new year’s resolutions 2010

 January 4, 2010

    We arrived home safely from our journey to the UK just before New Year’s Eve and on January 1, 2010 I opened my studio door and stepped in to re-introduce myself to this delightful space. I’ve a head full of ideas for paintings; thoughts on new direction and growth begin to set up in my mind and I am anxious to get to work. But first, I needed to write down my ‘resolutions’ to help bring my ideas into focus.

   Last year I dutifully wrote my resolutions, kept them at the forefront of my thoughts for a few months, moved them around my studio and home trying to find the optimal location for them to remind me daily and finally they landed in my “to do” pile all but forgotten. As I began to write my resolutions for 2010, I found them sounding rather familiar. I located last year’s list and, with satisfaction and relief, re-hung the old list now the worse for wear from abuse.  Recycled Resolutions! Hummm…..Does that constitute going GREEN?  Never-the-less, my search for renewal and growth remains intact and un-tarnished.

2009/2010 New Year’s Resolutions!

  The United Kingdom! We were exceedingly lucky. Though very cold and damp, the Southwest Coast was mostly sunny while London and the rest of the country succumbed to seriously cold temperatures and SNOW. Roads were closed, stranded vehicles clogged major motorways, non-functioning trains held passengers captive in the tunnel to France and most of the country ground to a halt. We, on the other hand, walked in the New Forest and along the pebble beaches, took the ferry to the Isle of Wight for a delightful day of hiking, found numerous warm and welcoming pubs and celebrated in typical English fashion! The second week or our trip involved driving into the Cotswolds from the South – a journey of about 90 miles – which took 4 hours or more and the remainder of our stay included the occasional snow shower, icy roads and frost on our breath.

On the coast near Lymington, England – 12/17/2009

We walked along the beaches, around the harbors, over bluffs, into small villages and to the pubs. Each day presented scenes such as this, with a John Constable sky and many shades of green. 

John Constable 1776 – 1837 English Harwick Lighthouse

John Constable’s paintings of England with building cloud forms have always amused me. Many times I have witnessed these clouds myself and I find them fascinating.   I’ll have to work hard to compete with his representation!

Driving north into the Midlands of England – 12/22/2009

If you are from my home in Colorado, this just doesn’t look like a lot of snow – why such public disruption? But remember: few folks own 4 wheel drive cars, no snow plows clear the roads, temperatures hover at freezing for days creating icy fog AND the sun doesn’t rise until 8 am sets about 3:30 pm and usually hides low in the sky behind clouds – now you begin to get the picture.

   I take hundreds of photos on our once or twice a year travels to Europe, but find paintings of these delightful scenes difficult to sell. Consequentially, you’ll find few European scenes in my portfolio. This time though, while the images are fresh in my mind, I plan on swiftly painting a chronological series of small paintings from our trip. I’ll continue to work on other paintings too, but if you follow along on this blog, you will see England in perhaps as many as 20 paintings. Enjoy and give me you comments please. 

   I’ll keep this blog short – I’m very anxious to return to the studio so spending any more time at the computer would be wasteful. Thanks for understanding my haste and my absence.

    Thanks to you, my blog visitors, for traveling with me as I banter away. Hang out on my web site for a while and return often as I always have new paintings to share. Please sign up for my Email Newsletter which comes out monthly, or so. 

    Thanks for your strong support and interest. Without you, I would loose sight of my goals and failure would greet me around every corner.

 Cheerio!

 Ginger