Our day begins sunny and fair. By the afternoon we hearing the rumbles of a massive thunderstorm! Monsoon season in India, the trees are beautiful with fresh green leaves everywhere. Normally it is a dry and dusty place!
Perfect painting weather!
Blue crab IV, Acrylic on 12x12 canvas
Day 68 of the 100 days- 100 paintings 2018
Much as I hate to admit it, the indian food is being rejected by my body for the time being. Mind you, I am not terribly ill, just a bit queasy ( and a little uneasy as well) Today finds my beloved making his way towards family. He has boarded his first flight and is on the way to Houston. I have looked up his gate and terminal and texted it to him. He has no time hardly to get from first flight to his Munich flight. I will be a bundle of nerves until he tells me he is in seat on the plane!
Todays offering is short and sweet!
But, I do have a question, I have one more sepia crab to do, then 4 more crabs drawn out. Colored crabs or Sepia crabs for a total of 8.
Blue crab III, Acrylic on canvas, 12x12
Day 67 of the 100 days-100 paintings 2018
My sleep situation was between nil and none last night. Concerned about home and other things, but more about that on another day!
Mornings here in New Delhi, India are a cacophony of sounds, sights,and smells. I listened this morning as this heavily populated city began to awaken from it's partial slumber. I say partial because this city is always awake in some way or another.
I have never seen what could be called minor amounts of traffic here. Two lanes of traffic become 4, with motorcycles and bicycles competing for the inches to spare. Any time the cars stop, bikes of all types push their way through the throng, hoping to get ahead of the pack. Speaking of stopping, when the cars do stop, all sorts of vendors selling various trinkets approach the cars. Along side of the vendors are the beggers, especially if they see someone that looks like a foreigner. Tapping on the windows, have been taught to ignore or look away, but sometimes I catch glimpses of them and it breaks my heart. Accidents are also frequent, with many of the cars bearing scuffs, scrapes, and dents. The fender benders are usually not reported, with drivers just stopping in the road to fuss at each other and then the horns from the stalled traffic start adding to the confusion. The horns, my word the horns are of every pitch and varying degrees of loudness and length of beep. The traffic is not for the faint of heart, with cows walking down the road and pedestrians stepping off the curb at random points, putting their hand out as if to stop traffic. They also glare at the drivers, almost daring them to make contact with their bodies. Then the horns begin their symphony again. At least on my 4th trip to India, I am not trying to put my foot through the floor for a brake. I am becoming slightly more at ease with the traffic in our drivers capable hands.
The area of the city we are in is CR park. Each block of houses has it's own green space where people go to walk and exercise before the heat of day becomes too unbearable. Each park also has cow gates to prevent the cows from making themselves at home on the grass. Each morning, there are several calls from the street to come and see what wares the vendors have for sale. Each vendor has their own call so you know who is outside. Their calls almost are songlike and are very loud so they can be heard through the open windows hoping for a breeze. Need a broom? He has brooms, dust pans, straw whisks, scrub brushes, and mops. There may have been buckets as well on his bicycle cart. Need vegetables? They come as well, piled high, beautiful, and ripe. Need fruits? There is another vendor that provides for your table. Lastly but not the least, (and I'm sure there are more)is the man that calls for your garbage, the crows following him remind me of seagulls hollering mine! mine! I also spotted a craftsman with his canvas bag and wooden box carefully picking his way through the rubble in the street, headed for a house project. Speaking of house projects, there are 4 in this section alone, I saw an almost impossible sight. Two men, on two separate bikes carrying enormous amounts of rebar for building. The rebar is larger and thicker than ours and they bend it in half in order to strap it to their bikes. The bikes are carefully pushed through the narrow street, made even narrower by the cars parked in every direction.
The streets are so narrow and corners so blind that the cars and motorcycles beep their horns to warn they are coming through. Add to this the noisy racket of birds, people talking, singing, and traffic from the main road, and you have mornings in New Delhi!
All this comes drifting through the window as I paint in Christinas makeshift studio on the third floor. Mornings are beautiful here, especially during monsoon season.
Blue crab II, Acrylic on canvas, 12x12
Day 66 of the 100 days-100 paintings 2018
Today's post is a beginning of a series of crabs. These crabs are painted on flat canvases, to make for easier transport to back home.
I once was at a show with my mom and she asked if I would ever get tired of painting them. My answer was a quick no, because they are always a crowd favorite.
I am also settling in here, the sights, the tastes, the sounds, and smells of India! This does not make me worry any less about home. Right now, the northern Gulf coast is under and hurricane watch and tropical storm warning. I am concerned about family and friends on our beautiful coast.
Go away Gordon!
Blue crab I, acrylic on canvas, 12x12
Day 65 of the 100 days-100 paintings 2018
Today's post is about the turtles.
We have all seen the havoc man's environment is having on the sea turtles. The red tide in the Gulf of Mexico is really bad this summer. It is to the point that humans are being affected with irritated eyes and breathing issues. Red tide shows up every year, but this outbreak seems to be one of the worst in a long while. Lots of sea turtles, dolphins, manatees, and fish are being affected, with too many deaths to mention.
Now I read about 300 olive ridley turtles being killed by an abandoned fishing net. This all is breaking my heart for the innocent creatures caught in mans destructive path.
A different view, acrylic on canvas 12x12
Day 64 of the 100 days- 100 paintings 2018
Today has been a lovely day.
Lots of rain, good conversation, and of course painting!
Canvases are prepped that I bought the other day with white acrylic backgrounds. I have sketched of 6 of the 12 as well as the 7 pieces of flat canvas I brought with me from the United States. I have plenty of work ahead with crabs, turtles, octopus,and lionfish ready to accept paint. ( I hope I brought enough sepia and mediums!)
Off we go! Acrylic on canvas 12x12
Day 63 of the 100 days-100 paintings 2018
It has been a hectic few days since I have arrived in India. Needless to say, I have missed a few days of posting! Wednesday I was pretty much out of pocket as I was in flight. The trip to India took 27 hours total, between overlays and flights. I arrived near midnight Wednesday, and pretty much went straight to bed. I don't sleep well on a plane, especially when I have "chatty" neighbors! I slept until almost noon on Thursday.
I have been eating local foods and they have been delicious so far. The weather is warm, but everything is so green now because it is rainy season.
Thursday evening, we went to an Art store that is three floors of wonderful things! I managed to find a good deal to add to the studio space here, for me to continue working on a painting a day. Acrylic paints in jars that were 765 rupees apiece, but were buy two get three free. I also managed to find 12x12 canvases made in house that were buy one get one at 450 rupees each, making them about $3.25 apiece. It's a good thing I'm taking back empty luggage that will soon be filled with art!
The pieces today are for the bathroom in our new grandchilds room. Christina and I arranged and rearranged the babies room until we think we have it the way she wants it to be. All the clothes I brought are washed and put away in gorgeous built in cabinets. Almost time for baby to arrive!
Nursery bath works, 6x6 acrylic in canvaa
Days 59, 60, 61, and 62 of the
100 days-100 paintings 2018
