So much to tell!

Well, I was on blog break again, but this time due to travel. Daniel and I took a few days and drove down to Clearwater Beach (near Tampa) in Florida where we rented a little beach cottage. The drive from Savannah was only six hours and we totally fell in love with this area.

The biggest surprise of moving to Georgia has been how much we love Florida. We didn't know anything about it really and it has surprised us every step of the way.

We have so many photos that I decided to just show them to you in little bits so as not to overwhelm you. These are just a few from our first evening there exploring the beach that was just steps away from where we were staying.

It was warm and humid and perfect!

Don't you love the life guard stations?

It was nice to see that the beach front wasn't overly developed. There were some hotels and condos but also long stretches of single family homes.

The sand was white and oh so soft! We loved walking across the beach to one of the many restaurants for dinner.

We only visited the pier once but the view from it was really nice.

A "serene" photo of me. What you can't tell is that I was quietly sweating after walking on the beach for a good while.

Which is why it was great that after this, we headed to an excellent gelato place for some delicious ice cream.

More tomorrow! I also have lots of art to show you and other things. Expect to hear from me regularly again...

I hope you are all doing well and can't wait to visit your blogs!

❧ Silke

Color Play

I was having fun with color and transparent acrylic washes. This is also pretty big in the original, so that was a challenge. When I work wet like that, the paint takes on a life of it's own. I find that some areas that seemed to be "wrong" when they were happening are now my favorite parts of the painting. 

It's good to give up control sometimes...

Wishing you a beautiful Tuesday! It's going to be sunny, hot and humid here...

❧ Silke

Green is all around me...

When I was sitting in our backyard a couple of days ago I noticed how many different shades of green we have back there and how many different textures. So I grabbed the camera and took a few photos. I could have kept going, but I didn't want to overwhelm you.

It did give me the idea to do another very fast self-portrait (this one took about 15 minutes) only in three shades of green and white. It turned into an intense little painting. And somehow it speaks to me! I like all the little imperfections.

I hope you all had a beautiful weekend with warmth and sunshine. Summer has arrived here with warm temperatures and very humid weather. Every afternoon there are thunderstorms in the area, but we never know if one will make it's way over our house and garden. I hope today one of them will decide to visit to keep our garden so nice and green!

❧ Silke

Fast Portrait

Dear ones, thank you so much for your kind comments on my last post and my self-portrait attempts. As part of the same online class I am taking, we were tasked with doing a very fast portrait (I took about 10 minutes). No thinking, just painting from the heart. 

I used four colors plus titanium white, all fluid acrylics. I'm eager to try the same process with heavy-bodied acrylics for a very different look. Anyway, I put up a little mirror and used myself for a quick reference, only glancing up occasionally when things were not looking "right." I do like the result.

It seems that I am starting to work out my "stuff" differently than I used to. I just noticed this today (sometimes it takes me a bit longer to notice things). I used to work out everything only in my head. Since I started painting a few years ago, I seem to have started to process by doing art. It's odd for someone who has always relied on logic rather than intuition or emotion. Odd, but I'm liking it. A lot.

I so appreciate your visits! And I hope you are all doing wonderfully.

Happy weekend!!

P.S. Although I am a bit late this Friday, I am still linking to the wonderful folks over at Paint Party Friday. Head on over to see some marvelous art!

❧ Silke

Seeing Myself

I'm currently taking an online class on willowing.ning called "Radical Wellness". Many participants are taking the class to eat better and lose weight, but my focus is different. I want to learn to love my body again - this middle-aged body - as it is! Not as it used to be or as it could be, if... - but as it is now. Who know that this would be such a difficult goal.

The journal page above is from one of the exercises for the class. The drawing is only loosely based on a photo of me and then the photo on the left of the piece was taken just a few days ago. I did an image transfer with it, which gives it that more transparent look.

That piece of artwork and my recent visit to the Frida Kahlo exhibit in Atlanta gave me the idea of doing a series of self portraits.

Just to learn to look at myself through my own eyes again - with kindness. To look at my face as a whole and not just notice the pimple on my chin (which magically didn't make it into my drawing...) or the lines around my eyes.

I want to release that critical inner voice that is forever telling me what is wrong with me, what I have to  change, what I "should be" doing.

On a different note, we were supposed to be in Florida (in the Tampa area) right now for a mini vacation, but decided to postpone due to Tropical Storm Andrea. And a good decision that was! We are getting plenty of rain here in Savannah from the storm and will through tomorrow. And now I have plenty of time for making art!

I hope my German readers and friends are not affected by the incredible flooding in parts of Germany. I've been following it on the internet over the last few days and hope that the flood waters will recede soon!

Wishing you all a beautiful Thursday!

❧ Silke