#129 6/23/19 The Commission

I went on vacation with the whole Martin clan (brothers, their families, my parents, one of my sons) the last week of June.  Up to the cottage on Lower Scott Lake in Michigan, total relaxation, nothing more pressing than thinking about what kind of food to cook and who needs a cribbage opponent.  I took my paints, with the intent to let myself go.  On the 9 hour ride there, I got to sit in the backseat....allowing Dave and Joe to do all the driving....and read the first half of the book, "How to Paint Fast, Loose and Bold" by Patti Mollica.  Value first, color second - that's my take-away so far on this book.  I completed 13 paintings over the course of the week and managed to get them all home unscathed (except for one mosquito that needed to be extracted from a particularly wet canvas).  On the ride home, I worked on the last half of the book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" (and I was finally able to return this fabulous book to my coworker Larry, who lent it to me months ago).

Typically on our family vacations I go a bit overboard organizing crafts for the nieces and nephews.  Last year I sensed that they were getting to the age where they really just wanted to hang with each other, not the older folk, and my projects were like chores.  Between that observation and my current oil-painting rampage, I decided I was only bringing my own projects this year.  But on the off-chance they wanted to do something crafty, they could of course draw and paint with me.  And surprise, they asked what kind of crafts I brought.  I had them do an upside-down drawing - the boys followed the instructions.  The girls insisted on rotating the paper and letting their bossy brain-side dictate their drawing.  Guess whose drawings looked most like the photo?  The boys also enjoyed the exercise of drawing something without looking at the paper at all - hilarious results.  Three of the kids also did an oil painting of a cut avocado.  They turned out wonderful.  These oil paints were done on heavy-weight paper - a "multi-media pad" that says it accepts wet and dry mediums.  The oils dried quickly on this, with a nice sheen.  I kind of like the effect and might try it myself in the future.  It required more volume of paint for the coverage....you can't really push the paint around like you can on a canvas.

The first painting I worked on was "The Commission" - for the man from the Farmer's Market who wanted an orange tabby cat (on the little easel) to match the Batman painting (on the little easel) which he purchased.  He had a cat that looked just like Batman, as well as an orange tabby....and having the two in paint-form in his house would bring back happy memories.  He texted me a picture of the orange tabby for use in the project.  The tabby stripes were very subdued, I thought I had them in place, only to look at the painting from a distance and not see any stripes.  I'd like to paint this cat again and see if I can improve the features.  He reminds me of one of my childhood pets, Orangie, the runt in a litter of kittens who was born with a hairlip.  Yes, he was odd-looking, but he survived his deformity and was very sweet.