Art

[Lsbcal]

...still, the theory holds and applies tangentially. everything here is so easy. so predictable. i could lose my eyesight and still be able to shop at the local supermarket, knowing all my products and their shelving that well. i know the roads, i know the weather, i know the animals, i know the people. i want to know what i don't know.
...

There are simple activities if you want to challenge youself and don't want to get to physically challenged. For instance, there is art. There is a whole world out there to sketch and paint. People are constantly finding new ways to express themselves in art. I started out doing some drawing on my own, took several JC classes in drawing, figure drawing, painting, color theory, even art history. If you really try in 6 months it's possible to be a pretty good drawer but you need to really do it and not get discouraged. Here are some photos of a painting group I occasionally go out with in our local area -- the Monday Morning Painters (I'm in a green sweatshirt): Monday Morning Plein Air Painters

If you ever had to stand in front of a white canvas and compose something appealing then you know the terror and challenge and pleasure that lurks in the art world.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Beautiful fields of lavender, Isbcal! What pretty scenery to paint.

Lazy, don't pray for patience either, you'll surely be tested!
You need another road trip, while you are waiting for the pieces to fall into place with your house sales. That is a recipe for curing that restless feeling!

 

[RonBoyd]

For instance, there is art. There is a whole world out there to sketch and paint.

I agree. My version, however, is "painting with light" -- photo graphy. Same song, different verse.

 

[W2R]

What beautiful scenery, lsbcal, and what an enjoyable day that must have been!

Right now I am stuck at work with an avalanche of papers, but it won't be long....

 

[tangomonster]

lsbcal, now that's what I call a quality activity! Just beautiful...and you didn't even have to go to France for it. Just two questions:

Did you get to pick and use the lavendar?

Don't we get to your see your painting?

 

[Lsbcal]

lsbcal, now that's what I call a quality activity! Just beautiful...and you didn't even have to go to France for it. Just two questions:

Did you get to pick and use the lavendar?

The winery harvests the lavendar and this was just at harvest time. We're going back there this Monday, again just before harvest. Lavendar grows very easily around here so we have plenty of it at our house.

Don't we get to your see your painting?

I didn't keep the painting from that day. Had trouble doing anything interesting with all that lavendar. And the light changed from overcast to full sun. Just a few excuses . If you search at the Monday Morning painters site you might see some paintings by others. I'll try to post a few other paintings of mine here but if that isn't successful there is always my avatar which is part of a painting.

 

[Lsbcal]

Studio painting sold at the Harvest Fair here:
View attachment 3813

My favorite subject, title = Bovine Blues:
View attachment 3814

One of the few plein aire paintings I did that I liked (done at a local winery with the Monday Morning Painters):
View attachment 3815

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

very nice. love the lighting in the cloudy sky.

 

[tangomonster]

Gorgeous! I too love the colors and forms of the sky.

But hmmm---blue rabbits and blue cows? Do I detect a pattern here?

 

[Lsbcal]

Glad you liked them. And yes, I'm partial to blue. Probably because it seems like a soothing, calming color to me.

 

[W2R]

Beautiful! You are very talented and your paintings are intriguing.

I broke these posts off from the "Reinventing Retirement" thread in the FIRE and Money forum, since there was some topic drift. Hope nobody minds!

 

[Lsbcal]

Want2retire, so it was not Nords who did this. I just apologized via PM to him for getting so off topic, figuring he must have really got pissed with me. Thanks for doing this, I'll try to stay on topic in the future .

 

[W2R]

NO - - no, no, no!!! I'm so sorry to have caused that misunderstanding. I just thought it would be a good chance to practice my new "skills"...

No problem... it was an easy fix. I really enjoyed seeing your art.

 

[Lsbcal]

Want2retire, thanks.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

to clarify since this was broken out of context, i wasn't concerned with challenging myself, rather with adding to my life diversity & experience that i do not find here.

sarah, i answered your post on the original thread.

this gets so confusing when people try to organize this stuff. i can follow conversations way better when threads stay hijacked. adult add perhaps?

mostly i'm just a bullsh*t artist though i dabbled a bit in the arts during architecture school. i was ok after a lot of work at it but found it frustrating. i prefer creative writing and i used to enjoy photography. here's a shot i caught a few weeks ago in my garden.

mom was the artist in the family. she sold sweater designs earlier in her life. here's a water color of her's i keep over the mantel.

