Monday, October 01, 2012

Monday-8:30am

I was up early enough a couple mornings to see the sun rise... 
...in the hazy sky. 
Karma and I...
...have been... 
...lazy bums all weekend. 
Didn't realize how tired I was after that huge project.  Slept nine hours one night and ten hours another night.  Been beautiful, open-window weather.  The only thing extra I did was to work on the Ink Drop art for September.  I wasn't happy with it in oh so many ways.  Almost didn't enter it because one: everything seemed to go wrong, and two: I tried to repair it with some white acrylic paint and I wasn't sure if that disqualified me (using something other than the five Ink Drop inks).  
Yesterday was the last day to enter and I just decided to send it off--explaining about the white acrylic and asking if it would still qualify.  Rachel said it qualified.  
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I have dropped inks on to wet paper (remember the bookmarks?), but I have never tried to actually paint with inks.  I masked out the daisies...which looked too clumped together later because I made the vase too large for them.  The ink didn't pounce for shrubbery quite like my watercolors, but I used three colors and found out I could blend the ink colors a bit for darkness.  The twigs were too large.  I went to remove the masking and discovered that ink doesn't dry quite as fast as watercolors (and it's hard to tell because it can remain shiny when dry) so I ended up with smeared green smudges instead of white daisy petals--well, you can tell which ones.  
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Okay.  I let it dry longer and then removed the rest of the masked daisy petals.  Which left me with green smudged daisies and white daisies.  *sigh*  So I got out the white acrylic paint and tried to paint in all the daisies...but I discovered that the dry green ink just dissolved into the white paint...even all around the edges of the flower petals that were white to begin with..but once I started I had to finish and paint them all.  Nothing was going right at all.  Not that I have all that much painting experience in the first place.  And I just realized this morning that I should have at least tried to make a shadow for the vase--LOL!
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Moral of the story...don't try something brand new when you are overtired.  I should have experimented with the ink BEFORE I started on the picture so I would have had a better idea what it would and wouldn't do--and I think I would have done a better job with a pencil sketch--LOL!  If I wasn't so tired I might have had another go at it and possibly have done a more presentable job the second time.  Oh well.  
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At least I learned a few things.  I needed a lot less ink than I thought.  Ink can be watered way down (the bottom and the top of the background are the same color ink).  The inks can be blended...to a degree...carefully...don't need much for that, either.  They cleaned up nicely from the brushes--although I used my crummy children's brushes just in case (which also gave me less control painting).  I'm still not sure if I would use my good brushes with ink, but I am now tempted.  So, it was a different experience painting with inks and I learned some things for future reference.
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Meanwhile, we have had a fly infestation.  Small flies with black speckled wings that I have never seen before.  These warm days there would be about a couple dozen of them every morning out there flying against the screen.  Since I've had the porch door open, they've also been inside crawling all over the window screens flitting their wings.  They have mostly stayed on the screens--are delicate, dumb and easy to swat or catch with a tissue.
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I felt badly.  These are not those regular, flyswatter-savvy, intelligent, big houseflies that are a challenging competitor.  These poor tiny things all hovered on the screens longing for the open air, not wanting to be inside here at all.  I don't know how they were getting in or what kind of alien little flies they were, but it was like catching fish in a barrel.  They never had a chance.  But I sure didn't want a houseful of them.  The murderer in me emerged and took care of the problem.
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Blogger has been messing with my reader list again.  Sometimes people's posts haven't been showing up or show up so much after the fact (days later) that I miss them.  Occasionally I open up my dashboard and it says I am not following any blogs at all!  I had to refresh four times one day to get them to show up!  Just so you know if you expected to hear from me...I may have not even seen your blog post.  I like to think most of them are coming through, but who knows.  Blogger is as touchy and erratic as Mother Nature these days--LOL!
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Enjoy your day!  May it be a fly-free, mistake-free day!  Well, maybe not mistake free.  :):)
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"Mistakes are the portals of discovery."
James Joyce

26 comments:

Shelly said...

It's a lovely picture, and I enjoyed reading about your creative process with it since I have *zero* artistic ability.

Lovely mornings there-

Anonymous said...

Blogger was doing that to me, too! What can you do about it--anything??

laurak/ForestWalkArt :) said...

hey, nothing wrong with bumming it...just means your body probably needed the rest.

i think your painting looks great rita!!

ok, so if it's not the moths...now it's the flies! we get those bothersome little gnats in the warmer weather...they seem to just squeeze right through the screens!!

take care...you 2!!

Felicia said...

