Posts

Showing posts from September, 2013

Painter crushes, and last chemo!

Image
I was just talking to another artist, Sokuzan Bob Brown, about our favorite painters. I had forgotten the name of one of my favorites, Paula Modersohn-Becker, known for her portraits. She's one of the most important of the German expressionists, but she is often ignored in the U.S. Is it because other people, like me, just forget her name, harder to remember than, say, Max Beckman? Anyway, I was looking at her work online, after I found a postcard of one of her paintings in my underwear drawer (yes, that's how much of a crush I have; no risk, though, 'cause that grave is long cold) and saw some beautiful landscapes. ******************* Happy day, I had my last chemo (hopefully forever) yesterday! Now to sit out the side effects, which threaten to last longer than last time. ******************* I was talking to my sister about how my painting has become more looking than doing, and that it has turned into three hour decision-making sessions, which i

Hot landscape flashes

Image
I'm having chemically induced hot flashes every time I have a hint of an emotion. Really, I am so glad this won't be going on for ten whole years, as it so often does... On the other hand, as the weather gets colder, it's kind of nice to feel the heat. Especially while painting outdoors.  (September 21) Laurent surprised me with a trip to Block Island for my birthday. It was too windy for lighthouse painting, but I did squat among some trees for the above sketch. Pretty sure I didn't get any ticks. Below are some paintings from before and after the trip. I'm working on how I want to "talk" about the landscape, as maybe you can see.  (September 19)  (September 20)   (September 23) Update: More playing with contours, today.   (September 24)

Villain motivations, query letters, and the end of testosterone

Image
Illegally driving to Roger Williams Park again to paint. It's the perfect weather for it. Now back to writing. If you know the enneagram , then you'll know something about nines . This personality type, I've been told, wants everyone to get along, la la la, and will ignore evidence to the contrary. Okay, I am oversimplifying. But supposedly that is my prerogative, as a nine. Or maybe a five . Or maybe an eight . Whatever. At any rate, it is true that I just want all my characters to get along and be happy, which is an unfortunate starting place for a fiction writer. So I did this internet search, no joke, to find out "why people do bad things". It sent me to this website, with a rundown of 27 reasons people do dumb a** **it. For in internet list, it was actually informative. If you spend most of your life sticking your head in the sand. Which, as a nine, I do. Allegedly. The list also seems like a good source for plot lines. I have been going thro

Islands make good book fodder

Image
I just finished an advanced reader's copy of The Waves, An Island Novella , by Jane Minkman. No relation to Virginia Woolf's work. In spite of the title and the lighthouse on the cover. Definitely not as much of a downer, bless Woolf's soul. Book theme: Losing your childhood beliefs does not mean you lose all faith in the world. Walt is inspired by an older cousin who questions the status quo without being cynical, but it takes going to a land where no one shares his beliefs for him to find his own peace with what he had always been taught. The novella was peopled with good, sympathetic characters. It had a bit of the feel of Ursula K. Le Guin, in the world building around arbitrary systems of beliefs. And a bit tame Lord of the Flies . The obvious sources of their ways of seeing the world was not treated as a joke, even though it could have been, instead just imbuing the story with a sweet tolerance.  I would recommend this to a teen re

Reviewing children's books: Sasquatch in the Paint, or From Nerd to Jock

Image
I just finished reading the upcoming children's book,  Sasquatch in the Paint , by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld. I was given an advanced e-reader's copy, and I can never resist a children's story. I was looking forward to reading about a boy's life in a book written by two men, hoping for some insights into the male child's psyche. I read the book quickly, even though it was full of b-ball jargon; it is a tale of a nerd gone jock. In fact, I think it was a little heavy on the sports talk, but I am not a twelve year old boy, so who knows. Here is my take on the story. Pros: It was very easy to imagine the three main boys' feelings, to get inside their skin, so to speak. And  some of those feelings arose from the absence of mothers. A passage that revolved around egg whites was especially touching, with one parent learning to fill the hole left by the other, and the feelings of retrospective gratitude. The pretty convincing theme of th

Learning Vibrato as an adult

Although no one had attempted to teach me vibrato until this year, I've been playing the violin slash fiddle for a long time now. Oh, holy relics. I just realized how long ago I started. @^! I mean 26 years. That's... calculating hours... assuming I played 4 hours per week (never was strong at practicing) times 50ish weeks a year - years without touching it (let's say maybe 5, scattered here and there)... That's about 4,200 hours. I still have, according to the idea popularized by Malcom Gladwell, 5,800 hours before I am good at it. Because I don't hope to be excellent at it. As Temple Grandin so rightly pointed out here , some talent is also required. And though I have enjoyment and enthusiasm, talent is left out of the equation. No matter. Let's saw away, happily. And maybe get a touch better at it. So, to that end, what about this idea of vibrato? If you didn't start when you were a kid, and you have no innate talent, can you still do it? My

Novel Inspiration, and how to get some

NaNoWriMo season is coming up. National Novel Writing Month, for anyone who might find that first word meaningless. The NaNoWriMo kickoff day, the Day of the Dead (which is also our wedding anniversary) is soon after my major skeletonizing surgery, which will be in the latter half of October. I have participated in the Nano circus for the last two years, and I think I remember winning last year. My novels tend to grow post November, so I'm not totally certain about this... I think I will try to do it again this year. An acquaintance of mine, Usha Bilotta , mentioned that having all the lymph nodes out meant not being able to raise that arm for weeks. As the surgery is in my right arm, that means no bowing arm for the fiddle (although they would've had to be awfully simple songs if my left hand couldn't do the fingering) and no drawing or painting. Probably. But I could still type with my left hand. This means that, for me, it's story brainstorming season. Which

Landscape painting, comparing myself to others

Image
I have had a good life, so far. I have traveled a fair bit, eaten some good food, loved some wonderful people and animals. That doesn't stop me from comparing myself to others. Notably one other, a woman ten years my junior. The woman had a successful (in that she could support at least one person on her income) career as an artist, and then she became a best selling author. She plays celtic music. She rides horses. Unbelievably, two kids. Even a shared affinity for cookie dough. I'm talking about Maggie Stiefvater . Here is one of her acrylic paintings. Sketches here . Great interview, one hour long, here . Fountain Bookstore, by Maggie Stiefvater And here is her blog on how she accomplishes it all. What have I been doing with my time? Yes, I'm dealing with cancer, chemo, mortality, yada yada. But before that? So, this is where being kind to myself comes in -- a radical concept -- and I think the following things: 1. I struggle with depression and anxiet

All in all, still thinking pain is better than seasickness

Image
I spent a lovely weekend talking with friends I hadn't seen in a while, and playing a touch of music, too. My friend Camille (last year I made an animation for her music video) brought her fiddle, and introduced me to a few fiddle ornamentations, for both Mairi's Wedding and The Butterfly -- grace notes and double stops! But her main advice was that learning to play with other musicians, in a session or just informally, is like learning a new language. You have to get over the wanting it to be right and perfect, and just mess up like a little kid. I'll have to look for some sessions to test out that approach. Today, now that the monkeys are back in school after the long weekend, I painted a foal for Lucy. She approves. She's been asking me for a horse painting for a little while. (Thanks to MorgueFile, and kelpie .) I'm assuming now that Emile will want the same. ******************* This bit of the cancer treatment, chemo number two, is a chemica

Subscribe

* indicates required