NaPoWriMo 2019 Eve

I thought of this yesterday, the notion of eve of eve… how long things take to arrive when you’re waiting not so patiently. Yup – it’s time to buckle up for another month of National Poetry Writing Month folks! Starts officially tomorrow!

After explanations of ‘eve’,
As children we would announce
Christmas eve EVE.
penultimate way station.
We had waited all month –
counting down, wishing, hoping,
until the EVE arrived
with its own ceremony,
its own breathless holiday
its own countdown to sleep
then unseen turn from eve
to day, once distant,
now sweetly laid
upon our sleeping lips.

NaPoWriMo 2019 Eve was originally published on

Sharpening the Blade (or pencil)

Got a new Blackwing pencil – Volume 4 – and used my uber sharpener to get it going.

These pencils have different woods and leads. The new one has a redder wood than my previous models.

Sharpening the Blade (or pencil) was originally published on

Cat-proofing

I’m pretty confident that although the cats could drag the whole black roll around, they’ll be unable to pull the nice “fur” brushes out of it without developing opposable thumbs.

The things we do to protect cats. See also: snap-cover water jars… and covered palettes…

Cat-proofing was originally published on

Helpful Cats…

Several mornings in a row I awoke to find various brushes out of the roll up they live in and scattered upstairs and down. Not amused. The most favored of course are the sables and squirrel mops. The cat(s) seem to have pulled them out of the roll leaving everything as is.

In desperation I got the same brush roll I use in my travel kit which folds over the end of the brushes. Hopefully this will eliminate the temptation. Bad kitties.

The fellow at my local art supply store found this all rather amusing. I was just glad they had another roll.

Helpful Cats… was originally published on

Here and There

Things seen here and there tonight in New Lebanon as the gloaming came on.

Those who are waiting for an epiphany to strike may wait forever. The artist simply goes to work, making art, both good and not so good. — Chuck Close

Here and There was originally published on

In Case You Were Wondering… Cats Dept.

The other night after mixing a near black in quantity for that last painting, I worried about what to do with the excess. I had mixed it in one of those small flat plastic pans – just like we’d used in grade school with tempura paints – and knowing cats, I put that pan into a snap lid rubbermaid container and felt ok about it.

In retaliation, the cats spent two days trying to steal my brushes. Seriously? Guess it’s time to find a duplicate of the brush roll that lives in the car.

Today I got back from an oil change and swing past the art supply store to find that latter stop was not in vain, nor my previous worry.

I bought four of these 1.25 oz jars and also moved my diluted graphite/sumi ink solution into one. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

In Case You Were Wondering… Cats Dept. was originally published on

Patience vs Persistence

I’ve long advocated for persistance. It gets things done. It keeps you plugging along, if slowly, towards the goal.

Watercolor requires patience. You have to let things dry or blend. You have to leave things untouched. There’s nothing that can take the place of that really in many situations. There is some persistence required too – to keep blending colors so you know what to use and when, to keep drawing to support your vision and to keep painting even if you don’t really feel the blessing of a wonderful view to work with. Here persistence is the long haul of ‘do the work’, to not give up if the paint doesn’t cooperate, to tell yourself – you need to stop now and finish later or tomorrow.

This is a painting I started several nights ago. I mixed one of those little plastic cups you remember from school where they held bright puddles of tempera paint. The paint was equal parts indigo and imperial purple with a small dollop of indanthrone blue. It was so dark I worried the cats would find it so I locked the cup in a rubbermaid container for safe keeping. So far so good on that.

Here’s my progress from Wednesday, Friday and Saturday:

Patience vs Persistence was originally published on

A Late Paint

From Kristy’s Barn in Castleton/Schodack.

Hope you all go out and look at that moon, too!

Took some nice photos of the sunset after this. It was good to go out and look at the sky. I managed to buy a smaller and a larger rigger brush today – the latter is more like a long bodied round brush and is very nice to use as a small brush. And some Winsor Blue (red) and a second small tube of Turner Yellow… and some paper… because they had full sheets of the same paper as in the sketchbook shown above… Sorry. Not Sorry.

I hope to do it better in time. I myself am very far from satisfied with this but, well, getting better must come through doing it and through trying.
— Vincent van Gogh

A Late Paint was originally published on

Is there green yet?

Went for a little drive but even though the sun was out in spurts the land is no-color in great quantities. And, despite the recent warmth, there were little bits of hidden snow/ice.

Is there green yet? was originally published on

Also seen today

Also seen today was originally published on