Flowers in shade

"Flowers in shade" by Hilary J. England

Oil on canvas, 8" x 10" 2016

It was a scorcher today.  I wasn't prepared for it, even being forewarned by the Weather Channel, but somehow, going from losing tomatoes last week due to frost -- to 95 degrees, just seemed ludicrous.  And it is!  So, I went lumbering and sweating around town, like a bulldog in the heat, until I came upon this scene.

I found a wonderful little spot of shade, and the diversity of flowers and greens, warm and cool, was very captivating to me.  I sat there drinking it in, thinking back to my childhood, and I could hear the laughter and wonder within, and still picture that when I left, the sprites would come out of hiding and be about their business again.  It was enchanting.  And I probably baked my brain earlier in the sun hahahahaha.

This painting took a little time, because I wanted to make sure the balance of cool and warm greens was not lost in the translation.  There was a quiet energy to this place, even though the breeze only stirred the new leaves here and there, I felt the vibrancy of it as I painted.  It was just a wonderful little scene to capture.

~Enjoy!

Redwoods and admirers

"Redwoods and admirers in Muir" watercolor on paper, 11" x 16", 2015

A relaxing day after a whirlwind of activity this last week, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I can see the huge, benign, billowing clouds drifting by on the currents here, and Huntington is quiet.  It's nice we had a cloudy, "East-like" day here.  Keeps things real.  

Here is a watercolor study I did of some of the ravishing redwoods in Muir Woods.  Of course, you can never really do justice to such a majestic sight...cameras do even less, as I looked through my photos today and saw with much disappointment how the charged atmosphere that throbbed with life there was reduced to flat, almost mosaic-like tiles.  Frustrating, but the real deal is captured in my mind forever, so that's what counts.  A painting can make an attempt to bridge the gap between the real and the impressed...how it left an impression.  And it certainly did.  I do wish I had my oils, as watercolors are so, well, watery!  I find them frustrating mostly, and end up looking like a kid in preschool with paint all over my hands after swiping at them in an attempt to somehow make them more versatile like oils.  Laying in washes, lifting out color, dry brush work consisting of lots of stabbing, scribbing and angst....that's my watercoloring haha.  But, in all, it wasn't bad for a quick study, if I do say so myself.

Enjoy!  

Day 9

 "Lake Vembanad before a storm" by Hilary J. England, oil on canvas, 8" x 10", 2015

It's been a peaceful day, and the first one I've really been able to work.  It started off nicely, with one of our artist residents, a young artist named Grace (and also my roomie) giving a very nice presentation of her work, which was very interesting.  She does "projection mapping" (I'm not quite sure what it is still, except that it involves scanning found vintage pornography images into your computer and making an animated collage that comes out looking a bit like a weird cartoon) and she gave a demonstration on this.  Again, quite interesting, but way out of my depth.  I'm just a simple gal who loves to paint, so I felt a little unable to completely grasp the concept of this medium, but that could also be because I'm old haha....at least compared to a 20 year old ;-)  Anyway, it is nice to see other artists and their creative processes, no matter what medium they work in.

I went out and painted this little study of Lake Vembanad from the edge of our property.  There were many reeds and the dense lilypads seem to form surface so solid on the edge of the lake, it seems you would be able to walk on them!  Obviously, that would not be a good suggestion, as you would wind up drowned in lilypads at the bottom of the lake, so I will just stay where it is nice and solid, and paint this lovely little scene at my leisure.  It took about 2 hours, but that was with breaking for lunch and talking with Ru Ru.  For a 2 year old, he has some definite opinions about painting!

So, the others went out to the market, and being that I was still not done with my painting, I decided to stay behind.  The compound is nearly empty, so floating in the pool was quite relaxing and quiet, as I listened to my own heartbeat through the water, I felt I could have been back in the amniotic sac, floating in uetero...the layers of stress just slowly peel away like a snake shedding its skin.

