Just Wild

Trillium catesbaei

Mixed media on watercolor postcard

Will be for sale as part of a series

 The weekend looms... I have a craft show this weekend (jewelry and henna), and I'm preparing for the whirlwind of activity.  BUT!  I squeezed in my painting this morning.  Actually I didn't squeeze, it kind of took over the morning.  That's okay, it looks like I'll get my stuff done, barring any glitches.

Trilliums are easily in my top five favorite wildflowers -- some of them smell amazing, and some of them are so lovely and delicate, like this one.  They pop up in the dreary leaf-fall of an early spring forest floor and look so cheerful.  This is one of several southeastern US varieties, Catesby's trillium, which comes in white, pink, and a sort of variegated mix of the two.  

I expect there will be no squeezing in painting tomorrow unless you count henna (should I?  hmmm....), so I'll be playing catch-up next week, three paintings behind, but I should have plenty of time to do it.  

Love & Wildflowers From Tennessee

 

Cypripedium acaule

Mixed Media on Strathmore Watercolor Postcard

Will be for sale in a series as originals and prints

Last April, I had the opportunity to participate in Chuck Sutherland's "Epic Photography Weekend" where he invites photographers from near and far to come and be guided to the most amazing places in the Upper Cumberland area of Tennessee to take waterfall, sunset, wildflower and other nature photographs.  They are hard core and on day one I slogged a mile up a creek with them, climbed a waterfall, and got some very nice photos.  It was a fantastic experience to meet with other photographers and share ideas and experiences, and make a few new ones.  Here's one of my photos from the weekend.

Mertensia virginica

Eastern Bluebell

You can see more of my photography at Great & Small Photography on Facebook

One of the highlights of EPW was spending an afternoon with Don Hunter, a naturalist and photographer from Georgia.  We meandered along a back road in caravan along a place Chuck knew in Jackson County, TN, where there were wildflowers in abundance (in April).  I learned a lot about flowers, and also about photographing them.

When I decided to do friends' Facebook photos for 30 Paintings in 30 Days, Don was the second person (after Chuck) that I thought of.  So I'm excited to finally paint one of his wildflower photos.  The hardest part was choosing one to paint, so I thought I'd do an entire series of Southeastern US Wildflower Postcards painted from his photos, a few of my own, and maybe (hopefully, since I want to do more of this) from life.  

I'm beginning to get a rhythm in the various media I'm using... watercolor for the background, Inktense pencils for any texture in the foreground, Inktense blocks for smooth foreground areas, and highlights in  white Sakura Gelly Roll pen.  Throw in some pen and ink first if that's the style I'm using, and I expect to be using it more since I want to do Inktober in October and I just bought a fancy series of Copic technical multiliner pens for the purpose.  

This is painting #6/30.  I'll be playing catch-up next week, since this weekend will be a little nutty.

Heavyweight

 

What's New Pussycat

Mixed Media on 300 lb. heavy cold pressed paper

$25 with free shipping

CLICK HERE TO BUY

   I painted a 6x6 yesterday with no end of frustration when, once again, my paper tore where I was using the masking fluid.  The paper went straight to the trash and I headed to Hobby Lobby to buy the most expensive single piece of paper I've ever bought... a full sheet of 300 lb. Canson Moulin du Roy.  My plan is to buy Cheap Joe's sampler packs and find THE BRAND (and weight) that I love. I do love using paper that is heavy enough that I don't have to stretch it, so that's a factor.  Plus even when I cut it (with a probably fairly dull letter cutter) it gets those lovely torn-looking edges that I love on watercolor.

   But, not bad on this one.  The frisket (I am using Daniel Smith's masking fluid) pulled up the paper on a tiny spot.  I think maybe I'm getting too anxious to pull it up and doing it prematurely while there's still wet on the paper?  Anyway, this kitty's reference came from Wet Canvas and he turned out a bit orange but I still like him.  I did the base colors in Winsor Newton watercolor with inktense pencil layered over that, and then Sakura Gellyroll pen for all the white fur texture over that (which shows up better in person than it does in a photo).  Oh, and the whisker shadows are Copic fine liners.  I need more Copic fine liners in my life, my sepia set is awesome but I want black.

   I think I might be back on track, but still 2 paintings behind.  This weekend is going to be super busy -- I will be at Fall Fun Fest craft show in Cookeville TN selling jewelry and doing henna.  I'll share a couple of those with you then (does that count as a painting? .... hmmmmm).

Local Landmarks

 

My PLAN today (notice my best laid plans don't work at least half the time??) was to try out the watercolor pencils I found while cleaning my closet.  They are cheap and crappy and I abandoned them after two sections of this and went back to my little Koi watercolor box, which performs pretty well. It's ink and wash, technically mixed media because I used a white Gelly Roll pen for the lights.

So, this is the sign at Oldham Theater.  I knew who to go to, to find out its history:  Belinda Elsberry. She is a collector of local history and she is THE lady to ask if you want to know what happened when in White County, TN.  She didn't disappoint.

Oldham Theater was originally at a different location, starting in 1928, and it was just a couple of years later that they installed a "movie phone" so that locals could see pictures with sound.  Little Sparta was among the first towns in the state to have such fancy equipment.  In 1935 the theater moved to its new and current location on Liberty Square in the heart of the town.   The Cardwell family operated it until 1977, when it was shut down. Many White County residents have fond memories of the movies they went to see there, with tales of 25cent movies (can you imagine?  we are paying 40 times that much now...).

In 2004 the building itself was torn down, but the marquee was preserved as the facade for a town Welcome Center. It is without a doubt Sparta's most recognizable landmark, though many people mourn the fact that it wasn't kept open as a theater, and it is rarely open as a welcome center.  I have only been inside it once.

At some point I will take on the challenge of painting Oldham at night with its neon lights ablaze, in a bigger format (this is a little postcard sized daily painting).  Belinda suggests I talk to Mr. Cardwell about all the history behind it.  Sounds like a fun project!