Seems as though I boiled off my head of steam. I had worked through all the “nice” panels with the 2″ deep cradles mounted to them, and started using small square panels to which I just screwed a block of wood so I could hold them in my clamp easel system. I had also gone past any notion of using source imagery, and the paintings all started to become cartoons — almost parodies of themselves. So I need to freshen this up a bit.

We took the weekend and went to the Methow Valley in north-central Washington.We stayed in the “Rolling Huts” near Mazama, which are somewhere between tent camping and staying in a cabin. No indoor plumbing, though showers are available in another building. There’s a privy proximate to the hut and a well water pump at the foot of the stairs. The wood-burning stove is supplemented by electric heat and there is supposedly wifi, though we couldn’t really get it to work. So there’s a weird mix of rustic and modern in these little huts.

We planned this trip a long time ago, in order to coincide with the Hot Air Balloon Festival. We stumbled upon this festival four years ago when our oldest was the age that our youngest is now, and we thought that the girls would have a lot of fun seeing the balloons inflate and take off. We were right, mostly. The sound and heat of the burners was a little bit scary for the toddler. There be dragons.

Part of the plan for the weekend was to get a lot of photos that I could use as the source for a group of paintings. We have two digital cameras. One is older but does white balance and macro nicely, so we have used it a lot as a studio camera. The other one is newer and has better optics, and mostly got used for family shots. Both are point-n-shoots, but of a decent quality level.

Well, the new one broke and the old one ran out of juice, so mostly we took photos with iPhones.

I’m stuck in computer limbo waiting for a new one (Yes, the computer broke, too. And the car. And the microwave. Don’t ask.) So it might be a few days to get the photos organized and processed, but here is the plan: I’m going to take all these photos of the Methow (even if they are low-quality), crop them to squares, and have them printed so that I can use them for source material. I’m also going to get ahead of the panel supply again, though I may not go back to the cradled system for the time being. Those are really time-consuming to build, and when most of the paintings I am making will likely be destroyed, it seems like a waste of time. Better to use simple panels and frames, I think. Also, no more drying gesso with a hair dryer so I can paint that morning. Granted, that urgency has its own charm, but I’d rather be a little more organized and build out ahead.

After a brief interlude, painting will resume, and there will be an organized group of Methow paintings. If all goes as planned. Which it never does. But, anyway…