Starting to paint

Wednesday March 2, 2011 Day 245

Today my brother is 53 years old. Happy Birthday, Jimmy.

The AWG book club meets Friday, March 11. I borrowed the book from Anne on Monday, but I haven’t gotten far enough into it, and Maggie is next in line for the book. She is leaving tomorrow for a week and wants to take it with her. Roger and I are discussing going to Rome, which means we will probably not be here for the book club. So I emailed Maggie to let her know that I would give her the book and asked where we should meet. The city center is not the most convenient place for most people to get to. Roger had already been talking about taking the red tram out to the end of the line and walking around a bit for our morning walk, so we agreed to meet Maggie at end of tram line, which was quite convenient for her. She had calculated that we would be there by noon, but we just missed the tram, and the next one didn’t come along for 15 minutes. Fortunately, her errands took her longer than she expected, so she was not there at noon either. We did finally get together and I handed over the book. Afterward, we explored Jacou a bit, then came back home for a late lunch. Roger left for chess about 2:30 - later than he usually does. He is often chomping at the bit for departure at 2:00 p.m.

Beautiful mimosa tree near Jacou

A very modern fountain in Jacou

I painted today. I haven’t painted in ages - I did try a drawing or two several weeks ago, to very little success. But an on-line friend suggested that I close my computer and walk away for a couple of hours this afternoon, and when I sat there trying to decide what to do, I hit upon trying to paint again. The anemones we bought the other day were still so pretty, and they called to me. Actually, lots of things call to the artist in me. But I got out my paints and a plastic egg carton as a palette and water well and got started. The paints were a trial - the red is called Primary Red, but it is not like any red I have encountered before! It is rather a pinkish red, not a true red. I need a good cadmium red, or perhaps a pyrolle red. I told myself that if I paint four more pictures with these paints, then I can buy myself some quality paints. When I bought these, I wasn’t sure I was going to paint, and didn’t want to invest much money if I wasn’t. I will have more of an idea that I am going to paint if I can produce four more paintings. I will also let myself buy some better paper - my canvas here is just a simple art pad - no texture, no water resistance. And my brushes are terrible, too. I got a package of about a dozen at the 2€ store - that’s the quality I am working with. I find I have insufficient brush control Those, too, I shall upgrade if I truly start to paint. Hold your breath. I am not there yet!

The anemones we bought yesterday