Here I am on the first leg of my Summer Sketch Tour. A month or so ago we bought a Ford Transit that I call the Studiomobile Its fitted as an art studio and for a bit of crashing and relaxing on long trips. That gave us two cars, and we discovered we really didn’t use the old Saturn all that often after getting the Transit.
When my whole family decided to gather on the Sunday before Memorial Day in Connecticut to celebrate my aunts 90th birthday, that provided the basic timing for this trip.
The first day I drove 12 hours and made it deep into North Carolina. The weather was beautiful and the traffic was light so long as it was, the day was pretty enjoyable. Traffic was a little heavier as the holiday weekend approached but I made good time to Reading where I spent an enjoyable afternoon with my sister, Catherine, and her husband, Frank.
Tomorrow, well go to the festivities in Connecticut and, from there, to Vermont. While I’m in Vermont, Ill be joining the Memphremagog Arts Collaborative and I’ve brought some paintings up to exhibit. While I’m there I’ll visit my other sister, Judy, and some other relatives.
Then, I’m taking the train back. I hope to get a lot of photography done while Im doing that but at least Ill get to sit back and enjoy the scenery. Ive never taken a train before so I’m looking forward to the new experience.
Im hoping it will help me in my artistic process. Im finding that my painting process includes a lot of thinking, pondering, and planning. This often takes up four times as time much as the actual painting. This has led me to seek out rich experiences as environments for the preparatory cognition. This was a major reason to take the train back, a rich visual experience without the constant intrusion of need-to-do things.
I may add a big to this blog over the next few days, but because they may be hectic, I decided to write this now so if I’m unable to write, it can serve as a stand-along document.
