figure drawing by emily weil

daily painting | carey

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Last night I walked in my front door and caught myself whistling. Whistling! It was like I was watching myself and thinking, Wow. How cool is that?

The source of my lightheartedness was spending the evening at Frank Bette Center in a figure drawing group, playing with media I’m not used to yet (so many possibilities!). Carey was the model, and she was perfect. I played with my watercolor crayons and will continue to test them and see what their limits are. And I chatted with Tina, another artist I’d met before in a similar group. Talking to her about her recent travels made me want to book an Air BnB in Italy and spend a month there looking at Caravaggios, which I’ll do just as soon as I win the lottery or start a SuperPac with the pretense of building a wall at the Canadian border (Canadians are quite dangerous and have been known to eat their neighbors’ cats).

Spending time with fellow artists is a balm. Creating art is a solo endeavor, so being in a group, and feeling like I’m part of a community, was a welcome comfort.

I was whistling!

12″ x 9″ watercolor crayon on paper = $125

 

 

 

watercolor of figure by emily weil

daily painting | figure drawing

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I have a marvelous new art toy — Caran D’ache watercolor crayons. Yesterday I very much enjoyed joining a figure drawing group (every Tuesday; contact me if you are interested) and brought out my sweet little water-soluble drawing implement. Gameli was the model, and he had the most glorious huge afro and a thick beard and it was all a great reintroduction to figure drawing, something I used to enjoy but the weekly group I was part of disbanded because of Covid.

Such a great distraction, and fun to be with other artists as well, including my old friend Bill, a fellow artist and also a bird bander. I need to focus on activities or I’m susceptible to sinking into dark, broody moods. Staying busy is the key, not to mention having outlets to talk about my grief process and doing healing work around musty and stinky and painful old issues. This is a roll-up-my-sleeves kind of time, moving forward and paying attention (not to mention sorting through mental illness issues in my family, ugh).

There’s a freedom, though, in acceptance. I practice non-resistance every day — and boy does it take practice. To accept what is, and that this is a challenging time, and be OK with it. Life isn’t about feeling good all the time, much as I’d like it to. Growth sucks sometimes. Very uncomfortable. Best to flow along with this river. My little boat is mostly seaworthy.

12″ x 9″ watercolor crayon on paper = $150