 

[Sarah in SC]

The butterfly is awesome, Lazy--I see you have your mother's eye. You must treasure her watercolors.
I see you as doing some creative writing projects that combine both photography and journal entries, like the photographic journeys we so enjoy here on the board.

Oh, and to contribute to your Adult ADD, I responded to your post on the other thread, too!

 

[Lsbcal]

Lazy, I like the butterfly too. I found a way to transfer digital shots to my big screen TV. That picture has some wonderful color in it and good depth of field. It'd look great on a big screen.

 

[Zoocat]

Isbcal, I love your work! How long have you been painting? I have ambitions to become a painter. Am starting to draw again, after more than thirty years! I want to be good enough to show my work by the time I'm decrepit so I'll have an artistic outlet while I'm wheeling myself around the nursing home.

 

[Lsbcal]

Oldbabe, thanks. I really didn't do a lot of drawing/painting until maybe 5 years ago. It helped a lot to go to a JC class as that provided more inspiration. But most of this is an exercise in teaching yourself. There is a good book out that has been very popular called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It's worth checking out of the library and browsing a little or you can buy it used for something like $5. It shows Van Gough's work and how he struggled with figure drawing before getting better. Helps to see how even a well known painter developed -- he didn't just hatch out of an egg as an artist. The book also has some very interesting exercises. One thing drawing and painting take is a lot of patience. It can be slow and you have to train the analytical part of your brain to not be too judgemental. The book goes into this more.

Also figure drawing classes were very helpful. Figure drawing tends to free one up and teaches you to use your arm (large movements) as well as your wrist.

 

[haha]

There are simple activities if you want to challenge youself and don't want to get to physically challenged. For instance, there is art. There is a whole world out there to sketch and paint. People are constantly finding new ways to express themselves in art. I started out doing some drawing on my own, took several JC classes in drawing, figure drawing, painting, color theory, even art history. If you really try in 6 months it's possible to be a pretty good drawer but you need to really do it and not get discouraged. Here are some photos of a painting group I occasionally go out with in our local area -- the Monday Morning Painters (I'm in a green sweatshirt): Monday Morning Plein Air Painters

That really looks like fun. What you said about it being possible to learn to draw in 6 months- what is the talent factor? Are most people who show up at a drawing class people who have been drawing since first grade?

Ha

 

[Lsbcal]

Ha, I don't think we should worry about a talent factor. In art it's really difficult to pin down what is good anyway. Certainly we can all see when someone can do a realistic rendering but that doesn't mean it's good art necessarily. I think you have to be patient to draw and paint many beginner level pictures before expecting too much of yourself. One teacher I had wanted us to paint 3 oil paintings a week. So we'd have maybe 50 paintings by the end of the class. If you do maybe 100 paintings you'll see a lot of improvement.

There are always new angles to consider and you don't have to be able to render everything to produce good art. But I think an awareness of good drawing helps. I personally like to see that if someone distorts something they kind of knew what they were doing, but that is my bias.

 

[W2R]

That is really encouraging. I love art. Actually, I am crazy about art (well, art that I like, anyway)!!

But have always thought I had no artistic capabilities at all. Maybe that was because both my parents were artistic and painted as a hobby, and I felt I could never paint as well as they did.

Possibly in ER I might get the paints and other materials needed, and take a few classes or practice on my own.

 

[Alec-Eldifrawi]

i can only draw mechanical things, cars, planes, buildings, that type of stuff. once i try something organic like a person or animal I'm terrible.

 

[haha]

I remember a really old guy who lived in his beige Corvair van in a parking lot at Venice Beach in the 70s. He could do very good artistic looking likenesses, usually in pencil, or occasionally with one of those Koh-I-Noor pens.

He did likenesses of young women on the beach, mostly accurate but maybe just a little prettier than they actually were.

The guy was always climbing out of his van with some beauty. He may have been the only homeless man in history who slept with beautiful young women.

My gal was knock- down gorgeous; I kept her as far away from his "studio" as I could.

Ha

 

[Lsbcal]

...He did likenesses of young women on the beach, mostly accurate but maybe just a little prettier than they actually were.

The guy was always climbing out of his van with some beauty. He may have been the only homeless man in history who slept with beautiful young women. ...

Hmmm....and some of those low mpg vans are probably pretty cheap to purchase nowadays.