![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTPhfY8vku8ycYpbjM4lji-NYeDx3JE8_hG4smhgGxIBIQv27pW3bRxLZxyGVtxixcQDgz0rkondUVL3NG784AGxY_ShyWEcU17lYK2NR8TCjEbyF8nQWIiD3Vw95yMFNaWFXzcfMycDg/s400/street.jpg)
Home, w/c on hot press paper, 24x18
Looks like a Normal Rockwell setting, right? This quiet street in a small town labeled Paradise by realtors will be active for the next six weeks. Town Council elections are coming up--four candidates for three seats. Local elections can be exciting--letters to the editor will fill the two newspapers and porch conversations will be lively.
Home is where the art is, too. I won a contest by coming up with a title for a signed serigraphy monoprint by Don Michael, Jr. My title? Sylvester got Tweety--I saw yellow feathers and blood. Don't worry, Don--the art will look great inside this 1890's house. The interior was gutted and rebuilt in 2004--totally modern inside. Yin & Yang--outside, a cottage; inside, a loft.
About the painting--the Dali-esque tree (this is about half the trunk) is at the top of my street. I have always loved it but it's dying; tree men have pruned, and huge branches have fallen. I will miss seeing it from my kitchen window; I watch crows sitting on it and, sometimes, vultures check out the neighborhood. I had taken this early Spring photo about five years ago--I set up the shot to block all my neighbors' houses. In the painting I eliminated mail boxes, utility poles, and some driveways. I'm still playing with the watercolor sticks. I had bought hot press paper for drawing and thought "Why not just do a large painting?" Here's why. I'm not a neat painter--I spatter, don't follow any of the lines I sketch, and I need more practice at "lifting."
I say "Whoops" often.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BK46NCdpF4ZB1Ll7agfe9xMq01qMRZjJVRTuHnCXmNXVSOWJaP1ScUdf67_UY7SUNi-pVzpXRfMKoexALo-1KagQQtfZ536YMwxDt1HHhX6DwA3FDAX3MjnwVcNx-NxlHtDDJoG-_eE/s200/dancerssmall.jpg)
(I actually like this painting better cropped and upside-down.)