Dog Days of May

Yeah, I feel like this too...

Sleepy Time

Impressionistic Ocean Scene

For whatever reason, I find myself painting works of varying sizes very quickly these days. I'm not sure what that says about my attention span, but the picture below is something I painted tonight in an hour or so. It's an 18" by 24" stretched canvas using Charvin oil paints.

Ocean Scene (18 by 24)

I think I like it...

Camera Issues

I have a problem, or at least something that I will need to adapt to. Admittedly, it's not much of a problem in the overall scheme of problems that one can have.

The camera on an iPhone 12 is too good.

With a crappy old (but perfectly serviceable) iPhone 6, I could take a picture of anything I had been painting, in virtually any light or time of day, and get a usable shot for posting here. The biggest issue was that pictures taken at night in artificial light were yellowish compared to reality, so the better pictures were taken during the day.

I finally got a new phone, and now when I take spur of the moment pictures of whatever I happen to have on my easel at the time, I get photos that are...too good. 

This little 6 by 8 inch sketch of a farmhouse in the fields shows little but the weave of the canvas.

Farmhouse near Longwood Gardens

This 8 by 10 sketch of bright green spring fields and trees shows little but the glare of daylight from the nearby window and individual brush strokes.

Springtime

I will have to figure out where and when I can take pictures of my paintings (and presumably anything else) that doesn't turn into an unflattering microscope view...

Senior Year Band

In another month Grace's Junior year will have ended and she will technically be a (rising) Senior. I hope her Senior year is more normal than the last couple of classes have had their Senior years be. By all measures, it looks like it will be.

Come what may, we have already gotten some good news. A dozen or more rising Seniors applied for the various marching band leadership roles for the 2021-2022 school year, and Grace was one of three selected to be Drum Majors. So a goal that she set for herself before she even walked in the door in her freshman year has been achieved. 

I'm proud. And honestly, relieved. Having been a Field Major last year, she had the inside track on being selected Drum Major, but nothing is ever certain, and she would have been extremely disappointed if she didn't get this. But she did. So she is thrilled and therefore so are me and Amp.

Circumstances permitting, we are planning for a normal summer of band activities, including two weeks of full-day band camp in August. Fingers crossed, this will all happen. In the meantime, Grace can go into the summer happy.