I have completely abandonned my former route home for the more scenic route along the Fraser and through the countryside.It adds only a couple minutes to my commute, but this rural landscape has been restoring something in me that celebrates the land, and with that, stirs my desire to paint watercolour again.
All year I’ve considered disciplining myself to draw every day, or a similar stunt, but I don’t have the energy or insanity to do that. But I like the concept of delighting in one thing every day, to become more joyful. So I have been mentally taking note of scenes that resonate with me. I want to start drawing them, which brings me to the sketch above.
Every day as I drive by at dusk, this forlorn barn catches my eye. It is the perfectly white roof against the otherwise brown escarpment, forests and fields that first caught my. Every time I pass it, I notice something new, like one of the doors on the right is open, or the light-trunked trees off to the left, or the regularity of the fence posts in the blueberry field, or the house at the top of the cliff with a little light twinkling.
So when my coworker gave me this amazing book full of heavy rag paper, I knew just what to do with it. I’m going to start using it to record my memories of my current landscape. I don’t know how often this will take place or how many versions of this barn you’re going to have to look at.
And may I just add, I continue to learn great things from the people around me, day-to-day, like this friend who gave me this book, just because I added a few tasks to my plate over the past couple weeks that meant a lot to her. And that she thought of me with such a nice gift means so much to me. I hope I can show my appreciation for others better as a result of her example.
spaark
I like your idea. I have been trying to spend more time exploring one topic vs jumping all over the place. It will be interesting to see all the different vantage points of your barn. I still want to see the finished piece of the landscape you were doing. I am sorry I forget the name, but it had collage elements in it that belonged to your family…and I remember laughing about an “egg” in the corner 🙂 Have you finished it yet? Sounds like all is well:) Julie
delightfilledart
I haven’t “finished” the other one yet – I kind of burned out mid-January and this is really the first art I’ve done since. I did work on the “egg” part and did some distressing etc., but there are a few other areas I’d still like to improve.
Linda Halcomb
Wonderful color. The paper in the book looks very heavy. That will be great to work with since you can get it very wet with washes. I like the scene – very interesting.
jconsunji
Nice blog! Good luck with the blogging and painting!