Well, this happened!
So many things happened this weekend.
I got several paintings set up to paint but never touched a brush!
My family had a boat when I was a teenager that my dad bought in Ohio.
He bought a trailer and a deep V hull boat for $25.00 in the fall of 1972.
We spent the winter scraping down the hull, repairing fiberglass as it had run aground.
Dad was able to repair the fiberglass, and we began on other parts of the boat.
So, her name was Quarter Penny.
I remember parts and pieces of this boat all over the dining area of our base housing.
The varnish smell was overpowering for a while.
I even spent a weekend under the hull while it was up on sawhorses with my dad painting the inside
while the snow was falling on the hull.
He got the boat together, and frankly I don't remember it ever becoming
water bound while we lived in Ohio.
I do vividly remember using the boat to carry all the camping equipment
while traveling across country to California and our new base assignment in Riverside.
I spent my 13th birthday on the road camping in two tents.
One of which was a cottage tent that dad bought at an army surplus store.
We painted dog prints all over it, in an effort to close the holes in the canvas.
That thing was massive and heavy.
It was my responsibility to get it on the ground cloth, stake it, and get poles started on the sides.
I needed help with the ridge pole as the tent was probably 8 ft at the center.
My brothers and I stayed in the cottage tent.
My parents had a separate small tent.
Anyway, we used the boat to carry all the equipment, stoves, lanterns, fuel, food,
and toys for my brothers.
We even stayed at a Jellystone Park, I remember the beautiful blue of the
Colorado river raging just outside our campsite.
The wind was so fierce that the guy lines to the poles of our tent hummed all night.
So, when got to California, we almost immediately started school.
Within a short time, it was Halloween and my hand got shut in a door in the band room.
Nothing broken on me, just a split on the skin under my middle finger.
Needless to say, it made life interesting trying to play a flute.
I also was splitting wood for our fireplace the next month and
caught the hatchet with my index finger on the same hand.
I was not happy with California.
But summer was coming!
The water project that stopped at a new man-made lake was finished in 1974.
Lake Perris was perfect to learn to water ski on because there was this
wonderful area when you fell off, you could stand up.
I learned to ski on doubles but could never master the slalom ski.
I loved that summer!
Many happy hours spent on the lake and on Allesandro Island
because we had a boat to get to the island.
My dad also got a 26 ft sailboat he called Quarter Penny two.
He drove that boat from California to Alabama.
Unfortunately, "my" boat had to be sold because dad couldn't haul two of them.
If I had known it was because mom didn't want to drive a boat across country, I would've begged to learn how to drive as I was 15 at the time.
So, I still miss the boat.
Chris has been looking for one for years.
He didn't really understand the deep V hull boat until I found a photo of one.
I don't have any idea what kind of boat Quarter Penny was, but the Larsen was pretty close.
Sunday found us driving to Destin Florida after church to look at a Larsen deep V hull boat.....
No painting that day because the trip to Destin and back was nearly 5 hours.
We looked at the boat that needed new stringers in the bottom, new bilge boards,
and probably a transom.
The hull was exactly as I remembered, because my brothers could stand up in the boat and not fall out.
That's how deep this boat was in my childhood.
The gel coat was scraped in a couple of spots, but otherwise the paint was still shiny.
It had the original seats that would lay flat, so you cold sunbathe.
It was a little bigger than we were hoping for, and Chris was concerned about the wood rot.
He didn't know if he wanted to take on the project.
So, we came home without the boat.
He's still looking for a deep V hull boat.
I made him promise he'll take me to look when he finds one.
Today, I didn't paint either.
I cleaned in the studio, preparing for my daughter to come over as we were
working on her Mardi Gras Queen outfit and train design.
We finally got on the same page with the design after much discussion.
She has something in her mind, and like me she sometimes
cannot get what is in her head out onto paper.
We managed to design the under train that goes on the back of the dress.
All this without butting heads!
We also ordered Crinoline to stiffen everything.
It's going to be a spectacular project.
I drafted the pattern, then cut it out from scrap fabric to see if it was what she wanted.
We had much success and will get together Friday for another session.
After my daughter left, it was time to take dogs on their ride.
I then took my sister in love to a doctor appointment.
Came home, ate, and headed to the studio.
I reset the studio back to me after working with my daughter,
folding all her stuff and placing it all in one spot.
I then rolled out my drop cloths and varnished 16 pieces that I erased this morning.
So here I am after a long day.
Not offering excuses for non-completed paintings.
Just letting you know a little about the world of an artist here in Fairhope, Alabama.
Well, this happened!, Varnishing day, multiple sizes
Days 83 & 84 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2025
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