the cassandra pages

Experiments in Acrylic

 

This is an imaginary landscape painted in acrylics on paper, using washes, glazing, layering, and sgraffito. I was surprised and happy about how much texture and surface interest I was able to achieve -- I've always had a bit of a bias against acrylics but there's a lot going on here that would be impossible to achieve in watercolor or gouache. I've used some of the same techniques in large mixed-media calligraphy pieces in the past.

Hadn't intended to start a renewed drawing-a-day practice but it seems like that's happening on its own. No promises to keep that up, however. I'll be writing some regular posts too, pretty soon, but thought you might like to follow along with what's happening in the studio. Lots of indoors time here in Montreal, still. It's a bit warmer but grey and rainy. The forsythia has bloomed, though, in spite of it all!

 

Related articles

Alpha and Omega

Still Life with Succulents and Shells

This one probably says something about my state of mind at the time - the focus on detail in one area, surrounded by simple outlines of other things.

 

Oval Things

Still life with mangoes and avocados.

This is a drawing that wants to be a painting. The two sides of this sketch are shown below; the version at the top of the page has been cropped as the composition might be in a painting. I was all excited about the ovoid shapes of the atulfo mangoes which cut large interesting shapes out of the busy patterning; the eggs and avocados along with the other ovals on the table; and also by the colors which you can't see here: the yellow mangoes, the deep brownish-green avocadoes on an irregular dark blue dish, and the brown/terracotta Mexican bowls on the mustard-yellow Mexican cloth, contrasted with the brilliant blues of the highly-decorated Moroccan plate at the left. The eggs (dyed red and pink for Easter) could be virtually "re-dyed" in a painting, either yellow or blue. The mango at left might want to come down in the frame and be cropped off, and I'd consider putting another one on the patterned blue plate.

 

Mostly, it feels really good to be drawing again.

Orchids

A detail of last night's sketch. I always enjoy zooming and cropping in Photoshop. It works the same way as physical cropping corners, allowing me to find and consider the better parts of the work. Turning the drawing upside down and sideways is good too. Here I'm mainly happy with the liveliness of the line, especially in the orchid at the bottom left, above.

Here's the whole thing:

 I also love the combination of this particular orange and deep blue in the center here -- it does nothing for this painting, in fact the whole foreground would be better in cool tones, but it's something to remember for another time.

 

Clivia, Crown of Thorns, and Begonia

Another houseplant sketch in my landscape-format sketchbook. Here are the two sides, somewhat larger. I was mainly trying to keep it loose and fast, paying attention to what makes each species unique in form. In a finished composition, the forms would overlap more and the negative spaces between them would need to relate, but a sketch like this shows me things. The right-hand side, if cropped more on the right, is a better composition on its own, for instance. I really want to get back to drawing every day: it's so vital. (Here's a previous, related sketch.)

 

Have a good weekend, everybody. Our community garden opens on Sunday but when I walked to work today it was still only about 5 degrees C. Hope it's warmer where you are!

Easters Past

Ah, those were the sartorial days! I was looking through old photos for Throwback Thursday on FB, and found this gem from the spring of 1971, too good not to share with you here. My friend college Barbara S. had come home with me for a weekend, or maybe it was Easter -- but check out those outfits! I had made that dress (yes, it really is purple paisley) and still remember how soft the fabric felt; I think it was viyella. The unflattering shoes are definitely vintage, not to mention the long hair, wire-rimmed glasses, and Barb's purple velveteen bell bottoms and embroidered shirt.

I have some other gems from those decades that I'll post eventually.

Gosh.

 

Easter Weekend

The new light from the Pascal candle, lit from a fire made outside and brought into the darkness, is shared and spreads through the cathedral as the Dean sings the Exultet or "Easter Proclamation." It's a long chanted prayer that includes the repetition of the words "this is the night" with mentions of Passover and other events in the history of the Judaeo-Christian people, and also includes a beautiful stanza in praise of the bees, when the candles are blessed.

Here's my friend and fellow second soprano Christie, cadging a quiet moment in the organ loft between sung pieces to do some law school work.

 

The cathedral spire and some of the other towers of downtown Montreal on Easter morning at 8:30 am, as I arrived for rehearsal.

The men who sleep on our front porch and on the grounds were just waking up. Some are homeless, some just passing through.

Daffodils, trying hard!

And a message of hope and renewal on the front doors.

Well, that was strange...but I'm back

TypePad was the victim of a DDoS attack last weekend (maybe perpetrated by the mother of all those chocolate Easter bunnies) and ended up being down for about six days. If you tried to visit here and got an "unknown domain" message, that was why. It was certainly frustrating, and a bit scary, for those of us who use this blogging platform. On the other hand, I've been using their service for eleven years and have never had a problem before, so I'm not about to jump ship. There are some questions about how long Typepad will remain as a viable platform; this is the bigger "if" for me, but the work involved in switching to WordPress is pretty daunting for someone like me who has such an extensive archive. For the time being, I'll sit tight, but consider the options.

Meanwhile, back to posting -- coming soon, photos of Easter at the cathedral, and spring valiantly trying to arrive.

Empty (Holy Week 4)

Quebec braided palms, and a Nahua palm-leaf basket from Mexico.

In the Darkness (Holy Week 3)

Massive painting of the crucifixion from the 17th-century Iglesia of the Ex-convent of El Carmen, San Angel, Mexico City. The inscription, "You have written well of me, Thomas," refers to a vision of Christ that was had by St. Thomas Aquinas.