#7, Cypress study

I'm way behind schedule on my tree challenge. I did this quick study yesterday sitting at the park on River Road in Boerne. There are some beautiful cypress trees along the banks.

Boerne Cypress study, on the Cibolo Creek, pencil on paper, 3.5"x 3.5"

Goodbye, Facebook

If you want to follow my thoughts and art, you need to register here for email updates (I promise I won't blow up your email box - I post a couple of times a week) or RSS feeds (on the very bottom of this page), or you can simply "Follow" me (in the right column). I have turned off Facebook wall posts and notifications, so you can't post there any more. I suppose you can still send messages through FB for a while, at least until I transfer all my pictures and deactivate my account.
For those who haven't asked yet, Facebook has gotten progressively more invasive - it still amazes me how much information people are willing to volunteer to a bazillion-dollar organization who uses that data to market it for a profit. FACEBOOK IS NOT FREE! In addition to that, it has become a major time-waster for me. I know other people who survive without a Facebook account, so I know I can too.
I have been thinking about this for months, just waiting for the right time to pull the trigger. It's time. I have more room to express my thoughts here, and it allows for comments. If you want my email, it is available under my profile over on the right. Click on "Pauly" under "About me" and there is a link to send me an email. I will be glad to communicate with you that way - or just call me. I like that too.

Sunset

I don't know...light is so hard to to capture. There is so much color in a sunset, so much that the light does...

I love the intensity in this painting, but I'm not sure I got it right. I'm having fun doing these tiny paintings, though.

Hill Country Sunset, Oil on canvas board, 2.5" x 3.5"

Painting lesson #2

Bill Scheidt, the artist I am studying under, gave me a very simple lesson on painting this last weekend.
"Paint the right color, in the right shape, in the right place."
Simple as that. That's how we need to deal with others- do the right thing, the right way, at the right time.  Simple.

How to paint a tree in two easy steps

1. Draw out your subject lightly with pencil on your canvas.





2. Apply paint to canvas:

Boerne Oak #5 of 100. Oil on canvas paper, 2.5" x 3.5"

Don't forget to sign your work. Voila! A tree. 95 to go.

Boerne Oak #4

96 to go. I wanted to paint this little cemetery tree today, but I overworked it a bit. I'll try again another time, maybe in oil.

Doesn't life sometimes feel that way? Like we overworked a simple challenge? Life is to be enjoyed, one second at a time. Keep it simple, work with it, go with the Spirit. And if you overdo it, there's always another time....and if we take our time, we get a more harmonious outcome.

Straight from my sketchbook - Boerne Oak #4. Watercolor on bristol, 3" x 4", Boerne Cemetery, Fabra Rd.

 

 

Tree # 3

97 more to go. I was looking for a particular tree - or actually a place I know there to have a couple of old trees that have some historical significance to Boerne's roots - when I ran across this beauty in a section of the Boerne Cemetery. When I saw this majestic oak, I knew I had to include it in my project.
I am still working on light and depth, but I am capturing it with more ease as I continue on my studies. Practice. Doing, not just thinking. I am anxious to start painting, but I am being held back by the principle of observation and application - more practice. More doing.
I had a somewhat disappointing day this morning, but the day ended well. I realized the best way for me to get better at my work is to continue doing it - Practice. Doing, not just thinking. So I overheard a way I could improve myself today, and practiced it. It was a simple thing, really, and because it made sense, I wanted to try it. I found myself overcoming a major hurdle and succeeding in doing what I need to do.
So I find myself thinking sometimes why I am where I am, and I just keep thinking, it pays for my art supplies, allows us a lot of freedom to live the way we like to live, and helps us get ahead, a little at a time, slow and steady, like the turtle that beat the hare.
So back to drawing and painting... one tree at a time, I will continue to move forward, and my work will improve.
Here's # 3

Boerne Oak # 3 pencil on bristol, 2.75" x 4.5"

A 100 tree project

I love trees since I have started learning to draw and paint them. I have been studying trees, especially oak trees for more than a month now. I am amazed at what I see and what I have been able to do to render on paper the shape, depth, colors, and values. Trees are amazing. The same tree from different angles or at different times of the day can look many different ways.
They are living, moving, ever-changing subjects. To capture that life, that depth, one must study and see more than what the eyes see. It's windy out today. The trees are in motion. I wonder if I can capture that in a drawing?

