Painting lessons-1

"Every artist dips his brush into his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures"
Henry Ward Beecher 

Thursday October 22
5:38 p.m.
Today Candy and i were "playing" and we both liked it a lot.
First, i etched my mother with charcoal, adding 2 touches of red first with her 2 earrings then her mouth.
By looking at the portrait upside down, i could see an Asian woman, tall and elegant, with full hips and a long embroidered dress.
The garland on her dress reproduced exactly the one on the photograph.
My mom was picky with details, so it is in paying attention to details that i honor her good taste.

My second practice was to cover two already painted canvases, so i could have the "feel" of painting. Hope gave me two old oil paint tubes with turpentine and linen seed oil in which i could dip the brushes.
For the first canvas, i tried to mix the white, the blue, the oil and the turpentine before i placed them on the canvas
For the second canvas (much larger), i mixed everything on the canvas itself, taking all my time, with long, even strokes.
I tried the feeling of two big brushes, deciding on which one felt better, and Hope taught me how to use another big brush with softer and rounder hair, to blend the paint together.
From far away, i really like a lot the blue hue achieved.

I learned to clean my paint brushes with hand paper first, then with the turpentine, then with soap and water. Hope dried them with paper before laying them flat.

If I could totally erase the guilt from having been so happy (while there are so many people suffering) i would have called this day a day in paradise on earth.
A splendid shining sun, a prolific vegetation after the rain of late, two chatting teenagers in the house across the street, the chicken, the dogs, and last but not least the Caribbean music emanating from a parked car..
A village like many others in Anguilla, at the human scale i am used to, giving me all the possibility to live in peace and independence.

Today i had my first painting lesson, a wish i held since so long...

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