Bathroom Scenery

I once had the opportunity to visit the home of one of my college professors. She and I and another student from our class were going on a "photo shoot" around Springfield. We were on a safari to stalk photo-ideas for paintings we would do later in the studio. The other student and I were both commuters, living a long drive from school, so our teacher/mentor did the driving and gave us a grand tour of the city of Springfield.

She didn't take us to any Lincoln Shrines, downtown to see the Old and New Capitols, to any museums or other tourist attractions. She took us to out-of-the-way nature places and we enjoyed a picnic in a beautiful park. The other student (another "non-traditional" student like me) and I felt really honored that she invited us on a very special day. 

I painted two watercolors from that expedition. I don't know where they are now, and it's nearly midnight, so I can't go ratting around, trying to find them. Neither have been photographed, and maybe they've been sold. I really regret not keeping track of who buys my paintings. But it's too late to start now.

"Pasture Pond" 9x12 oil on canvas

Okay, I told a long story to get to a short one. My professor lived in a beautiful home full of plants and pets. But one thing I noticed: there were none of her pictures on the walls. Just wall hangings and weavings and stuff like that. I was curious so I asked why not. She seemed shocked that I would suggest for her to hang her own paintings as part of the decor of the house! Like it was a tacky idea or something.

Are all artists that way? I put my paintings all over the walls of my house, just to have a place to store them. Above is a little oil painting I did years ago at a workshop. I love working in oil --- the sensuous pleasure of mixing colors right on the canvas. I wanted Hereford cattle grazing in the pasture, but didn't know how to draw them so tiny. The instructor suggested I just "suggest" them with little blobs of brown and white color. I still think they look like moldy raisins.

Another mistake I must point out. I forgot to put the reflections under the foreground clumps of grass in the water. Stupid! Someday, if I ever go back to oils, I guess I ought to fix that. In the meantime, this little 9x12 has been hanging in our bathroom for the past 24 years.