In retirement, July is my least favorite month. Heat, glare and humidity, and an abundance of mosquitoes, gnats and ticks make me stay indoors. I love watching the morning light burnish the edges of the trees, as I do every season. The soothing green of spring has given way to a duller, stressed look in the woods, the greens are beginning to look like they were mixed with yellow ochre on someone’s palette.
I spot yellow leaves here and there. It’s August now, and the turning of the leaves becomes more noticeable week by week.
July has had a different pace this year. Charlotte the doe comes by less often in the daylight hours, so I was able to get some cosmos to bloom. I know that coyotes have been seen in the town just north of us. I have no way of knowing if they are in our woods yet.
The latest tickborne illnesses are all over the news these days, so I am not walking as much. It requires strong tick deterrence steps (long sleeve, permethrin treated clothing, treated gaiters, a layer of bug spray on all exposed skin, immediate shower and tick inspection when returning indoors. I’ve had Lyme, have alpha gal. I know someone who was in the hospital unable to walk for two weeks here with Ehrlichiosis, and a local man died of the newly discovered Bourbon disease. Oh, and tularemia is on the rise here as well.
I have been concentrating on some watercolor skillbuilding, using a small square format (8”) block of my practice paper. My goal has been to concentrate on painting people, animals, flowers, and architecture. These are usually difficult for me. Also, I would like to rely less on masking fluid.
People (notice I painted them in the winter, just so I can distract myself from the summer heat)
A fox - I did mask him off
Some light architecture - I could have gotten better value contrast in this.
But this one turned out better, except for the shadows on the path, they are a little too messy and washed out.
A landscape with flowers. I was very relaxed when I painted this, and I was surprised it turned out so well! No masking for the flowers, I just painted the green in quickly and put several layers of green on, leaving space for the flower spires. I added a bit if splatter with dr. Phil Martin’s Bleedproof white at the very end. I wish I hadn’t put the birds in. They seem to be a distraction.
I was happy to mail in my registration for my usual watercolor class fall semester at our town’s adult education program.
I also have some sewing projects underway, but I think I will put those in a separate post, once they are in a more complete stage. I am knitting more often these days, and I am itching to warp up my loom. I guess this is what is known as hobbymaxxing, and I am now trendy?
How has your July been? Travelling and soaking up the sunshine or hiding from the heat and humidity like me?
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