what to do differently.

That isn't quite right. 

How to be different takes study in order to develop that change into a lasting behavior. Many times I told myself I will only post about art, and, post my own artwork. Maybe that's the inspiration for the paint rag? Could it be I'm a sloppy artist horrible with deadlines and remembering what I plan to do? Ah, the truth 

PS

All the red pepper relish is gone.

Not a tragedy, I have 3 peppers left for more. 

Reflection Monday April 2023

Viewing Art

or a Landscape

 anywhere

can be a profound experience. 

Old & New
 digital photo, M.Flannery 2023

Creating art is even better.

Yellow In Flight

At Noon, 5"x7" watercolor

 

From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odors rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.

from the poem, "September"

by Helen Hunt Jackson

1830 ~ 1885

At this New England latitude, in the Northern Hemisphere, there are 4 seasons, winter, spring, summer, and fall. 

By color, I believe there are 5 seasons:

White-snow 

Chartreuse-new plant growth

Yellow-summer sunshine 

Orange-autumn foliage

Gray-bare tree branches

Color illuminates  shades of ourselves a gray scale shapes. Line. Contour. Direction.

A lemon gives me permission to like yellow. Sunshine, a reason to smile. Art, the encouragement to love Peace over war.