When a Rejection is Good News

For those of you who consistently read my blog, you know that for the past few months I've found little time to paint. Between trips to Italy, raft trips and spending time with family, I have not created a new painting for a very long time. And when I'm not painting regularly, I can't just walk out to the studio and create something I'm happy with without some warming up.

Given those factors, I felt very pressured to hit the studio this week and do the impossible--create a new painting to enter in the Watercolor Society of Oregon competition. (The entry deadline is tomorrow, August 1.) I really wanted to enter something in my own local society's competition.

I started one painting, a pattern painting, that was based on a decent concept, but a poor rendering. I had a plan, albeit a loose one, and the painting was showing more of the "loose" than the "plan." When I saw that painting was going poorly, I decided to try another piece, so after going through my photos of my recent trip to Italy, I picked out a shot of two older Italian women sitting on a stone bench in Pienza.

It may surprise some readers to hear that it is easier for me to paint something, even people, in a more realistic style than it is to paint something out of my head. So I started this vignette of the two women engaged in a conversation. To begin with, I was just creating a stony textured background.

So on Wednesday morning I went out to my studio to reflect upon my two unlikely prospects as entries into a competition.

 

A: A painting I didn't know where to go with next, or...

 

B: A background with no figures.

Then I started hanging out at the mailbox, waiting for the mail. I knew that the letters of acceptance/rejection would be coming soon from Watercolor West. If my painting "Rogue Heron" was rejected, I would have something I would feel comfortable submitting to the WSO. Alas, the mail came and there was no letter. That forced my hand. I had to try to make one of the above work.

I started with the face of the Queen Bee, the storyteller and focal point of the piece.

 

Then I began filling out the flesh of my two figures.

 

And finally I got around to the fun part and the part that felt the most genuinely mine, the patterns and clothing choices.

 

At the end of Wednesday, I had a painting that was mostly done, but not fabulous. The figures still are a bit "cut out" looking, the background is monotonous, and the queen bee's right hand should go in front of the bag, not look cut off as it does now. Oh, and quite miraculously (or poorly painted) the queen bee's weight appears to be pressing down the rock she is sitting on.

I look at this piece and see that it has potential, but needs some work. And I'm not sure I will immediately know how to fix it's problems. But a greater issue for me in entering this in a competition is that it does not represent the body of work I am currently building on. I don't think it's a bad thing to paint in a variety of ways, but, personally, I want to develop a certain recognition of a "Margaret Godfrey painting."

So given all of the above information, you might agree with me that when my letter of rejection came on Thursday, it was good news. I could enter "Rogue Heron" into the WSO competition--a painting I consider good work, a painting that represents my style, and a painting I have confidence in.

 

Rogue Heron 22 x 29

June--Part II, Granddaughters and Rafting

Mike (having returned from his sailing trip while I was in Italy) picked me up from the Portland airport the night of June 26. It was wonderful to see each other after a long, but full, two months. But we did not have time to revel in our reunion, since we had a raft trip planned starting just days away. The next morning we drove back to Blue River with two of our grandchildren who were going on the raft trip with us.

In the few days at home, I managed to unpack, do laundry, go to the local clinic to get diagnosed and treated for whooping cough, shop for a 5 day raft trip and visit my mother. The girls and I had lunch at Birch Home one day where we enjoyed the sun on their patio.

 

Marin, Angelica and my mother at Birch Home

I have to include this photo of Angelica and Marin playing "Spy Girls" while eating dinner on our pond's bridge.

 

On June 1 we headed off to Clarno where we were going to meet a large group of family members and friends to launch seven rafts on the John Day River the next morning. The majority of the group were new to rafting, so we had chosen a calm river with very little rowing skills necessary. By noon on Friday we were all afloat, leaving none of our party of 28 behind. (A vision of a new version of "Home Alone" passed through my mind as we loaded gear, food, and 28 children and adults on the rafts.)

Once afloat I was so happy to look back and see my favorite rower pushing our raft down the river.

 

Part of our group were very interested in fishing.

 

While others were happy to just float and enjoy the scenery.

 

Most of the time on the rafts was spent like this: letting kid's handle the oars and experience nature.

 

Of course, I absorbed scenery, colors and patterns for future paintings.

 

So now we are home for a week, but leave for more rafting and camping tomorrow. My cough is better, although I'm still a bit tired. But as the saying goes, I'd rather wear out than rust. And I know my studio awaits my return, after the summer activities are over.

June--Part I, Italy

 

In Montecatini Terme

My trip to Italy started in Montecatini Terme, where my niece, Cathy, and I joined her husband, Dave, at a scientific conference. I was fortunate enough to be invited along. The trip was a great distraction from my long separation from Mike. It seemed so disconnected to be in Europe sight-seeing, while he was on the open seas of the Pacific on his return voyage from Hawaii!

The three of us had three days in Montecatini before joining another niece, Amy, and friend, Hank, in Florence. We enjoyed the art and architecture of Florence, then moved on to the Mediterranean coast (with a stop in Pisa), where we stayed at a VRBO near Cinque Terre. Our house rental was in an incredibly rural location where we were surrounded by villages tucked into the hillside, each with a bell tower. Each hour we were serenaded by the bells, each slightly different in sound and timing.

 

View from Fortona

From the coast we traveled into the Tuscan landscape and lovely hill towns. We had reserved an apartment in an agriturismo near Pienza, a small, beautiful hill town where parts of "Romeo and Juliet" and "The English Patient" were filmed.

 

Pienza

We also visited other hill towns in the area. Siena was one of the more touristy destinations, but less crowded towns included Volterra (with a wonderful Etruscan Museum), Orvieto, and a real gem, Civita. Civita is a town accessible only by a foot bridge. The pinnacle it sits on is slowly eroding and crumbling from earthquakes. It truly seems like a place out of a fairy tale.

 

Civita


We ended our trip in Rome, where we took the obligatory, yet fascinating, tour of Ancient Rome.

 

Palatine Hill, Rome

The following photos will give you a quick peek at a few of the wonderful and inspiring places and sights we visited.

 

Lucca

 

Statue of Dante in Florence

 

Ponte Vecchio, Florence

 

Hank and Amy at Fortona

 

Cinque Terre

 

Cathy and Dave, Pisa

 

Volterra

 

Roman ruins, Volterra

 

Siena Duomo

 

Tuscany

 

Window view of Tuscany

 

Ceramic shop in Ovieta

 

Fresco, Ovieta Cathedral

 

Painting inspiration

 

 

 

Patterns