Looking at Henri Benoit Emile Matisse

Sometimes one comes across something that strikes them just right, I came across these paintings on the Internet some days ago. I liked the boldness of the work and the paintings seemed to say these are not perfect but they are beautiful. After all they are impressions. You can see more and read about Henri Matisse here. You can use Google images to see painting after painting and see that Matisse painted in various ways, always bold with lots of color. The amazing thing to me is he died in 1954, and for some that seems long ago but I was 9 then. Also note that middle name.

I will post a couple of his paintings here and then mine which was inspired from his work. Still feeling inspired by Henri.

This is a WIP, there are areas I am not satisfied with. I have already struggled with those areas. Also you can tell which is the altered view. I had to try that also. I have to say I am quite liking the painting even tho it took on my look.
That blurry line in the middle of the painting....I had to scan it in two parts and put it together again with print shop.

While Knowing Other Things Need Doing

Painting, that what I chose to do, in a messy art room, on a day when garden needed tending, and house needed keeping. Just because it feels good to paint, I didn't even have an idea, I don't go by anything just draw and paint. However I am seeing artists I respect a lot doing some different poses and I like that. very motivational to see. Sometimes when there is very little extra time, painting what is comfortable feels just right. A couple years ago none of this mixed media art or faces were the least bit comfortable.

While Preserving

The preserving was freezing tomatoes, green beans, making Jam from Rhubarb, making and freezing zucchini bread which is not done as I type this, that was last because I could do that in the late day. I took some photos of things in the kitchen.
My journal cover, still have 3 pages to finish, the current bouquet of Zinnias, and Autumn Joy Sedum that has not really bloomed yet but on the verge. I like the flower cosmos, this variety is Double Click. Vases and figurines that are around.

Painting, Me and a BATB

BATB stands for "bit about the bat" I have not seen that anywhere on the web.:*)
He stayed there all day, note how he would wave sometimes, I think he thought he was a princess riding a float, that would make him a she I think. I had a grabber with a long handle from when I broke my leg, Richard used that to pick him off the fan and put him outside. I bet she was so hungry and waiting for evening mosquitoes. Bat in Previous post

This is a painting with effort into creating darker backgrounds, also practice on carelessness of paint strokes. It is painted on brown paper.

You need to know this....I have not taken a picture of me or had anyone do that in a very long time, so to have two pictures in a week is unusual. One evening I had my daughter help me with a photo taking and they were horrible, (not her fault) but I sort of rescued one. No one can look bad with stained glass, birds and butterflies can they?

Someone asked, yes my own flowers in blog photos, and those are dill pickles.

A Bat, Pickles, Flowers and Me.

This will not be a long winded post, this bat was on our ceiling fan all day today, he thought he was at the carnival and the ride had shut down.

A few Days ago I made pickles, the jars look a bit like someone has been eating them, because they have.

One of my favorite flowers Clarissa Sage, with hydrangea.

How can one spend so much time taking photos, altering some of them and getting them ready for the blog. I enjoyed every minute and I enjoy your visits, even when you don't say a word.

Love Altering

I do I love what a photo program can do to a photo, this is a really unsophisticated photo program also.

so you have seen these paintings and now they are different, the can be in journals or used as cards, small tags, different sizes and different in other ways also as in color. It is a bit of satisfaction when I haven't gotten to paint because it is creating something.

Finny how gardening this time of year is taking away and that is satisfaction there but not as much and it is different because the labor of gardening gives one a different feeling that completion of an art project.

A Wednesday In August

I could not think of a title, I Did all sorts of small tasks and none of them gave me inspiration for a title.

This painting is rather busy, deep in the layers are photos of rugs, this taken from the Sunday paper, it was a full page add of colorful rug sample photos. also my own stencils, they are easy one just uses the same technique for cutting a snowflake. I give the hand cut stencil a few coats of medium and let dry to give it some firmness and if I I'm in a hurry I use spray starch on it.

Part Two of this post will follow in a day or so I did a lot with this painting, you know if you keep doing things with backgrounds it merges into something else.

Reminders And Change

You all know how nothing ever stays the same, maybe it shouldn't maybe the mind is better with change, friends I have talked to talk about moving, new jobs, all good things but with some regrets also. So that is what I was thinking of while painting this. Also try as I might I could not capture the colors in this painting, not matter the tries all came out with a washed out look, the colors are rather pale.

The reminder part is about covers we use to buy to cover the opening in the chimney, the opening where the pipe from the stove went in, we would take some of the stoves out of the house in the summer and then cover that in the house chimney opening with a decorative plate that was metal, the designs sort of looked like her head gear, even that part near to her face.

Of course we have to have some garden photos, the day we had some winds with the storms the garden was sort of swirling, it looked like you were mixing white cake batter with a mixer and then dropped in some pastel sprinkles and kept beating. It has been some work to untangle, I did feel like going out there with a large sprayer of Round Up and say I am done with this ever lasting, time demanding, bug infested, beat down garden. that didn't happen just saying made me know I had a choice and often that is all we need, to know we have a choice. BTW notice how tall that field corn is, in that same location in a dry year it hardly came to our waist.

Rains and Rains so I Paint

That is only sort of true, it has been hard to have motivation with this hot wet weather and that is the poorest excuse, except one can't work outside and now it is soggy, really soggy, we are just short of 5 inches of rain in 96 hours and we were slightly wet before that. So stormy early mornings until noon and then later at night.

In this painting you will see some swirls I made a stamp by gluing pieces of rubber band on a wooden block, it works pretty well, I never really come up with totally new ideas they are just new to me. I am going to look for very wide ones.

The garden, is rather a mess, not in this photo as this is last years but the same if the hard rain and wind had not crushed things. It is going to take some time to get some order back in the garden.

I wonder why I look forward to a rainy day, imagine all sorts of things created or accomplished and then I don't. I do have visions of sitting around reading books and I do that. Elizabeth Berg is a great author, she writes things that I think but don't say and I have always thought that is the secret to good writing. Write what your thinking not what you think you should write.

I know...her eye..I sort of like it that way. I may not change it.

Wishing you a great August, appreciate every moment. Some moments are much arder to appreciate.