Friday, July 8, 2011

Wind, birds, cattails and coincidences



Yesterday, given a few unexpected hours of time off from my job, and inspired by a cedar-wrapped 1956 Metro on display at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, which brought back good memories of my friend Richard and the Metro that he had in 1968 or 1969, the front hood of which he decorated by hand with paint, I sat down with my watercolor and gouache paint tubes and brushes and did what I usually do after not painting for a long time, which is to just make some brush strokes on watercolor paper and see where they lead me. Playing with paint with nothing in particular in mind. I started with Payne's Grey, which looks black but is really a dark grey-blue. I tried to paint a horse, but it turned out looking like a cat. Then I filled in some areas with Cobalt Blue and then Chinese Red and then Permanent White. I accidentally dropped the paintbrush filled with Cobalt Blue and it fell in front of the cat who is walking up a red and white path. This kind of painting is like dreaming.

















This morning when I was out walking up the hill with a goal of 10,000 steps or 100 minutes or 5 miles, I looked down and saw a single piece of a Rubik's Cube on the ground. I picked it up and was delighted to see that three sides were Payne's Grey and the remaining three sides were blue, red and white.






















At the top is my first successful download of a video from my digital camera. Until today, all my attempts to post my own videos to my blog were unsuccessful.

Perseverance furthers.

7 comments:

The Solitary Walker said...

I just must say how much I enjoyed this post, am. I liked the words and the video (all things come to those who wait ;)) and the pictures. And I liked the way you played with the paint, and I liked your line 'This kind of painting is like dreaming.'

'10,000 steps or 100 minutes or 5 miles'. A good and changing yet unchanging perspective!

Namaste

SW

bev said...

I could not view the video clip, but believe that must have something to do with using the iPad. It does not work with all types of media. Enjoyed the video piece about the cedar-covered Metro. How neat! Enjoyed reading about the process behind your painting of the cat-horse figure. Funny, but I had a dream about a black horse last night. Strange deam where I was in a large fenced pasture with bison. They wanted to escape and I had to hop up onto a very wild tempered black horse and herd the bison away from an open gate before they escaped. The oddest part was that Don was in the dream - my third nightbin a row of dreaming of him after barely dreaming of him for the past 3 years. He was able to be there because of some new technology that allowed people to return to the world of the living for short periods of time. After the horse and bison incident, he was able to stay around for a little while, butI noticed that certain people would avoid looking at him even though he looked fine and healthy. Regretably, something woke me from my dream. Anyhow, your black horse just jogged my mind about it.

am said...

Thank you, Solitary Walker, and namaste!

bev -- Three nights in a row dreaming of Don sounds significant. I'm wondering now if you and Don rode horses together or ever had horses. Powerful images of you and Don and the wild tempered black horse and the herd of bison and the large pasture.

jarvenpa said...

I loved the peaceful moment of your video, how amazing to hear the birds you heard and see the grass and cattails in motion. And to view your painting is great pleasure. Thank you. (word verification is "flecefum" which surely sounds like something from a fairy tale)

bev said...

am - yes, it seems meaningful that I have been dreaming of Don so much. Maybe it is just that it is getting close to 3 years since he died and I find I am missing him in a different way now. I am feelingthat I want to make a trip back to the redwood coast this autumn as he flew west to travel with me in October 2006 - the last trip when he was truly well and about a year before he was diagnosed with cancer. I think I just need to go back once more. Anyhow, yes, we did have horses for almost the whole time we were together. We rode a lot over the years until the horses got to be too old. I realized where the dream took place and it was at the gate where you turn into the Dragoon Mountains outside Tombstone, AZ. There are no bison there, and Don was never there, but friends do trailer their horses there to ride.

Anonymous said...

love the waving grass, reminds me of the nw version(so green) of the opening of the old lone ranger television series. thanks kjm

am said...

bev -- I hope you can travel to the redwood coast this fall. I can picture the photos of you and Don from that time. It has been a little over 3 years since Richard died. I haven't been to the Northern California coast since the fall after he died, but almost daily I look at webcams in Mendocino and Humboldt County to get a little of the energy of that landscape and seascape that has always been there for me and that reminds me of Richard.

jarvenpa -- You're welcome. Thank you for stopping by. Always good to hear from you.

kjm -- Thanks for prompting me to look up the Lone Ranger on YouTube (-: