Mary Valente's: Painting - Llamas

It's been so long since I've posted. My creativity has been a trickle rather than a stream. First my excuse was we were in the throws of our second move in five months. Then it was the holidays. But when the holidays passed and much of the packing was done (enough of it to not feel guilty if I went to paint) I still wasn't in my studio. Not much anyway. Not sure what's going on. Well, that's not entirely true - it's really that I just can't decide what to paint. I can wander in directionless and just paint from something sitting around --or from a photo. But I've been wanted to do a series for a long while ...unfortunately the 'big idea' hasn't jumped out at me yet.

My painting pal Linda and I talked about starting one at the same time. Committing at the same time. Like when girlfriends decide they'll each lose 5 lbs. You really have to do it on your own but it helps to know someone else is miserable too! :-) Painting is never miserable though - I always enjoy just moving paint around. But sometimes it needs to be something more. Something with a purpose. So I need to get planning. I feel like when you have to train before you run a marathon.

Today I felt like I needed to 'practice my scales'. Limber up. So I painted something I've painted before. I tried to make it brighter with more clarity. Push contrast and values a bit. The first attempt was more muted. When I was done I felt more like I could push forward with something new. Like anything else, you get rusty when you don't stay with it.

6/15 Version Paddle Boys oil

I'm not a complete drop-out thought! I've been doing some weekly hiking. Three blocks or so from our house are several trailheads that open up to some wonderful paths. And what a surprise I got! As I was climbing a fairly steep grade I turned towards an open meadow and looking at me is...a llama and about two dozen goats!

They've been 'hired' to clear the non-native growth. How cool is that? Half of them must have been on a break - laying around. Full to the brim. Sorry the photos are so poor. They were far away; it was hard to hold the camera still in zoom mode.