I have a challenge to myself - I want to draw/paint 100 trees by the end of August. That gives me roughly 71 days to complete that challenge - a little more than 1 tree per day. I'll start here with one I just finished. 

Oak on the shore at Boerne Lake

These trees are across the parking lot from where I live - I can sit in our swing and look at them

It's art because it comes from inside me.

I was reading some if the stuff I was writing back in '05, and I was really struggling... with identity, purpose, still in a performance crisis. I was still thinking somehow I needed to prove something. Writing was helping, but I had a lot of issues to work out. I was still looking for approval and acceptance. Still trying somehow to justify my existence and purpose, but not really knowing what that was. I didn't understand that everything I needed I already possessed. I was more focused on myself  and what I wanted to be instead of who I was and what I already had.
Once I realized I already possess all I need, and that that spirit is already inside of me - all of the qualities, attributes, and gifts - I began a different journey. Life is less of a struggle now. Still a struggle, but I now realize I have the power to do whatever I need, and I only have to tap in to what's already there.
It's OK for me to be who I am. It's OK for me to reach inside and use the talent I have...for my work, in my art, and in my writing. It's ok for me to be good at what I do, because that's who I am. I don't need approval, and I am already accepted.
I an enjoying my life like I never have before. I am letting the spirit work through me, and letting the spirit lead me. My drawing and painting are reflecting who I am and what I see, without me worrying about what anyone thinks. I am having a great time, and I am loving it.
Well, I've been on trees for a while, and I see this one every day in the way to work. I finally took a minute to draw it. Enjoy it. I do.

This tree is on I-10 on my way to work, and I see it every day. I will paint it on canvas soon. Pencil on bristol, 2.75" x 4.5"

What do you want for Father's Day?

That's the question I hear every year. What do you want for Christmas? What do you want for your birthday?...What do you want for ______?

Personally, I think gifts are meant to be, well, gifts. You don't ask for a gift. You don't tell someone what you want as a gift. A gift is - a gift. I can say right now - I don't want to have to tell someone what I want for a gift. Then it's not a gift - it's a want, a demand, an order... Just between us, I already have everything I want as far as material things. If I really want something, I just go find it and acquire it somehow. I'll find it on Craigslist or Ebay, or if I have to, I'll go pay retail for it. Nevertheless, if I want something, it's easy enough to get, and I don't want to wait for a holiday to come around. Besides, usually what I want is too expensive to ask someone else to buy for me just because it's a holiday.

I'll tell you what I really want. I want to know you love me and care for me enough to acknowledge me - not just on a holiday, but all the time. I want a phone call to say you love me. I want a letter telling me how much you appreciate me. I want to see your pictures, I want to know what you're thinking. I want to know what'ts going on in your life. I want you to ask what's going on in my life. I want you to care. I want to know what's important to you. I want to know I am important to you. I want you to include me in your thoughts, your life, and your prayers.

If you want to give me something tangible, fine, but do it because you love me and you know me well enough to get something meaningful, not because you have to. Take me to breakfast, take me to lunch. Visit me. Call me. Talk to me. Yes, you can send me a gift or give me one. It's OK to do that. Think about me, what do I like? What would you like to tell me?

Knowing you love me is the greatest gift you can give me. Send me a card. Call me. Otherwise, I take Visa, MasterCard, Cash, checks, and PayPal.

