The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

I painted the mask today. Now the head is fully finished and I only have the glove, the long sleeve, and the knees to do. That should take me two more days but I’m not painting tomorrow through Monday so it will have to be next Tuesday and Wednesday that I wrap up this painting. I’m not sure what I’ll do next. My mind was playing around with the idea of doing a pied piper painting as a break from PPE so that I don’t get sick of the new series and burn myself out. I’ve always loved the pied piper story and still have quite a bit of Robert Browning’s poem memorized. I was thinking of doing it in oil very thick and expressively. It’s been years since I painted in oil so doing so would be a real challenge.

Here’s the part of the poem I have memorized:

Did I say, all? No! One was lame,

And could not dance the whole of the way;

And in after years, if you would blame

His sadness, he was used to say, —

It’s dull in our town since my playmates left!

I can’t forget that I’m bereft

Of all the pleasant sights they see,

Which the Piper also promised me;

For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,

Joining the town and just at hand,

Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew,

And flowers put forth a fairer hue,

And every thing was strange and new;

The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,

And their dogs outran our fallow deer,

And honey-bees had lost their stings,

And horses were born with eagles’ wings:

And just as I felt assured

My lame foot would be speedily cured,

The music stopped and I stood still,

And found myself outside the Hill,

Left alone against my will,

To go now limping as before,

And never hear of that country more!

Today’s Inktober prompt was “roasted” so I did meat roasting over a fire. It was relaxing to not do a figure and draw something different. My skills at free hand drawing are limited and this month will be a good way to re-vive them. I really like my Inktober drawings from 2020, but I feel my lack of drawing in the past few years has made me really rusty and I’ve lost ground. Also when I did draw, I didn’t really challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone of very basic figures on a solid background.

My audible credits have stacked up. I haven’t been listening to much lately because I’ve been running with a friend and thus haven’t put on a book. The half marathon this weekend should get me into something though because I’m running that alone and I will probably listen to Hercule Poirot short stories for 2 and a half hours.

Things I saw on my walk today:

Intentions for September 30 – October 6:

(I’ll put an X next to the intention for every day I do it)

1. Meditate – 5 days XXXX

2. Take the dog on a walk every day XXXX

3. Do art – 7 days XXXX

4. Cook dinner – 5 days XXX

5. Instagram – 5 days XXX

6. Do three 5k’s this week X

7. Run a half marathon on Sunday

8. Play video games, read/relax for an hour – 5 days XX

9. Do not eat any sweets all week except on Sunday – 6 days XXXX

10. Clean the house (two days)

Painting Schedule:

Outline photo, grid, print out gridded drawing, grid watercolor paper Wednesday Sep 25 Draw figure onto gridded watercolor paper Friday Sept 27 Outline drawing and paint in background. Saturday Sept 28 Paint eyes – Sunday Sept 29 Paint skin – Monday Sept 30 Paint shirt – Tuesday Oct 1 Paint hairnet – Wednesday Oct 2 Paint mask – Thursday Oct 3 Paint glove – Tuesday Oct 8 Paint long sleeve and knees – Wednesday Oct 9