No Great Art Here

Fredericksburg, Texas

Way too cold this morning for my tastes in weather. When the truck was started about 9 am to go grocery shopping, the temperature was 37. At least the frozen foods did not have an trouble staying frozen on the looooong four mile trip home.

A few weeks ago all my art supplies were given away in frustration with my abilities. The mediums that a lot of folks use were not “right” for me. Watercolor and acrylic has to be worked too fast. Oil pastels never dry and in a small trailer can get smeared easily. Oil paints require too much drying time, thus more smearing. Soft pastels were great, but they can get messed up easily. Again not for a small trailer. Colored pencils were “slow” enough for me but seemed to rigid in putting them on paper.

A few days ago in a store, wherever my meandering had taken me, was some new colored pencils. Koh-I noor had developed these new “soft” colored pencils. They were impossible to resist. Drawing is fun for me. There is no pretense that there is an artist hidden in my body. The object is having tooooo much fun and drawing is fun for me.

Last night the new toys were given a workout. They are perfect for me. Soft enough to make gradient coloring but firm enough it takes a serious effort to really smear them. In a book on watercolor by Tony Couch, he mentions that you should paint whatever you like till you get tired of it. Only paint what you want. Right now my like is prickly pear cactus and sand dunes.

And just for the heck of it here is my “artists case”. It is small and easy to carry in the trailer. Just opening it makes me have good feelings.
A wonderful long walk was taken this morning before lunch. It was over two miles and even in the brown of winter this is a pretty place. At one point while down in the trees along the river, this scene of a pastoral style was in view.
A bit farther along was this pretty scene of the low water bridge over the river. Maybe on some days it is through the river. Any way it was a very pleasant walk that noticeably tired out my legs.
This afternoon was spent practicing putting and hitting golf balls. My putting is just as bad as always. However the ball striking was better than my highest hopes. There is a chance that my play will not be a total embarrassment when a group of us gets to play next week. It will still be a laughing matter, but maybe not too embarrassing.
And there you have it, a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.