ROFLMAO about the flies.. frankly if they were that easy to get they asked for it. Survival of the fittest ya know *wink*. Loving the open window weather here myself! Well till someone took out a skunk last night some place out on the street cuz WOW was that a wake up call at 2am! EW EW EW EW Love the painting! Turned out beautiful!! Hope you have a wonderful week! *huggles* =0)

SandeeNC said...

I use both my blog reader and sometimes I just click on the names that comment on a post, that way I'm sure to get as many as possible! I feel such a duty to return the favor of commenting! LOVE the picture of Karma stretched out across your lap, I am sure she is also glad to have all that work done so that her lap space is available!! lol waving hi from the hills of North Carolina :)

TexWisGirl said...

sorry about the fly invasion, but glad you got some good nights of sleep. google reader sometimes still does that to me - where i get posts several days after the fact - as you know since your posts seem to be part of the delay each time... :(

Beth said...

I think your picture looks very nice!
I have sympathy for no bug in my house! I guess I have a murderer's instinct too. LOL

Carolyn Dube said...

I think your flowers are lovely! I feel for your fly issue- we have had one here that must be the Einstein of flies- he has evaded every swatter we have, including the electric tennis racquet looking thing that catches everything. That fly buzzes around and taunts me every time I am in the kitchen - and has been for days! Glad you were able to get rid of your flying critters!

DJan said...

I am the same way about the fly infestation. I don't want to do it, but you gotta GO! And yeah, Blogger has been really touchy lately, hasn't it? :-(

Oh, and I like your picture!

Janie Junebug said...

I love the daisies. You're too critical of yourself.

Love,
Janie

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

I haven't ever seen a sunrise why because I am way to lazy to get up that early........lol

Love the Ink Drop art you did a great job for a first attempt....

I hate flys they really annoy me...

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

The sunrise is so beautiful! The profile shots of Karma are great. Such a beautiful cat!

betty said...

I like the Ink drop art picture, Rita! I think you did great on it! Those flies do seem a bit pesky! Maybe they'll go away when the weather turns cooler?

betty

Cindy Lane said...

LOVE your artworks -such vibrant colours.

I think you need more spiders for your flies....

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful sunrise and I love the paiting!!

Serena Lewis said...

I love your vase of daisies, Rita! I'm glad to hear that you and Karma have been resting....9 and 10 hours of sleep is very good. Your body obviously needed it.

I saw my first fly of spring just a couple of days ago...hadn't seen a fly all winter. I agree, you can't let flies take over your apartment...drastic measures were needed.

I haven't had Blogger issues but I have had browser issues of late. Most frustrating!

I like that quote. I'll remind myself of it every time I make a mistake.

Have a great week ~ xo

Anonymous said...

Wow - what amazing sunrise shots!

Dee said...

Dear Rita, that James Joyce quotation certainly does fit your ink-painting experience!!! Well chosen! And you did learn a lot. I so admire your gumption in trying new things! "To the stars" as any good Minnesotan would say. Peace.

Deanna said...

I, for one, like you ink piece. It was iinteresting to read the trials and errors you went through to get there.

We have had those little flies before, but haven't seen them for a long time. I have no idea what they are, but I don't care for them much. It didn't take much for the murderer in me to emerge. I'll tell you that!

Keep getting more of that much needed rest!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I HATE this new Blogger. I have problems with it posting my photos wrong. Still can't figure out why that happens.

I can't draw for squat, so your painting was amazing to me! Have a great week.

Darla said...

I haven't tried dropping inks so it was interesting to read your do's and don'ts. Meanwhile, I like your piece quite a lot and the twigs/branches don't look at all to big to me, they give the whole thing some structure and contrast against the roundness of the daisies and vase.

Darla

carol l mckenna said...

Lovely art work it love it alot ~ Karma looks very majestic in his poses ~ great shots ~ Have a smashing week as the 'Brits' say ~ (A Creative Harbor)

Zue said...

I would love to live with sunrise and sunset views like you have.
If they are acrylic inks then I would keep a set of brushes just for them.... lovely vase of flowers:)
xx

Dave said...

Well Rita, now that you have told us too about your painting experiences with ink we have all learned. An informative post, and I like your vase of flowers. Excellent! - Dave

AliceKay said...

I like the painting. :)

Hope the fly infestation has subsided. I heard on the news this morning that Fargo is getting some snow. Glad I don't live out there. LOL The cold weather should take care of the flies for you. I've been battling yellow jackets inside our place. I just captured one and let it go outside, but I'm sure I'll see more again today.

Hope you have a good day today.

Dana said...

Beautiful sunrise! Thanks for the reminder to take the time to watch the sun come up. Often, I'm too busy (or think I am), and I miss it...

Hope you're having a good week. :)