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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Over "Joyed" by Family and Friends

The past couple of weeks feel like months, yet they flew by.  As odd as that sounds, I'll bet you can all relate somehow.  MiMi is home now for 2 weeks and we have found some sort of normal for this phase.  She may not be able to communicate much but you can see in her smile, she is not in pain.  She's happy and comfortable.  Hospice folks come and go 2 times a week for now and there has been a steady flow of family coming to share and understand.  It's happy and sad, exhausting but enlightening, confusing yet very clear what we have to do.  So we do it.

But I broke out the paint this week while I had the time and strayed away from "watching Bob Ross and painting with him" I decided to take one of my favorite photos and paint from it.  I wish I'd have taken more photos while I painted  (or video taped it, but I didn't) but here's where I am now.


I LOVE My Rocks (or mountains if you will) These are rocks that I've seen and touched in my life (back in our rock climbing days . . or should I say MY rock climbing days, since my husband still gets out there whenever he can) and we have always loved Yosemite Valley.  

Here's my reference photo, and so you see I'm now going to work on the foreground, from the land mass on the other side of the river to the rocks up close. I have a few more trees to add as well, to cover the bottom of the waterfall, as you can't really see it in the view.

I'm AFRAID.

I like my big rocks so much, and my trees, while not perfect, are reflecting of a style that I have been working on (used only the knife) and I think I did well with them.  I need another layer of trees and then the WATER.  I'm not sure how to "start again" now that the paint is dry.  So the underlayer of the river is there.  I even put in a rock or two underwater.  But now I need to "wet" it again so that I can complete the foreground.

When I wet the canvas now (or I'm really wetting the dry paint) I know I'm not going to make that paint wet again, but that will now be my base layer.  Upon which any new paint will need to slide to make it look like water. . . . I'm afraid to start again. . . but I will.

Help me share the Joy . . . Kay

8 comments:

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

your painting is looking great! good luck on the next step, I'm sure it'll turn out fabulous :)

natalee said...

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alphageek said...

Excellent work. You are reminding me that I need to paint again soon, along with my friends. Keep up the great work and don't forget to have fun.

karylsquilts said...

This is a great painting ! more so because it Needed to be done, and it has Real connection to you. it works !

Trish said...

You are doing really good painting, Bob Ross style. I watch him every Tuesday and Thursday night on PBS but have yet to try to actually paint one of his pictures. I am scared to start. You are an inspiration to me to do it, so maybe I will soon. I've just about got his techniques memorized but actually doing them is another thing

Kay Zahn said...

Trish - send me your address (via email KayZahn@GreerAz.com) and I'll send you one of the getting started DVDs. It's very helpful in the basics. I'll also send you a book with one series of his projects. From these you may find motivation to try it yourself. As Bob says, "you can do it" and he's right.

Natalee - Thanks for the cards. MiMi likes 'real' mail. My sister in law was here with us when it arrived and she was dumbfounded that a total stranger cared enough about MiMi to send a card. I told her you weren't TOTALLY strange!

Ayelet said...

I LOVE the trees. You did a great job with the different colors of green. And I agree with Karlysquilts (especially with the capitalization she uses - so quaintly old-fashioned. Gives me fuzzy Pooh Bear feelings.) I'm not sure I'm getting this whole wet vs. dry concept.

I'm also a little jealous that you saw this beautiful part of the Earth with your own eyes. G-d's beautiful masterpieces are a wonder to behold! (Every time I hold a baby, I'm in awe...)

Trish, any chance you could pass on the DVD to me when you're done with it? I'm also in the "too scared to start" place... :)

natalee said...

LOL!!! Thanks Kay...LOL!!! Tell her Im just a crazy New Jersey lady....lol Kiss MIMI!!!!

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