Ok. Mornings are just not my good art brain time. It might not help that someone is weed whacking (not a huge deal; my brain will currently distract itself no matter what).
I have to write down the day and date every day at the moment. Helps me focus. I did three dye paintings that first day, but have branched out a bit since then. And filling in lines I painted last year is different from creating anew…and the ideas are mushy, and the brain is trying to process everything, so that makes it harder at times. So my goal is one dye painting a day. But also leaving the cabin sometimes. Maybe just to take the trash out. Definitely the heat and air quality affect my desire to go outside during the day.
Monday, I filled in one of the drawings I did last year…
And I washed it out yesterday.
The fires near us are still affecting the air on a regular basis…air quality was in the purple range midday yesterday. It’s better today, but makes you think twice about when you go walk. So she obviously came from that.
Yesterday I started a new one from scratch.
Definitely considering war with that one. She’ll get washed out later today. Sometimes the colors change drastically; sometimes they don’t. And they’ll get a final washout at home, which will change them again.
I’ve been hanging them up in the studio once they’re washed out, so I can see my progress.
I do need to see what I’ve done and document it for myself, but I am also resting my brain and letting ideas roll around in there. I started doing a freehand cutting/stitching thing too.
Both these things are looser than how I usually create, which is harder for me…and one of the reasons I came here. Stretching the process, the brain.
I’m also still embroidering this every night…
This is taking a while, but I like how it looks.
I finished the one drawing…
But haven’t done any more. I really wanted to sit outside yesterday but everything was so buggy. I removed a spider, a beetle, and a wasp from the cabin yesterday. One unalived because nope, big spider, ick, no. I’m still dealing with some crazy bites.
I also spent a couple of hours yesterday morning in the local wildlife viewing area, which is all about birds.
What’s funny about that is that I draw a lot of birds, but they’re all made up.
These are real, and I rarely knew what they were. This goose refused to move for a very long time, then ambled down the road (this is a driving tour, not walking).
And I think this was a Bittern…
Unfortunately, my rolling my window down scared it off the pole it was sitting on. It’s so weird to me to drive through this…I spent the whole time apologizing to the birds for disturbing them. Also did not know pelicans lived inland. And I think the big dark birds I keep seeing are ibises. I’m not really a birder, but I like birds. Honestly I think I’d rather drive, park, and then hike it, but even walking makes birds leave, and I don’t have the patience to just sit for an hour.
Ok, so a dye painting today, plus wash another one out, plus do some fabric/embroidery stuff. Sounds lovely. might even paint a bird…but probably not a real one.
Kathy Nida 