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The Trembling Artist

 If there is a humbling moment in the pursuit of trying to express yourself with paint, it's that moment when you're honest with yourself and admit, "This is hopeless."

I'm not ready to give my watercolors away yet, but I'm close. So I ordered a minimal amount of acrylic paint. I've found a U tube video on the basics of painting with acrylics and completed the tutorial painting.

Was it the uh-huh moment I had when Pam Frautchi mentioned that I might be trying to write screen or stage plays instead of novels? Not really, but let's just say that I'm not going to frame my first effort, but I'm not going to throw it away either.

My problem with watercolors seen to stem from two things. First, no matter how you mix, blend or apply watercolors, they always look different when they dry. It's frustrating. 

Second, with the transparency of watercolor paint, you always have to paint the lightest of colors first and layer up to the darkest. For some reason, this is not intuitive, and there is a pile of unfinished attempts in my trash barrel to prove it.

I'm trying to paint representational subjects. I'm not trying to paint photographic reality. I have a lot of cameras equipment to do that. No, I want you to look at my work and say you see the objects and identify them. I'm not satisfied with watercolor.

So I'm going to experiment with acrylics and oils. Watch this space.

Theater Season Is Upon Us

I was a guest of Laura at The Rep last week for the opening night of Steel Magnolias.

I previewed the play for Urban Milwaukee.

I had a great time with the six women who portrayed the customers' funny, sad, and thoughtful escapades in a small town Louisana beauty shop.

The play is set in the 1980s. This provides opportunities for humor about hairstyles, social mores, and politics. These ladies disagree about many things, but one thing is sure they hang together and support each other no matter what. This is going to be a classic. One of the reasons it resonates with me is that the script is respectful and representative of women and their need to bond with each other. The truly amazing thing is that it was written by a man

Maybe it's because I had a short stay in Louisana. Still, the statement made about the best thing going to heaven was there wouldn't be any politicians there may fit anywhere. However, Louisana's common belief is that all politicians are bent.

The other line I can't forget is one grouchy character tells her friends that she is not crazy. She had just been angry for four years. I think a lot of us could understand that.



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