opsimath, n. [‘ A person who begins to learn or study late in life.’]

Today was a busy one for me. I got up, made a quick run to the Farmer’s Market, went to a class, then ran to the TRAG gallery for a shift. After that ended I picked up my friend JJ and we (well, me, but she had to approve) went clothes shopping.

On Monday when I weighed in, I had officially lost 63 pounds and another “watcher” took me aside and told me that I NEEDED new clothes. It’s been on my mind this week, and with several art events and my Kentucky worshop coming up, I felt it was as good a time as any to take the plunge.

This is the second time I’ve purchased clothes for my newly skinny body. I am now “thin enough” that I can shop in “mainstream” stores (albeit in the larger sizes departments) and JJ talked me into going to Lane Bryant, rather than Catherine‘s which has been my go-to store for a while. I totally thought Catherine’s would be okay, because I still fit there in the 1-3x’s, but JJ felt Lane Bryant would have “more youthful” styles.

Now, if you had asked me before going to this, I wouldn’t have said I particularly had any issues about shopping. You get clothes that cover you up and off you go. This is not the way JJ and the sales person allowed things to happen.

First, I had to get a new bra. I won’t go into the details on this, but if I had known this was going to happen, I totally would have procrastinated and/or avoided this excursion. But, let me tell you, it does make a difference. With “the girls” arranged differently, I really see the weight that’s not there anymore.

Second, brights, florals, and cotton were “old lady” clothes. Stripes and asymetricals were “in.” And pants that actually touch the body. And tops that require a little tank top under them. It’s all very traumatic. But I did look pretty slammin’.

Finally, jewelry and accessories were pronounced necessary. Luckily, I have jewelry that I never wear, so that’s not an issue, but I can just see that my normal, pre-coffee self is going to have a shock come Monday morning.

While I only purchased two new outfits, with the other two outfits I purchased in July I think I’ll be able to walk around without looking like an old lady/gang style hybrid.

I think the next step will be to weed out the insanely baggy outfits in my closet so I don’t go back there. However, I’m already plotting on letting the new outfits hang out for a while… just to get used to the way things are. I wouldn’t want to rush into anything…

So next week, in theory, I’ll be walking around with a newer look. And, if I keep working on it, in another couple months there will be new clothes again. And each time I have to learn a little something new, which is why I decided to use the “word of the day” as my title.

Painting Challenge

After all this I am sure you are waiting with bated breathe for my painting of the day. Well, I won’t disappoint you.

I felt like the last few days I had been “phoning it in” for my painting, so I sat down tonight with the intention of truly giving it my best shot.

This is from a reference photo of a rhodie in my yard (‘Pink Pearl’) that I took this spring. I knew it would be a challenge, because the difference between the lights and the darks would need to be emphasized in order to get the correct effect.

I’m please with this and may do a bigger one. My mom’s favorite flower is the rhododendron and Christmas is coming…

It’s been a tough week and I was glad to make it to Friday. After work I headed out to Canemah. Birds are still pretty quiet, but a lot of cobwebs survived the recent rain.

At the end of a hike, a spectacular sunset, encouraged by the fire to the south, lit the sky scarlet and purple.

When I came home, I sat down and did a small study for a painting I am thinking about. My friend took the reference photo with his cell phone, so the quality isn’t great, but the shadows are compelling. In my version I’m pleased with the colors and shapes, but the horses look more like donkeys. In a larger version, I think they’d need to be laid in more carefully.

My painting tonight is a representation of how I felt all day today. It’s a quick one: an unused background with a little overlay and some pen and ink.

It’s a little too serene to be a great representation of the day, but it’s certainly representative of a certain theme.

I’ve been tired this week. Last week’s painting really took it out of me. It’s was also a tough day at work. I’m glad tomorrow is Friday.

Last week I said I was working on a collage for my 6″x6″ Wild Arts Festival piece and promised to show it soon. And then I got sidetracked and made some changes and… well, I didn’t show it.

Tonight I sat down, determined to finish it and show it.

I’m showing it, but I’m not sure it’s finished. It still feels like it needs a little refinement.

I need to turn it in soon, though, so hopefully I’ll make up my mind soon!

