hale hokua

Home sweet hale, where all colors are possible all the time.

wave

Wave goodbye. 

Aloha.

good company

After my confession in the previous post,

I heard from a couple of cataract compatriots.

Both very fine painters.

We are in good company. 

Claude Monet founded Impressionism

 through vision veiled by cataracts.

He painted his Waterlilies half-submerged by them.

   
Claude Monet, Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond, c. 1920

Here's an interesting Wiki bit:

In 1923, Monet underwent two operations to remove his cataracts: the paintings done while the cataracts affected his vision have a general reddish tone, which is characteristic of the vision of cataract victims. It may also be that after surgery he was able to see certain ultraviolet wavelengths of light that are normally excluded by the lens of the eye; this may have had an effect on the colors he perceived. After his operations he even repainted some of these paintings,

 with bluer water lilies than before.

next

So, what's next?

Hardly ever what you expect.

See, the details change.

Like the cataracts I didn't know I had.

Now I can't see the details at all.

Sht.

See?

But they do explain all the fits and starts
I've had in the studio in the last few months.
Actually, this might not be a totally bad thing...

Now I can't get fussy with my painting.

Definitely a plus.

For instance, now fussy and fuzzy look about the same.

I'm tellin' ya, this could be good.

So I'm doing what any mature adult would do.
I'm running away.
Ima goin to Oahu,
back to the North Shore.

When I get back from Hawaii at the end of the month,

I can just have them removed

maybe get some vision correction done at the same time.

Probably a plus.

Gulp.

Do I sound casual?

Are the drugs working?

self-portrait

Rub-a-dub-dub,

scrubbin' the tub.

tree #14

This last little tree begins this new year in a fresh forest,

a forest that breathes for us.

Like I said back at the beginning...

lungs of the planet.

tree #14

tree #13

I know this triskaidekaphobia stuff
is difficult for some to deal with,

so this won't be the thirteenth tree in the series.

Just the only irradiated one.

For your protection.

*grinning emoticon here*

tree #13

tree #12

It's a bright and sunny first day of the 13th year.

Why not make 13 your new lucky number?

Believe it or not,

luck is a choice. 

tree #12

tree #11

It's going down to 2 degrees tonight.

I've put out millet and pumpkins

 for the birds and squirrels.

No small wonder we have a squirrel 

the size of a large meatloaf;

I call him "The Gubbner", 

in honor of the big man in New Jersey.

Stay warm, everyone.

Happy New Year!

tree #11

tree #10

Two nights ago, 

the air was crystalline,

and the full moon silvered the snow-covered trees.

Nice planet.

I think we ought to keep it.

tree #10 

tree #9

Aaahhhhh...

I have found the magic elixir!
Guaranteed to boost me through these dark days.

There's a place downtown

 that sells 2 oz. shots of straight

cacao.

WOW!

Pure, unsweetened, unadulterated, unprocessed,

and never heated over warm.
The deepest taste of chocolate.
Xocoatl.

tree #9

tree #8

Ice covers our little river out there.

When I asked the rancher next door

why he calls it Hell's Crik, he said he only does when

it freezes over.

Usually, he's funnier than that.

tree #8

tree #7

What could be colder and darker than here?

Maine.

In Maine, they're having a blizzard.

They sent home the help at the assisted-living place

and are passing out picnic boxes to the inmates. 

My mother's comment:

"Yup, we call it winter."

At 92, she's got those New England understatements

 down cold. 

tree #7

tree #6

It snowed on Christmas (yay!) and got bitterly cold.

Neither fact is a reasonable excuse 

for today's tree being so late in the day,

but I'm using both.

Today didn't top 20 degrees,

the sun was brilliant,

 and the sky was as blue as could be.

tree #6

tree #5

To everyone who reads this blog,
thanks for checking in now and then.
As for those of you who actually leave comments,
you are sublime.

To all of you,
be merry.

tree #5

tree #4

When I was a little kid, 

I'd lie underneath the tree on Christmas Eve

and look up through the branches at the lights.

It was a magical kaleidoscope. 

tree #4

tree #3

tree #3

It's quite yellow.

Hmmm...
Apparently, the dogs got to it.

You knew it was going to happen.

tree #2

The warm-up.

tree #2

solstice trees

I think about trees a lot.

The lungs of the planet.

The Druid in me likes to think of today as their day.

tree #1

I've painted a series of Christmas trees

 with my iPhone Pollock app.

I'll add them to the following posts.

freud at forty

I sketched this portrait of Lucien Freud at forty

from a photo in VF.

What a guy.

who?

Have you seen this guy?

Do you know who he is?

Me neither.

Never saw him before in my life.

Not until he appeared at the end of my pencil.

He looks real enough

to actually be out there somewhere.

So, I'm curious;

who is he?

becoming van gogh

If there is any way
 you can get yourself to Denver,

 do it now.

This extraordinary exhibit is at
the Denver Art Museum

October 21, 2012 - January 20, 2013.

This link is Ted Loos' NYTimes review of the show, and

this one will tell you everything you need to know 

to plan your visit.

How exciting!
You're going to see Van Gogh like never before!
This exhibit is a world exclusive
and will never be shown again.

Plus, global warming has left us high and dry.
Snowless and 60.
Not funny.

annie's hat

Today's quick draw.

big blue

PDG photo 

While I've got you here,

you know how some artists have blogs
 but don't accept comments?

Duane Keiser is one of them.

Just as well.

It's generous enough that he takes the time to post.

Oh, and his paintings 

consistently blow me away.

Treat yourself and visit his link.

I'm just sayin'.

who moved my cheese?

Someone thought my life would be better

 with a new computer.

It wasn't.

Now I'm hopelessly trying to restore
 the innards of my old one.
Hey, the good news is that
 I can finally read your posts again,
and for what it's worth,
 you can read mine.

I've missed you all.
Sorry to have lost so much time;
Life is short.