I am looking forward to more work tomorrow, I've made a pact with myself to get "x" number of paintings done (I won't reveal the number in case I miss the mark haha).  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this little window peek at  Lake Vembanad~

Day 5

It's wild here...and no, I don't mean "nightlife" wild, but I'm sure that's the case too, as I have heard from the waiters about the "good clubs" to go to, and it was "nice" I don't go, because I am "nice lady."  Haha.  More like reclusive and unmotivated to go to a disco filled with crazy English tourists :-D  

The monsoon has been knocking the power out more often than not, so technology is basically foiled for a good part of the day, which is fine.  I did bring two books to read, along with my Kindle on my iPad, plus working--I have managed to find a way to work from my balcony in the rain, but the wind has become quite heavy making outdoor work unmanageable today, so I am just prepping for tomorrow's departure to Kerala, and all that entails.  As I sit here in the quiet, I hear the monkeys screaming in the trees...initially I thought they were children playing, but now I know better.  At night, some of the birds make the oddest sounds...I thought it was a car alarm for one night, and then I realized where I was, and what it was, and just laughed.  First World programmed....

I had several issues with my Vodafone that I purchased here, and that took nearly 24 hours to hammer out, and was quite frustrating.  I am just starting to feel remotely like myself, after the jetlag is finally beginning to abate, and my leg is about 75% healed.  It is now just a big reddish purple area like a giant bruise, not swollen, etc., and the sting itself is healing nicely, not too ulcerated, but healing.  What a whopper of a sting....I have never experienced anything like it, and hope to never again.  I have prepped all my canvases in my downtime during the storms, so I won't have to bother grounding them when I reach the residency, I can just get to work.  

I also had an issue with my bank cards when I went to use them here, which was pretty horrifying, especially when you are exhausted, feel like sh*t, and have no cell phone or wifi access...but, after trial and error, found out: A.)  American Express is NOT welcome in most stores and hotels, despite their commercials LOL  and B.)  HFDC, a major British bank, DOES accept them, and like a squirrel finding a precious nut, kept having to return to the one ATM about .5 a mile a way, but there is a young man named Rhual (probably misspelled that) who drives the shuttle, and he was very nice to bring me there several times for nothing.  Now, I have to make sure I make one final stop at it before heading to the train station tomorrow, so that I am not short-strapped in Kerala should I not be able to find one there, etc.  

With all of the adjustments, I do feel like India is beginning to grow on me, which is why I would never make a trip like this and stay less than two weeks...by the time you get adjusted, it would be time to leave, and with the added trauma of the leg injury, it would have been a complete bust.  I do enjoy their cuisine, but yesterday, I was feeling a little under the weather in my stomach, so the smells of curry etc. was overwhelming to me, and I hid in my room for most of the evening, ordering room service, of Continental cuisine: just a plain chicken breast with a slightly spicy mushroom sauce that I promptly threw away as I couldn't even bear the slightest odor of it, and some french fries, with a ginger ale.  Fixed me up pretty well, so that this morning, I went to the cafe and had an egg over easy and some buttered toast and a side of fresh papaya, and now I feel pretty good.  I still haven't completely recovered all of my vigor...by around 3 pm, I feel extremely tired, but lucky thing it rains so I almost don't feel bad taking a nap.  Almost.  I still can't unAmericanize myself in that aspect of feeling like a lazy loser if I am not busy at something ALL the time, or mostly, for taking a nap haha.  That one is an offense that is hard for me to overcome, but I've been being "kind" to myself because of my leg and my terror of the injury escalating, so I allowed myself this leeway.

I am very much looking forward to the train ride for some reason--it seems like an exciting journey down through the Indian countryside, but I remember it will be mostly at night, so I will have to remember to wake up a little early, so I can really enjoy the landscapes before we reach Kerala.  I am still somewhat hazy about what my gameplan is when I reach there, in terms of the landscape, landmarks, etc. for my paintings, but I am sure that Triparna, the head of the residency, will know of some interesting sites for me to paint at.  I have high hopes for the beautiful and exotic landscapes and culture, and to paint and interpret that.

