NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 24

Lunch with Mom today because Wednesday is Greek Food Day at our Alexis Diner! Then home and the light was nice and it wasn’t too chilly so I sat out and watched the front yard change.

Yellow light slanting
in afternoon across lawn
blue shadows sap green

red wine seems chilly
afternoon shadows deepen
with glints of sunset

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 24

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 19

I sat outside even though it wasn’t particularly sunny this afternoon. The daffodil season is short in the scheme of things.

sitting with daffodils
no words from either of us
I painted, they glowed.

eventually
drops of rain fell on my work
all yellow washes

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 19

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 15

Little bit going on in the world today, but the sun was out and my head was a little clearer so I went out to sit in the sun, with my paint kit!

sitting in the sun
while the world is full of news
and daffodils

three yellow paints
gradually become a
page of daffodils

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 15

TGIF painting

I went out this morning thinking to paint at Hand Hollow. I stopped and finished my coffee there but it was too hot to paint. Listened to the birds awhile and then went home and painted from my porch. I had my bubba packed with ice and a cool beverage.

Then I had a bit oƒ dinner and went off to Claverack for the opening reception of an exhibit, paintings of the Columbia County Plein Air Artists. This was at the Claverack Free Library. Very nice drive and nice exhibit room.

Came home and looked at the three peppers I’d gotten at the community frig in New Lebanon earlier – very picturesque! So I did a quick painting of them too.

TGIF painting

Almost the end of May

Eeks, this month really seemed to fly by. I headed out this morning determined to see if I could plop myself down on the new picnic tables at Hand Hollow – and after acquiring the required coffee etc, that’s what I did. I tried †ø keep it simple. Maybe minimalism should be the byword for next month?

Visit with Mom this afternoon to get a look at her front steps construction start and have a little visit. Came home and did this because I scored another red onion and took a big handful of peppers to try adding them to the next pickling brew. Don’t know if people don’t like hot peppers but there were a lot of them in the community free frig asking to be taken home and used.

Almost the end of May

Wednesday, All Day

I wanted to stick at home today because this morning I started new medicine and wondered how it would kick in. That was the right move but this afternoon was so nice I had to sit outside awhile so I did and I painted my yard tableau. (nice word, eh? Tableau?) Here’s a couple in-progress photos and a final scanned version.

My advice to you all – stay out of the poison ivy!

Wednesday, All Day

Monday already.

When I woke up this morning I was an itchy mess. Or at least my neck and chin were an itchy mess. I was going to take some benadryl, but I guess this doesn’t happen often enough (thank goodness) so the first order of business for the day was to drive to Nassau and get some Benadryl to replace what I had with an expiration of 2017. It had reduced a lot of the puffiness and some of the itchiness. Not a lot of itchiness but some. (my guess is that I finally reacted to some poison ivy after all these years) I didn’t want to drive around with Benadryl on board so I did a little this and that and some painting.

First I did this of some of my plants waiting for planting.

Today was the second lesson by Mind of Watercolor YouTuber Steve Mitchell – spontaneous watercolor landscapes. He’s so calming and reassuring. Full of reminders that this is about learning a process and not every one of these will turn out good. It’s about the experimentation and practice. I posted my four sample pieces from last week here and here and truthfully today I was only supposed to play around with the two wet on wet pieces but oh well. I have more paint and more paper!

Monday already.

May the Sixth

Feeling a little jet-lagged but I only lost sleep because Mom and I got up to start watching the coronation. Coverage started at 5 am. It was worth doing from a historical-I-might-not-get-to=see-this-again point of view. By the time it was over, we were BOTH starving and I made a full English breakfast with all the goodies. Turned out pretty darn good if I do say so and mom scarfed it up too.

Dug up some stuff in the front yard – by the time I sat down to do a quick paint, I was pooped.

May the Sixth

NaPoWriMo 2023 Day 28

Little helpful hint for you: if you decide to clean off some of your palette, and specifically, decide to wipe down the paint-sticky edges of it… make sure that your finished painting is somewhere far away and your clothes are all washable because I managed to disconnect the lid, drop the bottom with all the newly wet and cleaned out sections of paint which basically threw drops of bright color paint everywhere onto me and the newly done painting. Yeah, I meant to do that. Honestly, it’s a thing and I’ve never managed to get good dots of paint like this before!

Pencil width rolls of
Lily of The Valley leaves
Spiking the lawn edge

the light is fading
the robins take to the shrubs
reciting their day

all the fresh green leaves
fade to silver and blue
and everything sleeps

NaPoWriMo 2023 Day 28

NaPoWriMo 2023 Day 26

Mom and I went to a garden center and had a good time looking at the first wave of plants. I went because I needed a couple “models” for painting now that the daffodils are past, and I need to think about what to put where the shrubs were. The shrubs now piled along the driveway. It was bright and sunny when we were out and when I got home there were big clouds and spits of rain.

There are days I am
here I am here I am here
other days, barely.

first shop for flowers.
a cart follows us around
who snuck all those in?

piles of pruning,
labor of an afternoon,
line the driveway

cutting it away
putting stuff for donation
but where does it go?

NaPoWriMo 2023 Day 26