I woke up early and stayed up; went to the gym where I walked about a mile and a half, then drove to my chiropractor appointment. I got there half an hour early and left at exactly my appointment time. After stopping at the grocery for milk and a few other items, I came home and stayed home.
I did stop to take my car through the car wash just outside the gates of the mobile home park. I don't know how it happened, but one whole side of my car was covered with a sticky substance, in big drips someplaces and a sort of fine spray on the windows. I don't think it happened accidentally, but it looks like someone shook up a bottle of soda pop and sprayed it all over the side of my car. It's clean now and looks great, although with all the activity in this place it will be dusty and dirty again in no time. There is a constant parade of equipment and vehicles owned by the Park that go by my house, plus trucks pulling small dumpsters for disposal of green waste and just plain junk. Tomorrow the garbage trucks will roll by, and the landscapers will be cutting the grass in and around the dog park. They use a really heavy duty leaf blower to gather all the green waste, and I'm sure it sends up clouds of dust that settle on the house, porch furniture, car, etc. I really take a hit here, and add to that the noise of all this coming and going on top of the yapping dogs! I think I would give anything to live in a quiet place on a quiet street, with a little more space between houses. Dream on, gypsy. (I am truly grateful to have a place to live in that I can afford, but I can complain once in a while if I want. It isn't an idyllic situation by any means.)
My absentee ballot came in the mail today, and I still don't think I'll vote for anyone on it. It doesn't seem like the country I grew up believing in, when you end up voting for the lesser of two or three evils. In every other election I can remember, I was FOR somebody. No more to come from me on the political situation.
I have to find myself a new scale, one with an old fashioned dial. I never did like or trust digital, and this morning I got on the scale first thing and it read 116.4! That nearly scared a few more pounds off me. I don't believe I lost 4 or 5 pounds overnight, so after drinking a glass of warm lemon water, eating a banana, and drinking a cup of coffee I stepped back on the scale - 120.4! I am not convinced I gained 4 pounds that fast, and think it's just the scale. I recently put a new battery in it, so that shouldn't be the problem. It's hard to find the older models with a dial.
I'm still watching a few Bob Ross videos each day - I'm up to Series 3 so I won't run out for a long time. In my lifetime I have gone through lots of stages in artistic preference - from the Renaissance to the French Impressionists, to the American Hudson Valley painters, and lots more. I still love the Hudson Valley style and find it so inviting and relaxing, but even though Bob Ross is quite different (and I wouldn't put him into the category of "great masters"), I find that at this stage of my life I love the peace and contentment I find in his nature paintings. Even the less peaceful, such as storms at sea, are relaxing to look at and I'm getting more and more hooked. That is the kind of painting I wish I could try.
The big problem I see with painting in oils, is do I have enough space. I have a spare room where I store my camping gear, unsorted photographs, a fairly large desk with my iMac computer and a printer, etc., plus a big comfy office chair. I don't know how many square feet I would need for an easel, paints, and cleaning supplies, and I don't know how "splashy" it might get. I'd definitely need to put something on the floor to protect it, as well as to store away the camping stuff in the big closet there.
I'm also embarrassed to say I have several boxes with my fine china stacked in them, the ones I got for wedding presents for my first marriage in 1970. None of the kids wanted it, although one of them took the sterling silver. I thought I might use the china once a week for myself but that is never going to happen. I figured I would just keep it and when I'm gone it will be my kids' problem to dispose of it. I don't do that with most things - I'm trying to pare down all my stuff to a minimum to keep them from having to deal with it. The only treasures I have from my first marriage are my children. I loved my silver, having bought that when I first went to work and every girl had a "hope chest". I also picked out the china to suit myself, so I still have a slight attachment to it. I could give it to someone who really wanted it, but wouldn't want to sell it on Craigslist or eBay. I'll just have to find a place to safely keep it out of the way of oil paint splashes!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Gypsy, the oil painting is not that messy. I painted on the corner of a table over carpet. Your paints are not that thin to splatter very much. You don't have to get a wild as Bob, I like his pictures but don't use many of his methods. Also, his products are very expensive. You just need a small jar with a screen in it, to store your turpentine in. You change it when it gets dirty. Just rinse your brush as you go and dry it with a paper towel. You can use disposal palettes. If you store it in the freezer, the paint will stay moist between painting. Good luck. If you want to send me an email, it is mellenewing@yahoo.com.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your great ideas. I've been wondering about all the equipment needed, paints, etc. As it is I have paid for the next 8 wks in the acrylics class, and then I will decide about the oils. Even the acrylic paints and equipment have been expensive overall, so I'll need to think about how far into the oil painting I want to go.
DeleteI don't think I would try to paint exactly like Bob Ross, but I do think I would follow along on a couple paintings with him, just to get started and figure out the paints, etc. I read a comment from a viewer who said he tried painting and it is a lot harder than it looks!
My truck is filthy and I found a deep scratch on the passenger side that ran from front to back like someone pulling in our out of a space way to close to me. We were going to get it washed this weekend but glad we didn't since it rained today.
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to use oil paints and he had carpet in that room. There weren't any paint spots on the carpet which was a very light color. You should be fine.
I haven't yet even used the acrylics at home, just at the class. I will have to wait a while before I can spend the money on oils, different brushes, etc. It's good to hear that it doesn't have to splash all over the room.
DeleteI am your age and went through the same thing with my china sets. I had one very expensive set that I offered to my kids and they didn't want it so I tried to sell it on Craig's List and got one offer for $200 and I turned that down. Finally I donated all of it to a Hospice Store. I felt good about it because they made a lot of money on it. It came back around to me when my husband was so sick and Hospice was so wonderful to him.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea! Thank you so much for the suggestion, and I am going to seriously think about it. I would much rather do that than to try to sell it, or maybe have one of my kids take it to Goodwill. I love hearing your experience with Hospice, and it certainly shows that "what goes around comes around".
DeleteRemember oil pains leave off an odor. My wife does not like me to use oils in the house. One nice thing is you can paint first with acrylics and then highlight the painting with oils. That gives quite a nice effect.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of things to consider, but about 8 weeks before I will do anything at all except the acrylics. That will take me just up to a few weeks before Christmas, probably not the best time to invest in a lot of new paints and equipment. I'm just going to let it all unfold and I'll know what to do in the long run.
Delete