Category Archives: Travel

Journal Excerpts

Discoveries, Exploration, Play, Travel, Treasures February 24, 2013 Comments: 8

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.  ~  Picasso

It’s been too long since I wrote and doodled in my little leather, string-bound journal.  It’s been so long that I forgot I had it until I came across it the other day while looking for a book in our office.  Inside were hastily-written words and quick doodle-sketches…

~-~

Aug. 23, 2009
3:15 pm -> 9,000 ft. altitude

Sitting here by the stream…butterflies fluttering on the yellow wildflowers to the left…gentle breeze and the sound of the stream running over the rocks…intense pine scent on the air…coffee sipped in the late summer sunlight…a perfect Sunday afternoon. / The stream bottom glitters and shimmers with golden flecks of mica and fool’s gold in the sand…I’m the only one out here this afternoon!

alpine stream

Aug. 28, 2009
6:45 am -> patio

Walked out into the field and watched the sun rise over the eastern plains…clear sky saturated with the dawn.  Songbirds and hummingbirds singing and chirping, golden light filling the patio, the flowers glowing in the fleeting moments between dark + light; precious minutes of magic. / Last night, while the adult hummingbirds fed at the feeder, tiny baby hummingbirds whirred and sipped at the petunias.  I’ve never seen such tiny hummingbirds before… / The still morning air is flooding with light, warmth and wind.  The coffee’s ready and the toast just about to pop up.  The world out West is waking up.

high plains sunrise

I need to keep this little journal and an ink pen with me more often…

Art in the Nova Scotia Wilderness

Art, Outdoors, Play, Travel, Treasures July 14, 2012 Comments: 4

I’m in love with the Northern Atlantic Coast.  When I learned of a watercolor workshop package with artist, Evelyn Dunphy, at a remote historical lodge, including accommodations within private cabins on two lakes in the southwestern wilderness of Nova Scotia, I signed up for the adventure.

The drive from Halifax to the lodge wound through lush green, rural landscapes from Nova Scotia’s east coast to its western coast.  Famished and sleepy from leaving home at 3:00 am to catch my flights, I was thrilled to find a Tim Hortons along the way.

The cabins, while certainly rustic, were surprisingly appointed with firm mattresses and lovely Lands End or LL Bean style bedding with plenty of good and plump pillows.  There was an abundant supply of crackling dry kindling and quartered logs on each porch.  Each cabin had its own dock, just feet from its front door.

The lodge offered the American-plan dining experience as part of the watercolor workshop package.  We enjoyed our meals and each other’s company in the bright, airy room:  breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The dining hall was painted a beautiful, celery-colored paint, with sky-lights, hanging quilts and a canoe or two as part of the decor.

The lodge’s entry contained Stickley-style rocking chairs, a Victorian-style sitting room and an eclectic library off to the back with a screen door opening out to a flower-bed adorned with brilliantly red wildflowers.

The workshop was held on the screened-in veranda off of the dining room.  From where I sat, my view was across the lawn with the first lake in the near distance.  The beautiful breeze blew, sometimes softly, sometimes stronger, while we painted.  

Evelyn Dunphy is one of those rare, wonderful instructors.  She’s also a fantastic artist who’s won more awards than I can recall.  She was patient, thoroughly answering our questions and giving personal attention.  She provided us with a most comprehensive folder and live demonstrations chock full of tips and practical information.

The last day, I had to leave by 7:00 am for the drive back to Halifax to begin my return journey home.  I doused the last burning embers in my fireplace and set off down the dirt road.  As I left, the night-time mist was still hugging the lake as the dawn’s early light began filling it with sunshine, one shimmering ray at a time.

Reflections on Sprague Lake

Art, Outdoors, Travel, Treasures January 24, 2012 Comments: 10

What better time to revisit the glittering aspen of Rocky Mountain National Park than a gray January afternoon?  As I sit here writing and sipping dark roast coffee while slushy snowflakes fall, I wrap myself in a warm Rocky Mountain reverie.

