Shadow Patterns

Lovely day today. It was clear and hot. The air smelled fresh. I got what I wanted to do finished and I had a lovely lunch with my brother and sister-in-law and a good walk with Arvin. Really good all round.

I am ready to deliver three of the four paintings that will be in the Jansen Art Center late summer show tomorrow. I painted edges and got them ready to hang. Hanging hardware in place. Simple floater frames moved from other paintings to the ones that will be in the show. All set to go. The fourth painting is still up in the Colophon show. Trish said she will get it to me by Monday. The Jansen said that would work for them.

I used gold gesso to paint the edges that show in the floater frames. That was before I called Daniel Smith to order more gold and Venetian red gesso. (You see a lot of that in my latest paintings. Those large areas of gold and red are the gesso under painting showing through.) Imagine my horror upset when the gal on the phone told me that Daniel Smith has discontinued most of their acrylic gesso including both of those colors. They have dropped acrylics and are focusing on wholesale rather than retail. Yikes! Those under-paintings are an important part of my process. How could they do that? I told the gal my sad tale and suggested that she tell her boss that they should quit worrying about money and start thinking about art again. She liked that comment and said she would pass it along.

After the call I did a search on the Internet and found another brand of gesso but the gold is hugely expensive and the red is red ochre, not Venetian red. Ouch. But I ordered them anyhow from Dick Blick. It will be interesting to see how they work with my process. I'll have to make do as the Daniel Smith no longer makes them. So sad as they were really great and I loved using them. I still have some gold left but the red is down to the bottom of the can.

Dave, Nora and I had lunch at EAT, the restaurant on the  corner of Cornwall and East Chestnut. Our meals were scrumptious and we had a great time talking and enjoying our meal. D and N were on their way to San Diego to visit their younger son Spencer and his wife Anjelica.

After dinner Arvin and I went down to Boulevard Park and walked along the boardwalk. The two tall ships that are visiting Bellingham right now, The Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Princess, were having a mock battle off in the distance. Too far to get a good photo but fun anyhow. I took my blip as the sun was behind us projecting a shadow of the bridge, stairs and me on the rocks below. I like the patterns of shadow.