Today

Weather promises to be great today, so good it’s already nice enough to take a walk before breakfast, lol! Ironically, or is it kismet, I posted a really good reblog from WebMD with one of it signature quizzes, this one on walking! 15 short questions, I missed 3, lol!

Later, wife & I go to meet the oldest girl, middle granddaughter (now in college), with lots of others for breakfast at Casa Garcia 😊 I did a review of Casa Garcia on TripAdvisor but was so used to going to eat at Casa I didn’t take any pics for the review, hope to remember to this time!

Later this afternoon, if I’m able, I’ll go to Creative Arts Society (CAS) is having their 20th anniversary celebration way up north Austin. It’d be really nice to see some old friends from a decade ago again, plus new folks. It’s just the drive, oh boy, lol!

Somewhere in there, probably once the sun is up, I really need to reshoot my image for Canyon Lake, one of my two entries for the Cypress Grill show going up next mth through the holidays. Once I have a decent detailed shot I’ll upload to Fine Art America & let folks know 😊

Take care everyone, happy Sunday! ❤️

Yesterday

A royally robust day of taking the 6 year old about, trying to get a new digital image for one of my paintings, and doing a very rare early evening gathering with a group of Sheila’s friends from her exercise classes for one of the classmate’s birthday.

And yes, the six year old got smashed in the face (a little bit) during one of the soccer free-for-all scuffles for the ball (he survived with huge hugs and concerns from Grandma & Mom), the new digital image of a sailboat painting of Canyon Lake from the early 2000s was attempted too late in the day & the indirect light wasn’t strong enough to capture the tiny sailboats as more than mayonnaise like curved smears (love that image, of the mayo I mean 😂 – will try again tomorrow earlier w/better light), and the friends gathering of seniors enjoying sharing memories back to the “old” days of the 60s & 50s (moon landings, open doorS & windows at night – w/screens of course), including 9 choices of sumptuous delicious want-more Vietnamese food, went to the brink of dark, which necessitated taking roads back home we knew were well lit (vs quicker less lit route choices) — so yes, all that, and —

What I most remember is 1) the wonderful way the sunshine felt on my skin for the 1st time since late April, and, 2) the pleasure I felt watching my 1st art videos since about May, before the 1st gallbladder pain attacks & subsequent ER visit & surgery.

The sun was soft as warm memories.

Basking, and luxuriating, have meaning in that context ☺️

My breath itself could breathe. The pressure in my temples settled into a smile.

Birds literally jumped from tree to tree with squirrels swirling round them as they chased shadows of butterflies….

It was magic. It made me want to paint, and I still couldn’t. I knew I could throw paint onto canvas (figuratively, but essentially so). But I’d begun searching in late April, into May, before the move and before the multi-hour gastric pains and subsequent surgeries, searching for what I’d intuitively recognized I needed/wanted/desired more of for my art. I’d begun to see it, here and there, as I unpacked my decade climate-control hidden art from the 80s, 90s, 2000s. Some were good. Really good. Some, shockingly good. Others, not bad. Seemingly unfinished. And not necessarily in terms of details in the image. Something else. Some pieces were heavily textured, some not. That wasn’t it. Some were swirls of paint, or dabs and dashes. And that wasn’t it. There were good and, well, not as good, among them. Some were monotone, some were not. And that wasn’t it either. And the one’s that sold most recently did have it. They had value. But they had value because..they had values – nuances – shade & light – depth. Depth even when monotone, no matter the brush style, no matter the subject. I’d gotten lucky, and intuitively created work with a working value scale, which produced, within my landscapes and seasides and skies, pleasure, a sense of kindness I remembered sometimes consciously realizing I was touching within myself, sometimes so strongly I remembered writing back then, in the 2000s, that I’d triggered memories and recognition of when a child or infant who’s been struggling, physically or emotionally, to rest and be at peace, and finds that peace, stutter steps a breath and literally sucks the air into its lungs, and rests. The stutter step breath is a release, and a return to a primeval stage in one’s life. Maybe the womb. Maybe the first cradling. But it’s at the core of being alive. That’s when I knew I had finished a painting. Any more and I would ruin it. That’s what I saw in the best work I unpacked from my decades past. That’s what I realized I needed to reach more often. And the one’s which had elicited that type of memory in me, had touched me to any degree like that when I created it, had a value scale.

I was always good w/color. I was crayon-ing on scraps of anything before kindergarten. Dragging water color paint across paper since 1st grade. Watching pastels crumble colors on textured paper since 3rd grade. And never cared about the rest. I’d do squares and circles and mix them. Draw straight lines and curves and mix them. As long as I had color. And never thought about values. Check out Picassa, in BW, and in color, to see an example of straight/curved etc. I have another piece, even earlier, called Noon & Night. I’ll try and find a copy I can post soon. It’s all black and white abstracted design based on Mesa Verde. A lady in Galveston who saw it, I remember clearly, told me, very rare an artist combines straight lines and straight like that. Never saw her again, never much thought about it, just took it for granted.

So what I want to do now, need to do now, is consciously study values. And I’d begun that. Just barely, esp via Dianne Mize’s videos and sample images, when I was derailed.

Well. I think the tracks been repaired, mostly 😊

And I’m back on track ♥️

Related Amazon Search & Products
https://www.amazon.com/shop/felipeadanlerma

You can also begin a new search from any image below 😊

My Purchase & Wish List On Amazon 😊
https://www.amazon.com/shop/felipeadanlerma

I do like to point out I pick my selections to showcase from my Amazon searches. May not always be the case, or wholly always the case, but for now, I prefer picking titles and book covers and gift items that just really appeal to me. There’s lots more to choose from, but only have so much room, lol! I hope you enjoy —

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My Related Blog Posts

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My Latest Blog Posts

• The Old American Artist Twitter Excerpt Series, Number II.18.1October 23, 2020
  “One of the nicer things Arturo and Rosetta had learned from years of living in Galveston was the enjoyment of living near nature.“
• The Old American Artist Twitter Excerpt Series, Number II.17.3October 22, 2020
  “Senior classes, in general, were too non-stop, with little variety, and little information about how each routine benefited them. The idea seemed to be to….”
• Tweets That Caught My Eye on Twitter – Sarah Loft @SMaureneLoft #AbstractConstructionOctober 22, 2020
  “I’ve watched and enjoyed and shared her work as she herself struggled with varying illnesses, never wavering in her commitment to both share hers and others’ work, plus remaining creative herself.“
• The Old American Artist Twitter Excerpt Series, Number II.17.2October 21, 2020
  “Trying various fitness classes meant an effort, together, to find a common ground again….”
• The Old American Artist Twitter Excerpt Series, Number II.17.1October 20, 2020
  “The first days, when Arturo and Rosetta were once again together, meals especially, were exceptionally quiet….”
• Adan’s Fine Art America Images # 20 – Lit Like Stained Glass , Uploaded 04.13.16October 20, 2020
  “Burlington, my wife’s home town in Vermont, is a very walkable city, and summers and early fall we’d often walk back at night from festivals and such….”
• Turned 70 Today – A Lot To Be Grateful For!October 19, 2020
  “Plus… The first family meal, outdoors, socially distanced from other folks, since the beginning of the pandemic!”

Thanks so much everyone! 😊

Adan

Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
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Fine Art America (FAA) – https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/felipeadan-lerma.html