Sometimes one just needs to stop!

There comes a time when working on a painting that I say, "That's enough!" It's time for the painting to sit while the paint settles into the paper.  It's time to get on with something new.  If I continue to work on this painting I will likely come to dislike it - one begins to fiddle and pick at things and then nothing seems quite right...

It has taken over a month of working off and on - an evening snatched here, an afternoon several days later - to actually get this painting to the place where I have decided to stop.  I'm exhausted because this type of painting is very time consuming and tends to pull me into myself.  Perhaps it's time to do an acrylic painting which is for me, a less meditative and more confrontational way of painting.  With acrylics I tend to fight with the paint and talk to the picture out loud.  A few days to regroup my thoughts, adjust my vision and tackle something different.

Meanwhile this will be hidden away while we wait for the Flowering Ornamental Crabapples that line our streets to once again burst into a million pink and white blossoms and welcome the spring.

"Visual Memories"

I am amazed at the diversity of God's creation and mankind's creativity!  What a privilege to enjoy a week visiting my sister and her husband in Savannah, Georgia where we explored an entirely different physical environment and a city full of history, memories, inspiring architecture, and diverse artistic creativity.  A blend of old and new, classic and modern, ancient cobblestone and plenty of spanish moss.  Because it is still difficult for me to wrap my head around all we saw and experienced I've decided to pull together a few photos to give a visual picture of the beauty and diversity that makes up a minute portion that part of the world...

Blue Heron in the stream by the house

view from the back deck - driving range just past the trees

lichens - wonderful colour!

Bonaventure Cemetery

one of many beautiful statues in the cemetery

First Baptist Church - Cross erected on Ash Wednesday

Cathedral of St John the Baptist

typical sidewalk in the historic district

Art Market

Book Store - lots of nooks and crannies

hallway at the Savannah College of Art and Design

Gallery Espresso - our favorite coffee shop - one of ~ 24 city park squares in the background

Inside Gallery Espresso

one level of the fountain in Forsyth Park

post to tie a horse to - wonder how old this would be?

one of many courtyards

marina on Skidaway Island

salt marshes - they seem to surround Skidaway Island

Tea Room

Tea time - Memories of Gran

 museum at the Savannah College of Art & Design

  

Tybee Island