Saturday, April 27, 2019

April 21-26 Signs of Spring

April 21 ::




Maria and I traveled home from Houston on Easter Sunday. It was such a happy scene at the airport, meeting Geoff and the boys. We had lunch at Pop Pie, then walked around the lagoon, where we saw lots of bunnies, flowers, and a mother with her ducklings... all lovely and soothing, and quintessentially spring.

April 22 ::


It's always a bit odd when after traveling and being in a completely other world... like a massive robotics competition in Texas, chaperoning high school students, watching fire works in a stadium with R2D2 and then the very next morning everything is back to routine, to normal. Maria didn't have even a day to get out of Central Time, before it was back to school, and catching up from missing 3 days of classes. On the way back from taking Max to his dorm, I stopped to appreciate all the wild flowers still thriving along our coast. Wherever I travel, near or far, it keeps me balanced, and thankful, when I can slow down enough to look around and recognize the beauty of my surroundings.

Speaking of back to routine, while Maria and I were away, Mike was still repairing and in some cases rebuilding our home. In this case finishing the backside of the job Geoff and I tackled in the kitchen when we found a couple of plumbing leaks. We replaced our faucet, but bigger problems were lurking in the wall... and this is the cleaned-up view!

Maria needed to catch up with her classes, and sos did I. I realized that it was all of the home projects in the house that were keeping me from doing painting homework, so I took my supplies out to the workshop, and dove into the assignment... impressionist-Monet style water lily painting. And I took pictures of each step, following the lessons about layering, about values, and medium, the oil/paint/turpentine ratios. I appreciate stepping back and seeing how the painting begins and develops. However beginner-bad my final painting is, I think seeing how it evolves makes the end result more interesting.








And of course, with oil paint, I can't keep working through. I have to stop, let the paint dry, before I can move forward. So, laundry, cooking, and happily... slowing down to look around, recognize the beauty of my surroundings.

April 25 ::













William and I went to visit all of the signs of spring at Quail aka San Diego Botanical Garden. Thank you, Moments.

April 26 ::
Next time I decide to paint water lilies, I think I will leave Monet at Giverny, and I will sit at Quail for inspiration.

(Back-blogged June 27, 2019.)