Combine one artist-in-residence, his artist wife, several oil painting students and one watercolor student (me) on an en plein air adventure and you have a week of glorious autumn afternoons in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Toss in a couple of bears and elk to top it all off!

The aspen are unpredictable.  They can turn golden any time between late September and mid-October.  The brilliant colors of the aspen of the West delight like the Northeast’s intense red maple trees.   There’s nothing like a few days of Colorado’s bright blue skies, short-sleeve weather, and a group of artists to seal the deal on a perfect Rocky Mountain memory.

     Happy Daydreaming!

Handmade Paints in the Hudson River Valley

Art, Play, Travel, Treasures August 2, 2011 Comments: 4

Always looking to expand my repertoire of creative options, I signed up for a summer workshop at R & F Handmade Paints in the Hudson River Valley.  The building is in a rough area of Kingston, NY, but you can find it easily due to the colorful array of wildflowers blooming across the front length of the building.

The first part of my workshop was a short history of encaustic painting and a tour of encaustic cakes production.   Because each pigment has different qualities, the pigments are individually milled before combining to make blended colors.  Watching them flow like liquid silk between and over the rollers is mesmerizing.

After hours of being tended to by the paint makers, the pigments, beeswax and resin are poured into molds.  Once they’ve cooled, they’re popped out, like candy molds releasing their succulent treasures.  Then they’re tested by the paint makers and if they pass inspection, they’re labeled and either put into segmented wall units in the studio, put on the shelf for sale, or packed and shipped to eagerly awaiting artists.

Next, I watched demonstrations of basic encaustic techniques:  surfaces and how to prepare them; painting cold; painting warm; collage; fusing; imbedding; mixing; layering; buffing; and more.  Then the artist told me the studio was mine to use as I wished, to create my first encaustic piece.  I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store!

I decided to try collage and layering as a foundation for some mixed media pieces I’ve been thinking about creating.  I quickly learned that each pigment has its own personality when it comes to being heated.  Some separate, some granulate, some rise to the surface through other layers of color, and you can create new colors by layering them, an option to mixing them.  The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

Here is my sample, below.  I didn’t try to create anything specific, though interestingly, I’ve been told it’s reminiscent of Starry Night, or the deep-sea.  For me, it was experimental fun!

There’s something so sumptuous about rich pigments mixed with beeswax and the way they melt into an encaustic painting and softly glow in the light.  (R & F also makes gorgeous oil pigment sticks, which I look forward to experimenting with in encaustic painting, and, on their own.)

The folks at R & F are fantastic, helpful, knowledgable and friendly people.  Stop in and explore!

Rooster’s Hallylooyer

Art, Travel June 4, 2011 Comments: 4

“And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence…”  ~ James Whitcomb Riley

The rooster’s hallylooyer is one of the reasons roosters are segregated to Onetangi Sports Park on Waiheke Island, New Zealand.

We were driving about exploring the island when off to the left I noticed an amazing array of noisy color!  Roosters!  Bright, rambunctious roosters were strutting all about.  My Kiwi friend explained that new transplants to the island over the years wanted beautiful scenery – without any noisy cock-a-doodle-doing waking them in the mornings.  The roosters were shipped off to the Onetangi Sports Park, condensing their hallylooyer-ing into one location.

On Waiheke Island, people feed the roosters the way many in the US grew up feeding ducks and geese at the local parks and ponds.

Below is my playful watercolor rendition of one of the prismatic roosters…

Fire and Silk

Art, Music, Travel May 30, 2011 Comments: 2

“…a bold dripping poppy is fire and silk.” ~ Carl Sandburg

During a recent trip to an enchanted land filled with light and wind, I painted a poppy.  The way its delicate blossom contrasted with its solid center intrigued me, resulting in my exaggerating its characteristics.

There’s something about poppies that evokes the feeling of freedom, fragility and strength.  Maybe it’s the way their tissue-papery petals flutter in the wind, or the way their velvety strong stems sway and bow holding heavy flower-heads high against extreme environmental conditions.

When I see flowering poppies, sweet stanzas from Mendelssohn’s Octet playfully come to mind.

 

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