Day 2

In Mumbai awaiting my transfer flight and I'm totally punch drunk from lack of sleep...I feel my mind starting to shut down, and I still have this last leg of the journey left...to get to Goa, and we are delayed because of the monsoon rains. I have no internet access, nor phone access, so I don't know how I can get in touch with the hotel and make sure they have a shuttle waiting at the appropriate time now that we are delayed, so I will probably have to just take a taxi and hope for the best.  That's all I can do, unless I can get some access to wifi in Goa and call them from that airport.  

I am physically spent at this point.  The trip was long but thankfully uneventful until we reached Mumbai, and then it became quite a torturous process to change/transfer planes.  I had to go through customs, and it was very thorough, and the agents were nice, if just a little slow.  Then, I had to retrieve my luggage, and deliver it to another part of the airport, and then, catch a shuttle to a secondary airport, or a subairport, which is several miles from the main airport.  The sites were stunning, even if everything was quite blurred out by the torrential rains and my bleary eyes....the chaos, filth, and human bondage, all amix with space age digital billboards touting the newest Jaguar, literally in the middle of a ruin that resembled the movie "District 9."  The huge colonies of shacks, with rusting tin roofs and oceans of blue plastic tarps to "waterproof" these dilapidated structures was both shocking and mind boggling.  Masses of people living in sheer quagmire, unlike anything I've ever witnessed, even in Jamaica  I was held hypnotized by the sight of it, until the rains made it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.  I just closed my eyes and listened to the cacaphony of horns (amidst a sea of no honking signs), and watched people scurrying by in the deluge, open taxis with drenched women trying desperately to close the flimsy little curtains that would block the sun in a vain hope of staying dry, others taking shelter under the numerous rotting and moldering edifices in every direction....

After reaching the secondary Mumbai airport, it was like a cattle call with all people being herded off the buses, like down a cattle chute.  I was moving on autopilot at this point, but lucky thing God had his angels with their eyes open, or iI would have been shuttled onto another bus to a flight to Hyderabad, and this could have been a really strange tale from that point forward, lol.

So, then through more security--women in one checkpoint, men in another.  That's another thing--this culture is sex obsessed, and I mean on every level.  Here, there is segregated seating marked "ladies" everywhere...for a culture that seems to revere "ladies," they certainly do a whole bunch of leering and ogling...not very gentlemanly.  But for me, an indifferent look has pretty much shut any frisky looking male down, so I feel fairly safe, but totally alien.  I am literally the only "white" Western woman on this flight....there were a few on the other, but none on this one.  Oh well, I am the odd man out.  

I can't wait to just get to the hotel, and lay down. Take a nice shower, and relax.  The air here is unlike any I've ever experienced--the humidity was so dense, it's like being in a sauna.  The inside of the airport is airconditioned, so I don't know what to expect in terms of Goa.  I guess I can only wait and see...

 

I am finally in my hotel room after what seemed to be the longest day ever.  I could barely keep my eyes open on the connecting flight.  The flight served up a sandwich that was really vile...made me nauseous just watching people eat it.  It seemed to be some kind of curried pickle relish on a spiced roll, and people would then drizzle ketchup all over each bite they took...was enough to make me a little ill.  

After landing in Goa, I wound up taking the LAST cab available for the evening from the airport, and had to share the ride with a young Indian guy.  I was exhausted, and then when we started heading into the dark jungle, flying down desolate roads, I was convinced the cab driiver and the young man were in cohoots together, and I was dead--never to be found after they raped and robbed me.  But, luckily, he was an honest driver, he dropped me off at the resort, and I thanfully checked in to my room.  Not bad, until I used the bathroom and got stung by a giant wasp on the inside of my thigh, that must have been hiding under the toilet seat.  No joke, most painful bite, thought I was getting stung by a scorpion and freaked out.  Now, this bite is all swollen, right at inner mid thigh level, so I took some benadryl just in case, as well as an ibuprofen, and will try and get some damn sleep.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day even with this sting.  I guess it was better than getting bitten by a snake LOL