I just took another look at my newly completed painting (above) to try for some settled sentiment I can include for my post, and I do have that – some settled sentiment.

I’m still digesting and assimilating what this new work means to me. Though I know it’s full meaning is still incomplete, because I also know this work is more a conscious marker of where I want to head, and feel compelled to head toward, I do have a grasp enough to point out some things that are making themselves more known to me.

I’ve included figures in my work since I began my painting in earnest, in the early 80s back in Galveston, shortly after my now wife Sheila and I had merged our two families and started a new on the island city ❤️

But my figure work was, like my work as a whole back, a massive thrust of intuition, grasping, and feeling I was touching something good within me with my work. A good example is Butterfly and Hand Surreal Abstract, where the figure in the acrylic painting wasn’t even in the title, lol!

The 2 figures, one reclining, one embryonic, both abstracted, are part and parcel, like my hand, fully integrated into the whole work. But without thought or consideration. Just exploring. Just having fun. Just seeing it all come together!

This new watercolor work, Barton Springs Greenbelt Indian Summer, is not that.

It’s a conscious movement back toward combining landscape (real or abstract or in-between) and human figure where both matter, much as I see with Renoir and Berthe Morisot, and more contemporaneously with our own time, folks like Steve Henderson on FAA.

I did do several full figure 30×40 paintings of Sheila herself, often placing items around her, like a lamppost or reflections on the glass inside a diner we liked, but these were of her, not what I’m aiming for now – to include figures in my landscapes of (for now) the greenbelt near us, esp, when/if possible, with dappled light.

This current work, comparing the before (right) and after (left) impact of inserting (vs including from the beginning) a figure, does offer I think some of what’ll happen more organically next time – syncing the figure and landscape in colors and tone.

As it is, disregarding the generally cooler cast of the finished work (due to lighting and the camera), you can kinda see I’ve added more areas of rose, warming the area around the girl/woman wading across Barton Creek. It actually does kinda look like this after a good rain, lol! 😊

But I had to add the rose tones throughout, in lesser and larger spots and intensities, to make the figure fit into the millieu of the scene.

This is much more apparent in a detail closeup crop like below —

It’s not perfect, or I should say, doesn’t perfectly match my intentions, since two distinct intentions decided they wanted to do a mashup, inside me 😊

I’m hoping next rendition, same basic image but in acrylic, will work out much better.

Definitely planning on starting with the size figure I want, lol!

We’ll see 🤞

Meanwhile, as I wrote for this newly finished piece on FAA —

Though I photo-captured the original image for this work this summer here in Austin, and it is summer, there is still a feeling of something lingering, ala the way Indian Summer days in fall might feel, including the spirit or presence of people who once also depended on the livability of this area. The woman wading through the water in the distance can feel that ancient presence watching over her from the surrounding rocks and woods.

https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/featured/barton-springs-greenbelt-indian-summer-watercolor-felipe-adan-lerma.html

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Take care everyone!

Hopefully have my most viewed image from last week on Fine Art America up soon ♥️

Adan

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My Latest Posts On My Website!

• June 29, 2022 – Someone Very Glad to See Us Today!June 29, 2022
  As per yesterday, still very exhausted feeling, but Sheila & I both beginning to also feel the move-fatigue to our new place is slowly being replaced by relief fatigue….
• June 28, 2022 – Record # of 100 Degree Days in June. Then it Rained….June 28, 2022
  This evening ( Monday, June 27, 2022 ) here in Austin, we broke the all-time record for number of days 100 degrees or more – and – the clouds and rain and cooler air swept through and we dared open the blinds and step outside before 10 pm, lol!
• June 27, 2022 – My Most Viewed Image this Past Week @FineArtAmerica, “Morning Light in Barton Springs Greenbelt, Austin Poster” ( circa 2021 ) #AustinTexas #AustinPhotographyJune 27, 2022
  Last week my most viewed image on Fine Art America was an Austin sunset image ( circa 2017 ) and this week a recent 2021 early am summer shot, “Morning Light in Barton Springs Greenbelt, Austin Poster” – an image I captured in the greenbelt on the Violet Crown trail 😊
• June 26, 2022 – Sending Me Memories : A Grandchild in #ParisJune 26, 2022
  I know that look, I know that stance, and I know that view 💕 Our youngest grandchild and his mom are spending a few days in Paris, and who can’t resist making a stop at the Louvre? I know Sheila and I couldn’t when we were there, lol!
• June 25, 2022 – Aging Gracefully : A Spot of Oasis in My Life From the Heat OutsideJune 25, 2022
  Though we again went out in the morning for chores, and held them down to groceries and some exercise, the heat finally got to me today.
• June 24, 2022 – Aging Gracefully : Doing Chores, Exercises, Eating Well and Hanging in There in 100+ Degree HeatJune 24, 2022
  It’s a minute to ten, past my bedtime for all practical purposes, lol! But had to get this short post out so ya’ll will know us 70+ year olds ( wife & I ) are – so far – successfully pacing through a 2nd month of all time record high temps here in Austin.
• June 23, 2022 – El Marisquero Seafood – 1st Time Eating Outside in a Texas Summer in Decades! #FoodTruck #EastAustinJune 23, 2022
  Though I definitely can’t make it a habit, having a great tasting lunch break “outside” in the middle of the day in 100+ degree weather here in Austin was more than bearable – actually a pleasure!

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Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

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