First, Cabin C—home sweet home at Takodah for a week this summer. Meg and I wrote to registrar Sarah in advance of family camp to make our bid for an older cabin with the hinged shutters that have to be propped open with sticks from the ground. Camp without those shutters? Not camp. Camp without meticulously selecting those sticks? Not camp. If you've been following this blog, you know I struggled a few weeks ago to paint a portrait of Cabin C—with its shutters! with its sticks! Turns out the best of those paintings was still only a rough draft. Turns out I had to paint a few camp clotheslines, with cabins in a supporting role rather than in the spotlight, to find my way into this totally satisfying portrait with Cabin C front and center. Camp!!!
Second, Sylvia—whom I met a few weeks before our respective weddings 40 years ago. Our friendship hit the ground running and that friendship is still home sweet home for me despite our having lived 1000 miles away from each other for 33 years. If Sylvia weren't my friend, I don't think I'd be painting (another story, another day). If not for an email discussion with Sylvia the other day, I don't think I'd have figured out how to create depth and contrast in a scene that was predominantly green. I rarely think about, let alone consciously apply, my rudimentary knowledge of warm and cool colors. But Sylvia got me thinking. She brought me home!
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| Camp!!! 6x6", acrylic on gessobord architecture 2015 [not for sale] |
10 comments:
This is just lovely, Dotty! You've definitely nailed the warms and cools. And I love the story. What would we do without our friends?
Laurie, thanks for affirmation about warms and cools. The funny part about my finding a solution to conundrums in this painting after Sylvia's mention of warms and cools is that in a subsequent email message she clarified for the record that 95% of the time she just "puts paint on canvas" which is also my usual modus operandi (warms? cools? what're ya talkin' about?)! Indeed, what would we do without our friends?
Camp, camp, CAMP!!! You have totally captured Cabin C. The contrast between "cabin green" and "leaves on trees green" is spot on. Totally appreciating the idea of warm vs cool. Makes me ponder the color choice process made by whomever first painted the cabins at camp. Did they weigh hundreds of variations of "green" like one would have to at Home Depot these days? Did they paint the first cabin with their original choice, say, "Woah, that is totally not what we were expecting, way too yellow," and head back to the store to try again? Or in those days, was there blessedly only one option for "pine green" paint, so that was that?
Dotty, LOVE the way the sunlight is hitting the cabin, and love the trees in the background. Meg, love your musings about the choice of green for the first cabins!
Love your musings about the cabin color selection process at camp! I wonder how many different shades of green have been used over the years. I think the reference to French oasis in the song "Wicker Arm Chairs" alludes to the color of the buildings at Takodah but I can't find it online. Hmm. Glad you agree that I've totally captured Cabin C!
Thanks for your comments, Joany! The sunlight and shadows are SO essential to what evokes the feeling of camp, don't you think? If you saw a Takodah cabin set up, say, in a Home Depot showroom, you'd recognize it right away. But if you saw a painting of a Takodah cabin, say, on my blog, with sunlight and shadow playing on it, you'd be AT Takodah : )
Absolutely true!!! Based on the paintings you've done I feel like I was at camp this summer, too. How do I get my CT?
We'll have to light a candle to get started …
Gorgeous work. Makes me think of my days spent camping, and what fun we had :) Great story too :)
Sheila, thanks for letting me know my painting evoked memories for you—perfect! Thanks for your kind words for my painting and story.
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