NEVER ON SUNDAY 2/7/2010

Silence gently falls.

Nature breathing out a sigh

Before the new day.

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A day for which to be grateful.

I SEE YOU

Not really.
But I do see how many visitors I've had on SKaySpeak on any given day.  I see lots of other information, too.  Some of which, makes little sense to me.

Google has an analytic tracker which can be used on a blogspot blog.  I have it.  But, I don't completely understand it.

One thing which is quite easy to understand just tickles the daylights out of me.  It's a map of the world showing the aproximate location of each of your visitors.  Since I've started using this service, not long after I began my blog, I have had visitors from  26 different countries!  Is that cool, or what?  They've come from all over the world including such places as Senegal, Latvia, Georgia (the country, not the state!), Romania and Viet Nam.

I realize that some of them are accidental visitors.  Let's say a woman in New Zealand is researching how to make tamales.  She winds up on my site after googling 'how to make tamales.'  She finds out, very quickly, that my site has absolutely nothing to offer her in the way of helpful information.  So she's gone, lickety-split.  I can't really call her a visitor, can I? 

However, I have had some such visitors who wind up reading several pages of my blog.  How do I know that?  Because the report includes which pages people looked at...how long they stayed on the blog.....which page they left from.....how many are old visitors and how many are new ones....and as they say on tv commercials...much, much more!

SKaySpeak has had almost 1800 visits since November 18, 2009, when I began using the tracker.  I posted my first blog on October 24, 2009.I've written 107 posts, if you count my "Never on Sunday" ones.  You average about four and a half minutes per visit and read about two and a half pages per visit.

There are a number of you who are faithful readers.  I know where many of you live 'cause you're old friends. When I see your city listed, I know it's 'you' and I smile inside my heart.  One of you, from way up North, has been to SKaySpeak 161 times since the tracking began.

The U.S. visitors have come from thirty-nine different states!

I have a couple of new 'followers.'  I don't know who they are, though.  I wish you'd say 'howdy' and introduce yourself in the comments.

I wrote about how to do that here.  Folks who are having problems commenting might want to read this one again, too.

http://skayspeak.blogspot.com/2009/11/murgatroid-macgillicutty.html

I also did a lot of groveling in that post.  Please forgive me.  But I just couldn't help myself.

I need to add one thing to that information.  Sometimes, for some strange reason, you just have to click on 'post comment' twice.  I don't know why.

I don't want anyone to worry that I am actually 'tracking' you...in a stalking sort of way.  It's not that detailed at all...not that specific...not that sinister.

I check my report every morning to see if my list of countries and states has grown.  It's rather like having a life-list, if you're a bird watcher.

Only 12 more states to go!!!!!!!!

I'm so grateful to each of you...those of you who come here on purpose...and those of you who come here by accident, but stay for a bit of a visit.

Thank you, everyone, everywhere in this big, but still very small, world in which we live!

STARTING OVER

Sometimes an idea just doesn't work.


That's when you just wipe it out and start all over. You're not really starting over though, because you have a layer of paint left. It might be pretty muddy and murky, nevertheless, you have something to build on the next time you go at it.

Kinda sounds like life, doesn't it?

Things might not be working out at all, but you've got another layer of experience, another layer of knowledge and another perspective to use the next time you go at it.

On my art website, are these words.

"....it's not realistic to expect perfection from the first brush stroke to the last. A painting, like life, is created by making mistakes and correcting them as you go."

Today, I was trying something new and my attempt went from bad to worse. I used to get really upset when this happens.

"Think of the wasted paint," I'd say to myself.

Now I say, "Think of what I just learned. Next time, I'll know better."

I'm grateful to have learned this good life lesson.

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I thought I was finished with this post.  But I'm not.  Here's why.

The next day after wiping out the mess I'd made, I was looking at the canvas and wondering what I would/could do with it.  It was pretty dark...and a greenish blue...so I thought 'forest.'

With a splash of sunlight.

There just happened to be a puddle of sunlight on my palette, so I dipped a brush right in there and scooped me some up and said, "Let there be light!"  And there was light!  Right there!!!

