Controlled Burn

Another 30-minute study from photos of a neighboring field. Spring is a time of prepping the fields for new growth and controlled burns is one way to clear the old vegetation and enhance the soil. I love to watch the crews as they work patches of fields and burn off grass and urge the creeping fire on the ground. I have lots of pictures of a local crew and will be painting more of these soon.

Between Ranches Postcard . . .

Between Ranches Postcard

More from what will be a series of Nebraska scenes in oil. I have taken so many photos from a moving car on treks across the prairie. Every scene seems to be the same but all are different in their own ways. And so many more to come.

This is a little 5x7 quick study that still gives a sense of the grassland expanse and the warmth of the day.

Six Miles Apart . . .

Six Miles Apart

After numerous trips here and there through Nebraska and tons of pictures downloaded, I'm starting to get oil on canvas. I've not painted in about 40 years (how did that pass so quickly?) and the above painting was never really my style but now it seems to be taking over and it's more painterly than ever existed 40 years ago. Happy that my hand has loosened and can breathe.

As you drive across Nebraska and any state that has an interstate, you bypass these little towns without a thought. Towns six miles apart, thanks to the railroads. In the distance you see grain elevators and low buildings, all white and shimmery in the summer.  Farms cut in half by interstate highways with odd buildings here and there. Cows. Tractors. Abandoned cars and rows of unused farm equipment.

More to come.

My name is lynn . . .

 

 . . . and I'm a uku-holic.

I spied this darling little red ukulele gem in the music store window and absolutely had HAD to have it. Decent enough to take along on our hotrod road trips without having to pack my good uke and worry about it getting knocked around. I can strap it to my backpack or drop it into my tote without fret. Get it? FRET?

The little guy that started it all a few years ago

Wise guy

So now I own two and will probably be on the lookout for others since I believe that if one is good, two is better. 

And three? Well . . . 

Oshkosh . . .

Oshkosh.

Oshkosh in Winter.

Could I not have seen this coming?

This blog/diary entry is little more than a rant.

Drove to Oshkosh this time for a meeting, thinking that the drive back on Sunday was safe

and I would be in my pjs relaxing comfortably on the sofa in time for the Super Bowl ads.

I could not have been more wrong.

A pre-dawn phone call from my DH Ed said, "Stay where you are. Do not come home."

Not so bad here in Oshkosh, Wisconsin but definitely bad in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Like 8"-12" wet snow bad.

Re-upped my room for another day/night so I could watch 1"-3" blowing snow

here in Oshkosh. Not so bad.

 And pretty glad I tossed my watercolor travel kit and Moleskine into my bag.

I can see filling this book up by nightfall.

Home sounds wonderful.

Will I ever get there? Like one of those dreams where the object of your desire is just out of your reach,
I see Nebraska in the blowing snow distance.

C'mon April . . .

Color . . .

Trial and error.

The 'trial' is the scan. My poor printer is not a high-quality piece and trying to get color and detail just right is probably not in the stars for this machine. I guess that makes this the 'error', as well.

Still.

A little colored pencil piece that I'm pretty proud of. A red 1957 Chevrolet front fender and bumper drawing that measures 2.5"x3.5" as in "ACEO size". The scan comes into play as I'd like to scan and print a limited run of all of my hotrod drawings for summer shows. A departure from jewelry for me. Labors of love, these little "jewels" are.

Love.

Sandhills . . .

Where does this yellow tint come from anyway? Frustrating. 

Anyway, this is another quick painting that took all of an hour so maybe 'quick' isn't the best way to describe it. Measures about 3"x3" and is from a photo I took on our road trip to the Nebraska Sandhills last Spring. Gorgeous warm day with rolling hills and fields just starting to bloom. The clouds were intensely white against the deep blue of the sky. I do like the way the cloud shapes worked in this painting. By flooding the paper and gently guiding the blue pigment to the edges of the wet, the defined edges of the shapes were left as the paper absorbed the water and dried. Some watercolorists - instructors especially - will insist on softening the hard edges and write pages about how to avoid the edge by sucking up paint and water but I like them. I guess it's what makes all of us different and our styles unique.