Ah, September! Warm, sunny days. Cool nights. A month that makes me glad I live in the Midwest. There are other reasons why I’m glad I live here, too: no hurricanes named Florence or Hugo; enough rain that–as least so far–prevents wildfires; the lovely changing of the seasons with yellow ochres and scarlets and crimsons and sap greens and beautiful deep blues and orchids entering into the landscape.
Autumn is also a good time for me to evaluate how my year is going and see if there are things I can do to improve both myself and my work before the end of 2018. I’m leaving for a vacation to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island this month, and I’m taking my sketch book and travel watercolors and brushes and pencils and an eraser. A BIG eraser. I make lots of mistakes.
I envy those of you who draw so easily. I “get” the color mix and shades and hues and tints, and I also “get” how watercolor works on paper. However, I REALLY have to work hard at the drawing thing. I have to keep reminding my self that I’m working on drawing shapes, not objects. In fact, I talk to myself as I’m drawing: “This shape needs to be rounder;” and so it goes.
I hope you enjoy what is usually a beautiful autumn season in Indiana. I hope you get a chance to go north to the Dunes or south to Brown County–or both. I hope you enjoy the many fall festivals and Octoberfests that go on in our area. I love visiting other places–and I’ve been to many places that I loved (Italy, anyone?) –but I still prefer to live here. Summer, fall and spring I love. Winter not so much. But I endure it for the sake of summer, fall, and spring.
But that’s just my opinion. ?
Happy painting. ??