And either a stream or a road...don't know which yet.  I don't have a plan...at all. This is exactly how I get myself into trouble...or lots of fun...depending on how you look at it.   

The painting  progresses.

I like this, for the most part...but of course, I wound up messing it up.  Now, I've got the river running right out of the picture on one side...a NO-NO, for sure!

Everything I did just seemed to make it worse.

I am getting very frustrated!

Although I really liked this one...and could have used my picture of it as a reference and try to get it back...I just keep making more messes.  So, I quit for the day.

In the middle of the night (of course), I figured out what my frustration is all about.  This painting was begun in a very loose, impressionistic manner and I am moving more and more toward it being more realistic...and  I'm nit-picking....a sure fire way to ruin something!  And most importantly, it was, in the beginning,  all about that tree.  The more I added, the more the tree got 'lost.'

So....hard as it was to do, this morning, I wiped out a lot of it and tried to get back to the loose brush strokes and freer style.

Here's where it is now.

I still have to get rid of the remnants of that big pine tree in the right foreground...but this is more what I had in mind when I started.  I sure hope I don't mess it up....again. 

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It's a couple of hours later and I have come to a  place where I feel pretty happy about the way it looks.   I might do a tad more to the bottom left rock...and I will need to sign it.  And there's something wrong with the right edge of th tree shape.  But for now, I am going to tell myself to STOP!  And I'm going to listen to myself.

It may not be my best-ever painting.  Heck, it might not even be a good one.  But I learned a lot doing this painting.  And I am very grateful for that.

name suggestions?

16 x 20

oil on canvas

P. S.    Different light conditions are responsible for some of the differences you see in these progression photos.  The last photo is a close as I can get it to the real thing.

COLOR! COLOR!! I NEED COLOR!!!

I worked on Lori’s big painting every day last week. It has lots of color in it, but doesn’t have a colorful look, at all. The overall look of it is green, but subdued green. It’s very soft and peaceful, intentionally.


Also, last week,  Tucson’s weather was unusually grey and dreary. Sun? What sun? Nothing but grey clouds, grey mountains, grey trees and grey moods.

So, one day, I took a color break!  Here's what I did...and what I wrote on that day.

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One of the things I love about painting is the ability to actually ‘do’ something about the weather! If you don’t like the weather outside the window, you can just paint whatever weather you want! Is that not cool?

I feel cold. So, I painted me a hot sky!

It is wet, wet, wet!!! I 'm grateful, very grateful, for all the rain, but my bones want dry, dry, dry!!! So, I painted me a dry riverbed.

Everything is just so grey! So, I planted me some chartreuse trees. And who knows what else might wind up in here!

COLOR MY WORLD

16 x 20 oil on canvas

I feel warmer, dryer and sunnier already.



Now, please, excuse me….I am going to go paint some more COLOR!

PALO VERDE BRANCHES

16 x 20 oil on canvas

ok...just one more....

MEXICAN FLOWERS

9 x 12

oil on masonite

I am grateful for every opportunity I have to create my world the way I want it!

FIXING MISS DAISY

I went to bed early, knowing I needed to be up early this morning. I took an Aleve to make sure aching joints didn't wake me up. They didn't. But something did at midnight. And then I couldn't get back to sleep to save my life. Instead, I painted very weird and wonderful paintings in my head. One was called "Yes, We have no bananas!" One was of a very pregnant Mother Earth. One had streaks of silver and gold paint.


Finally, of course, I did go back to sleep and also, of course, I overslept. I grudgingly woke up, looked at the clock and leapt out of my nice warm bed. There was no time for teeth brushing, hair taming or even one cup of coffee. All I could do was throw on some clothes, including a hoodie to hide my hair...throw Miss Daisy in the carrier and GO!

The clinic is thankfully pretty close to my house, so I arrived in a thrice!

Thrice????

I got there fast.

The clinic was dark. Nobody was there. Am I at the wrong place I wonder? But I've been here before and I know this is the place I called for an appointment to get Daisy 'fixed.' And I know I was told to be here between 6 and 7 a.m. It is now almost 7 and I am the only one here!!!

