Rake Revolution

There’s a rake revolution happening right now! Can you believe it? There are actually people who have decided to forego the leaf blowing madness. What are the ramifications of this earthy, take back your auditory and sensory rights movement? Stay tuned for that gentle reader. First, let’s welcome newcomers and remind them what this blog, painting and post are all about. OK?

Favorite Things

In early 2020, I pledged to paint a painting each week and blog about it. The name of this weekly series of paintings is Favorite Things. Why? Well, because I choose objects, typically food, that I love to eat. But, I paint it first and then, if it’s still edible, I’ll eat it! This means each week I write about a painting and the process. You are welcome to follow along as I share the ups and downs of this studio and painting life I lead. To do so, simply sign up here. You’ll receive a lively and colorful blog post each week and get a first look at my latest painting or drawing. Sometimes I’ll share a painting by a contemporary artist or an artist in history, too. Let’s move onward to this week’s painting, shall we?

Not Food

Whoops! Last week I wrote that I didn’t paint food. Guess what? This week I didn’t paint food either. I did paint some things that I collect on a regular basis: found objects. In fact, this magnificent leaf is something I saw on a morning dog walk near our house. I now have a “found objects on morning walks” category. Yay!

Back to the Revolution

So, as I painted this sweet leaf of unknown origin, I kept thinking about and hearing leaf blowers. It’s that time of year when they are whining and groaning constantly. Heck there are some people (good people I am sure?) who have leaf blowers blow in their yard around here, even when there are no leaves on the ground. It’s insane. But I digress. It’s time for a rake revolution, people.

Imagine what that might look like. It’s Saturday morning around 10 a.m.-ish. Your yard (and your neighbor’s yard) is covered in leaves. And, there are still a gazillion leaves up on the trees. So, just as indirect paintings take several “passes,” you know this will not be your one and only raking session.

You’ve decided to (GASP) put some of the leaves in your garden beds as mulch. So, you do that first. Then you look up and see a neighbor out on a walk. You each smile and wave at each other. Isn’t that a delight? Even just the chance to see another human being…in person…at a safe distance, of course.

Then, you rake remaining leaves into a pile in front of your house. It’s a pretty high stash of leaves. Look out! Here come three kids under 12. They see the pile of leaves. Woooshhhh! They run through the leaves and scatter them everywhere. You recall doing the very same thing at their age. It sure is hard to keep that smile off your face as they run off.

Wake Up

OK OK I know you’re thinking, wake up, Julie. Who has time to rake leaves these days? Well, I can dream can’t I? And, it seems it might be a wonderful form of exercise and community building at a time when people might feel isolated or sad.

True confession: I am feeling a bit righteous because I did rake leaves this week. While doing so, I did see several friendly walkers and neighbors, too. But before I get too uppity, I have another confession. We are guilty. Yes, yes, that’s right, we have our very own self-described (guitar strumming, former punk rocker) “blowin’ and mowin” guy. He and his buddy zip through our yard with lawn mower, edgers and, yes, a leaf blower. So excuse me while I get off my high horse and get back to drawing and painting news. (I can hear a collective sigh of relief here).

Steady Progress

So, you already know that drawing and painting, like any other skill, require time and commitment. And, so I thought I would share some of the latest drawings from my sketchbook with you. I am doing this in the hopes of inspiring anyone with artistic aspirations or the desire to do something new and different in their lives. The only thing I, unfortunately, can’t share here is a drawing from 8 or 9 years ago. Why? Ummm…I have one saved somewhere but I can’t find it! Acckkkk. It would be so fun to show the not so hotso hand drawing I did in 2012 and to actually show the progress I have made. Oh well!

In keeping with the raking and leaf theme, here’s a drawing I did recently of a might oak leaf. I thought about the smooth texture and round edges of this leaf as I drew it.

I have also been studying and drawing trees. After all, Raleigh’s motto is “City of Oaks.” It seems I should pay attention to and draw these mighty oaks. This is a quick sketch I did.

The drawing above is a salute to the fundamental principles of drawing I learned from drawing the figure in classes here and in Philadelphia: Seek out the largest shape first, then define the shadow shapes and chisel the simplest planes to describe the object.

Last drawing

Here’s the last drawing for today. I confess (again) that drawing shells has been a challenge for me. I drew several of them rather ineffectively when we were coming back from a trip to the beach recently. But, as with most adventures in drawing, painting and life, I let the problem of drawing shells percolate in my head. And, I thought about the drawing fundamentals I described above. Then, I decided to use as few marks as possible to represent the complexity of the shell. Ah ha…that’s one way to address the problem.

I can not tell you how much I value and treasure the time that I spend drawing each day. I literally lose track of time and completely check out from all crazy shenanigans, post election drama, pandemic pandemonium, even leaf blowing noise. Really? Really! There is definitely something very therapeutic about putting pencil to paper and observing a nearby object with a pencil.

You and Thank You

How about you? Are you a leaf blowing fan? Go on, you can say so. I figure they are so prevalent, there must be a leaf blowing fan club out there. Right? And, I have to admit, leaf blowing done right is so much faster than raking. But good grief, the noise!

OK OK I’ll stop here and thank you for joining me in this blogging (ranting ha ha ha!), painting and drawing adventure. Please do share how you are doing and any steady progress you are making in this whacky world in which we live.