 

I love to paint

All of the stress of the day melts away in an instant when I sit down in my studio, turn on some music, arrange my palette, and lay down the first strokes of a painting. I go into another place, I forget about everything - time, hunger, all the frustration of the day.
I look at my hands sometimes, and I start to cry. Painting is deeply spiritual. All of my heart goes into allowing my hands to create a piece of art. All of God's beauty is inside of me, and my hands follow what the Spirit allows me to interpret. I am overwhelmed sometimes what comes out. As I paint more, each painting comes alive. It is part of me on paper or canvas.I'm humbled. I'm overtaken by emotion.
I am thankful for the people I have around me that encourage and inspire me. I am thankful for those who have taken time to observe and give me good criticism and suggestions. I am thankful for those who care enough to tell me the truth and help me see something new.

Oak Study, Oil on canvas panel, 4" x 5"

And of course, I am thankful for you, dear reader, for taking time to know me through these words.

New thoughts, new place, new life, new art.

I have been reflecting on the past year we've been living here, because a lot has changed. After Linda's cancer diagnosis and surgery, I knew things would be much different for us, but I had no idea how mellow life would be for us. The move to Boerne brought us to what I consider to be one of the most beautiful places on God's earth. The hill country suits us well, and we have found it to be a place of re-discovery and healing.
Being removed from things and people we were so familiar with has gotten us closer and into a more intimate relationship with each other. It has been a deeply spiritual move as well. We have had to rely on God's leading and love for us as he has reopened places in our heart that we struggled to know for so long. We've had to trust in the Spirit to lead us to new relationships with people that we never knew, and to open our hearts - not only to recieve, but to give, and experience that intimacy and to just love people for who and where they are. It has pushed us beyond our comfort zone, into some uncharted territory.
Some of that has been rediscovering that creative part of ourselves. Boerne is a place with many creative people - artists, musicians, craftsmen...I love the culture here. It's given me the opportunity to start painting again, something I laid down for almost 30 years. I was thinking recently that as much as I love to draw and paint, why did I lay it down for so long? The talent has never left me, and the desire has always been there. The only thing I can figure is that now I am around so many creative people in a community that is very art-focused.
I never discovered or got to be part of the art community in Central Texas. I look back, and think about how hidden it was to me. There are no art galleries in Temple or Belton...no art store either, and I didn't know any artists up there. I know there are some artists, because the hospital hosts a small place for occasional artists, as well as an occasional show in the Frank Mayborn Center. One would think a community of about 250K in Central Texas would at least have an art gallery. I know Temple has an Art Guild, and an annual art contest - and I even entered an art show in Killeen once, but those were once a year events.
Boerne has only 10000 people and at least 10 art galleries. There are dozens of local artists and many more from all over that display in galleries here. There are art shows, exhibits, art demonstrations, wine and art every 2nd Saturday, artists giving lessons, etc.  Boerne has something creative going on all the time!
Picking up my paint brushes again has been a good thing. Learning how to use oil paints has been exciting, and has given me an opportunity to learn how much I really enjoy painting. I am still doing watercolors too, especially in my studies, but I've done some deliberate, serious watercolors too.
I love Boerne. I love what I am learning, and I love this new chapter in my life. And I love my new relationships with those who inspire and encourage me in my pursuit of my art.

I miss my friends in Central Texas - my cycling buddies, and especially my best friend, Bobby. But I am well, and excited about this new adventure and my new relationships.

"Zaner's Trees" Oil on canvas board, 4" x 5"

The light is already there

This is what I was working on when Bill showed up

I spent the whole day on the deck of Texas Treasures Fine Art gallery today, studying the trees across the street. I've always been challenged with trees, and for the last several weeks I have been looking, studying, and thinking about how trees look and observing them in different lighting, different times of day, and in different settings.
I started a drawing this morning, and Johny helped me see a few things - like space and light. Bill Zaner dropped in while I was there, and in a few minutes, transferred something to me. He helped me see contrast, and taught me about drawing the dark first..."The light is already there...that's your paper," he said. Wow. The light is already there. Paint everything else. He also talked to me about how to lay out my study, and to work on more than one study.
I had the best day. I started at 10:30 this morning, with a large bourbon and coke, and was there drawing until 3 this afternoon.  So here are my studies of the trees. Bill told me those were his trees. OK. I'm just gonna borrow them every now and then.

This is the study laid out the way Bill showed me