Sea Shore

It is getting to be seashore time for me.  Every year (almost) since I was born I have gone to the Jersey shore for at least a week.  Usually it's Ocean City but sometimes Long Beach Island.

My grandparents had a house on Bay Road in Ocean City.  For many years I sat on their porch, which was on the second floor, so we had a good view of the bay, and gazed longingly at the boats going by.  We never crossed the street to visit our neighbors on the other side.  I didn't think this was odd for many years.
  
There were awnings on this porch and one of the more debated topics of the porch sitters was when to put them up or down.  It is no accident that I have painted awnings more than once.  I find them interesting.  They keep out the hot sun but they also filter the light so you can be bathed in a golden glow.  For me those days on the porch in the innocence of my youth are bathed in that kind of light.  Time is the awning blocking out all the unhappiness and leaving only that rosy glow.

YELLOW AWNING

12" x 12"

oil on streched canvas

WHITES

6" x 9"

oil on canvas board

SOLD

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Here is a link to another post about porch sitting: http://postcardsfromthemainline.blogspot.com/2011/09/whites.html

Camp

I'm not making any headway with my large painting as I was recruited by my daughter Anna to teach some city kids how to make a video at a camp described today in this article:

http://www.inquirer.com/features/lifestyle/20140717_Growing_veggies_and_leaders.html

This is  quite a good article as it gives you some idea of the atmosphere at the camp.  I have had a little difficulty getting some of the kids to knuckle down and get to work.  They are good natured, for the most part, but sadly lacking in the ability to concentrate on the task at hand.  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we are outside and it is summer.  Anyway they are making a video about the camp and I am making a video about the camp and they are also breaking up in groups of two to make a video of one minute in length.  It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.  Stay tuned.

I hope they learn something.  I sure am.

News

I hope you are wondering where I have been.  My absence began because I had some minor surgery and decided to just sit around quietly and read on the porch to heal and revive my spirit.  That was very satisfying as I had several good books.  Then there were men working on the roof who had to be moving through my studio and I just couldn't face the constant interruptions.  Underneath it all however was the desire to do something different with my work.  I didn't know esactly what I wanted to do, but I couldn't get excited about any of the projects I had ready to go.

I have been gardening quite happily this year after last year's very unpleasant need to remove lots of perrenials for the whole season into pots and cover my garden in order to get rid of the dread Pinellia and Gout weed.  The garden replanted in the fall looks great this year, in spite of the year spent in pots.

While admiring the lovely shades of purple and blue reflected in the swimming pool I realized this is my next painting....and it has to be big.  It is going to require a lot of photos and painting from life to get the colors just right and I will be telling you all about it as I go along.

Here is a photo collage of about twelve images pieced together in Photoshop that is something like what I'm shooting for.  It happens around 7:30 in the morning and will be 40" x 32".  The flowers will fade before I get it finished so my job now is to make enough notes of the colors so that I will be able to get into the final work whatever it is about the color combinations that move me now.