What to do?

Another vehicle pulls into the parking lot. And then another....and another.....the staff and one other patient.

I get out of the car and get in line to be the first one in. They won't allow me inside yet. They have to get set up, turn on the lights, turn off the alarm system...all that stuff. It's cold. Eventually, I get back into the car and wait as patiently as I can.

Remember, this is early morning and I've barely had my 'bathroom break' so far today. I need another one. Darn it!
And some coffee!!!!!

I NEED ME SOME COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, the lights come on and the door is unlocked. I rush inside to fill out the paperwork and deposit Miss Daisy. I want to get in and out fast...because I look really scary! I want, so badly, to just hide my whole morning ugly self from the world, but I can't.

Spit!

More and more patients are arriving and I am becoming more and more embarrassed and wishing, more than anything, that I could just disappear.

When a voice calls out "Daisy B", I thrust her carrier into the assitant's hands and hightail it outta there! Pronto!

In a thrice!

Fast!

So, now I'm home. Drinking coffee. Blogging about the experience. Feeling snarky because those people told me to be there between 6:30 and 7:00 and they couldn't even bother to be there themselves! I am ticked. I grab the paper on which I wrote when I was on the phone with them making the appointment and see this.

"Arrive between 7 and 8 a.m."

I hate it when I'm wrong!

I am grateful that I seldom am.

OKOKOK....I'll clean that up.

I am often wrong and admit it graciously.

Nope...that won't work either.

I am wrong...a lot!

It makes me ever so much more grateful on the few occasions that I'm right.

I AM NOT

A trained artist.
A trained photographer.
A trained writer.

And yet, here I am painting, blogging and photographing away…and having the audacity to put it right out there in public for anybody to see.

'Who do you think you are?', one might ask.

I might answer thusly.

I am an artist.

I am a photographer.

I am a writer.

I am all those and a darned good cook, to boot!

I am an artist because I allow the beauty of this world we live in to sink deep into my soul and then come back out through the paintbrush in my hand. Do I do it well? Not necessarily. But I do the best I can. And furthermore, I am driven to keep trying. Will I ever be able to paint something as beautiful as the original creation? Of course not! Nevertheless, I will keep trying.

I am a photographer because I take photographs…with a purpose. The purpose is, once again, allow the beauty of this world we live in to sink keep into my soul and hopefully, capture some essence of it with my camera. I don’t have a fancy camera or a fancy editing program. Yet I sometimes manage to get some powerful images, I think.

I am a writer because I allow thoughts and feelings, of all kinds, to stew around in my soul and then put those thoughts and feelings into words that I write down. Occasionally, a string of words comes out that conveys a profound message.

The fact that this blog allows me to share all this with other people is a gift I do NOT take lightly.

Would I paint, photograph or write even if I never got to show the results to someone? I don’t know the answer to that…oh yes, I do! Who am I kidding here? I think I would do all three because…..

The beauty of this world we live in sinks deep into my soul and nourishes, sustains and inspires me….and does so constantly.

On this blog, I ask you to be mindfully GRATEFUL.

I hope for one more thing. I hope that I can inspire you to allow yourself to be the “I AM” that you are.

Amen.

CLOUDS

"Blue Skies smiling on me
Nothin' but blue skies do I see....."

Well, I for one, think that would get really boring.

And from some comments I've received, I think I'm not the only one who has a cloud fascination.  So today, I'm inviting you to pretend you are a child again, gazing at the sky, and finding cloud pictures.

I definitely see eyes and a nose.

So dramatic!

Pretty weird looking!  But pretty.

I had to bring Zeus back.

Simple and sweet.

More drama!

The cowardly lion from THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Early morning with the moon peeking through.

I can  hardly wait to hear what you find in this one!

Marching dogs?

Ice floes?

So pretty and pink.

Looking straight up.

A recent sunrise.

Sunrise again.

Wallpaper?  Mural?

Soft sunset.

Day is done.

Look up.

Be Grateful!