Light and Shadow

One of the theme shows at the gallery this summer is going to be Light and Shadow. As I was going through my photos, I ran across a picture of me in Key West. I like it that the main figure (me) is in the dark shadow with the lighting in the background. I started this painting at Sydney's on Wednesday by doing the whole thing in black and white acrylic. Acrylic dries immediately so I could adjust the composition and values until they were right without messing up the paint. Then I went to work on it in oil. I realized that I didn't have any white oil paint, so I used white acrylic. The oils I use are water soluble, so I figured that would be all right. It did work, but the consistency of the acrylic was much wetter than the oil and created problems. Nevertheless, I perservered.

Today I found an almost empty tube of white oil paint under a pile of papers. I used that and all went well. I'm not finished with it yet, but I like how it's going.

I picked up the bodies of the chickens and put them in a trash bag last night. When I first found them on Thursday I couldn't face the task, though I did cover them with plastic and put them in the basement. I stupidly left the door open in my haste to get away from the scene, and when I went out to finish the job some animal had torn them apart. The whole incident washed over me again and I shed more tears as I packed them irreverently in the bag. I closed them in the cellar to await trash day, when I'll have to deal with them one more time.

With death on the one hand, there's life on the other. I transplanted some of my plants from Wilson St. to the front yard here. They are surviving so far despite a less than peaceful ride in the car, their roots hanging over their heads in the back seat. I didn't take very much, but it's a start.

My car needed four hundred dollars worth of work, which I couldn't pay. Jim let me pay half and write a post-dated check for the rest. One of the many blessings of living in a small town..........