TIME OUT.

I haven't painted for the last couple of days due to the dark rainy weather. The lighting in my apartment leaves a lot to be desired. Round ceiling florescent lights aren't conducive to painting watercolors - or for that matter - reading or writing. I haven't found a good desk lamp yet for my drafting table. Florescent lighting is very common here in Brasil. Rarely do I see the soft yellowish glow of incandescent bulbs in lighted night windows. I don't see floor lamps in apartments or homes and not often in stores. I know that fluorescents are energy saving lights, and that is good, but for my painting they just create shadows in the wrong places. On the other hand I do have an incandescent bulb in my bedroom ceiling. No place to paint, but a good place to read and my computer is also in my bedroom.

"A Child's Garden"

There is so much to love living here in Fortaleza, that I really don't go around kicking my cats because I don't have enough light to paint by. On the gray days I get to read. I can't really curl up in a white plastic arm chair, but I can put a pillow on the seat and one at my back, prop my feet on the bed and I'm set for hours of reading enjoyment. I've just begun "Killer Smile" by Lisa Scottoline. I'll share some paintings from my earlier life.

"Castles in the Sand"

My friend, Barb, has been obsessing over the face and partial body of a woman she discovered in the lights and darks of a floor tile in her bathroom! Like clouds in the sky, you look and then you look again and you see faces or animals. I used to commute over 100 miles to and from work, and finding faces in the clouds kept me awake and or dying of boredom. She drew the image and then transferred it to her watercolor paper. She had begun the painting and posted the process from the tile in the floor to the beginning of her painting. It's terrific! Go to http://www.barbarasailor@blogspot.com/

"Mama's Sewing Room" "Surf Fishing"

This has been a pretty lazy uneventful Thursday. My book is next to my on my computer desk and I believe it is whispering "read me, read me" Think I'll set this Dance out.