SUNDAY SCRIBBLINGS: (UN)ROOTED

The trees grow really tall around here in NC. And you know what they say about tall trees: big roots.

Yup, that's what they say.

"Trees have fallen and continue to fall," said the park ranger on a very windy day last week. "Enter at your own risk."

You can tell what kind of person you are by how you read that last sentence. Most people probably read "Enter at your own RISK." I read "ENTER at your own risk." But years of self-restraint/denial overrode my unhealthy desire to see trees falling, so I waited until the next day to see the carnage aftermath.

Here are a couple of non-paint pictures to show what I saw:




So I exaggerated the size of the tree a bit in the painting. Artistic license.

There they were, all the roots and inner workings of a tree on display, covered in red Carolina dirt.

The easy thing to do would be to draw some lesson from this - like the capillary action of the roots drawing water from the ground (too much analogy?) - about the impermanence of life and how all that once nurtured you will knock you down and leave you exposed to the world. But I'd rather say:

Dude. Big weather event. Destruction. Cool.

Does that make me insensitive? I hope so.

Sunday Scribblings.

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREETOPS

Here's one I did for my dad for his birthday. We traded, since it was my birthday soon after: I got a mountain dulcimer. As much as I like this aceo, I think I came out ahead.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY UPDATE:
The topic is GREEN. Here in Greensboro, NC, GREEN is busting out all over. Looking out my window, I see a scene similar to this one.

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREE #18

I like to think the tree in the distance is aware of the fallen log, and is contemplating it's own mortality. Why should humans be the only ones with angst?

That reminds me: Happy Birthday, Iris.

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREE #17

I am developing a small stack of ACEOs that are in varying stages of completion. That's putting it nicely - most of them are pretty Gawd Awful Terrible^TM; I'm hanging on to them with the hopes that someday I'll have the talent and know-how to fix them. This is one of those.

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREES #16: LOOK UP!

One of the big selling points of Greensboro for the wife and I were the crazy tall trees. "Dang," I said upon visiting the park, "those are some crazy tall trees!"

Seriously. They're the kind of trees that on a windy day, you're risking life (and limb, har har har) just walking amongst them. Each tree sways like an inebriated choir boy singing O Holy Night. Except these choir boys are several stories tall, and make loud cracking noises as they bump into each other. And they look like trees, not humans. So maybe that image isn't so accurate.

Changing the subject: Hey, look! Pretty trees! Dang, they're tall!

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: PEACE

Another tree. Just doing my part for Mother Earth^TM.

Of course, I'm painting on paper, which comes from trees. With a brush with a wooden handle. Should I feel guilty? No. But that's another economics rant for another day. I'll talk about another hippie topic instead: PEACE.

Peace is acting without violence. Millions of people worked together peacefully to create this tree aceo. How did that happen? Trees were harvested to make the aforementioned paper and paint brush. Groups of people worked together to make the synthetic brush hairs, other groups got the metals out of the earth to make the thingy that holds the hairs in, still others put the brush together.

The paints were made in China by an English company. I've never been to either countries.

I bought the paper from someone on eBay, who I've never actually met. I bought the paint at a local store that offers me more art supplies I would ever know what to do with.

I'll (hopefully) sell this aceo to a customer who shall reap the rewards of millions of people's efforts. Millions of people, working together, without planning, in peace.

Hat tip to the late Milton Friedman, who describes this process better than I in his essay, I, Pencil.

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREE #14

Another tree. There's a lot of them out there.

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREE STUDY #13

I don't know if this is really the 13th tree I've painted. I made up the number for 12, and I painted this one after that. So, 13 it is. This tree is totally different from the other one. Obviously, I haven't "found myself" as a painter yet. Or I'm a Schizo. I can guess which one you think it is. Anyway, texture is the name of the game little arbol of loveliness. I strayed from my usual smooth blending method to try to get some more choppiness.
-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREE STUDY #12

I have no idea if this is tree study #12 or #21. I'm just going to make up numbers, as I can't really think of a gimmicky title for this neat little painting. The light is really the main subject in this one, anyway. I'm trying to get dimensionality and interestingness (hey, that's a word - it cleared the spell check to my surprise) in my painting, and light seems to be the way to go. With watercolors, you do that by working on the shadows. Is that ironic, or a paradox? You're probably saying it's "no duh."

-----
LOOK! Pretty shiny things to buy @ NUTMEGNINE.COM!

And look here! Art to buy!

Need more wittyness and birdwatching excitement? Click this VERY SENTENCE.

TREE IN IMPENDING STORM

Although I'm happy with the outcome, I failed my objective with this one. I'm trying to learn how to watercolor for real, and lesson #1 is to leave the white space for the highlights. Easy, I thought. Yeah right, said reality. The white space I left looked like mistakes, so I painted it in and went back with white paint, a la oils. So I'm disappointed in the effort, but still quite pleased with the result. I even got in a little ode to Burchfield for the storm in the right hand corner.

I usually rely on funny to disguise my lack of training and talent. If there's no joke or gimmick, I'm exposed. Well, here I am, all naked-like, and the painting is still pretty. So bid before I sketch in the Belly Punker doing hoola-hoops.