Well, I’m halfway through with my daily painting challenge… and today it was really tough to make myself sit down and paint. Frankly, if I could have figured out a way to cheat, I would have. But I couldn’t find any new paintings to show, so I sat down anyway.

I knew I wasn’t going to produce anything great, so instead I chose to paint a photo I saw on the Driving Essentials Facebook page and asked for permission to paint.

There were several things that drew me to this photo: the horses, the birds, the quiet figure in the center of it all, and the mix of agriculture and architecture.

In the painting that I really see, the horses and the discer are smaller with the fields and birds spread out in back of them. But for tonight, I chose to just paint what I saw.

[image removed]

I can tell I’m tired, but I do see a lot of places to go in this quick study. I’m wondering if the silos are necessary; they felt like a nice contrast, but I’m wondering. The birds and their placement need a lot of work because I think they are the real story here, with the horses and discer being an entry point.

I’ll have to figure out a better way to simplfy the discer though. This is too ubrupt.

Still, it’s not a bad first thought.

Well, I did it. In fact, I more than did it. I got three paintings done, matted and framed, and entered in the Hillsboro Plein Air Plus for judging.

“In the Weeds 2” and “Turn” you saw started yesterday, but “Sunday Brunch” was all done today (inspired by the friendly ducks who hung around again.)

A heron also dropped by, but chose to hang out too far away to really do me any good (inconsiderate heron).

I spent the day out at Rood Bridge Park again, though this time no accidents (I fell in the duck pond for all those who asked (that was my accident). On the day God was giving out balance, I apparently got in some other line.) I stopped painting about 1:30 and spend the next two hours going back to the Walters Center and getting everything framed up for competition. I also talked with fiends Sandra Pearce, Steve Klier, Bonnie Burlew, and Marianne Ryder and met some new friends.

At 4:00 we we treated to a nice reception with FOOD (artists love food…) and music (a nice, very young, jazz group. I’m sorry I can’t tell you their name.)

At 4:45 the artists were allowed in to look at the over 120 paintings turned in and allowed to cast their ballots for people’s choice. I don’t mind telling you, it was a touch choice for me!

Formal judging will take place in the next couple of weeks and the formal opening of the exhibit will be October 7, I’m going to mark my calendar and see if I can attend. I hope you do the same.

I have to tell you, though, I’m done painting today.

So I woke up the morning and made my way across town to participate in the Hillsboro Plein Air Plus event. I scoped out the park I planned to paint in for the day, so after getting my paintings stamped, I headed over to Rood Bridge Park and set up on the side of the lily pond.

I started my first painting of the day. I wanted to convey the tranquility and coolness of the day, as well as busy antics of the ducks cavorting around the pond. Tentative title: “Morning Abolutions”

I quickly lost the light, so I decided to switch to another view. Before I could get started, however, a friendly duck came up to check me out and have a few grains for breakfast.

One thing I liked about this area was that it is not heavily landscaped; there are weeds and native roses allowed to hip out and a variety of other interesting points.

I decided to try to capture this in my next piece, tentatively titled “In the Weeds II”; I plan to have it be similar in style to the painting that sold when I did the Johnson Creek Watershed project.

I’m pleased with how this is going, though the color on this shot isn’t great. I stopped at this stage because the light was changing and I will come back to it tomorrow.

There was a lunch break, then I moved over to an afternoon spot I had picked out a few weeks ago. They have great fences here, and I thought a bright colorful painting could incorporate it.

I was hoping to get more done here, but unfortunately I had an accident while I was waiting for it to dry and ended up sore and dirty. I really wanted to at least see the next stage of the event, which was a figurative quick draw, so I packed up and made my way across the park to the area the models had set up.

Unfortunately, this didn’t strike any artistic inspiration, so I went over to the duck pond and admired the ducks there.

This area has an interesting shelter, so I decided to do a little architecture piece.

While the drawing on this is acceptable (and again the color isn’t coming up right on the camera I’m doing), at this point I recognized that I was getting tired. I saw sore from my accident, tired, and pretty windblown. So I decided to pack up and head home. I’ll go back tomorrow and try to finish these paintings. It’s my goal to turn in at least one for judging.

Finn and Willie were glad to see me… in a very mellow way, of course.