Samara – Word of the Day

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Chinese Elm Seeds, mixed media by Kerry McFall

Swirling up with tiny tornadoes, poofing underfoot, filling the gutters and drain grates, Chinese Elms are prolifically sowing their winged seed - ”samara” –  this year.  I’ve never seen this volume of papery seeds before.  The same seems true with maples and other trees.   Odd… Perhaps a premonition on a supernatural level of coming hard times, make your seeds while you can…

But on another note, here is the Seal Court fountain sketch from last weekend, digitally altered and generally fussed over:

Seal Court Lily, mixed media digitally altered, by Kerry McFall

 

Claremont, California

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In the festive whirl of Scripps graduation, I found a few minutes to sketch the fountain I’ve been admiring the last few visits in the courtyard at “The Coop” on Pomona campus.  I’ve heard people say that the Claremont Colleges have more fountains per capita than any other campus – and they’re all gorgeous.  Water is more about the movement of light than anything else, so fountains are challenging.  I started another sketch of a fountain in Seal Court  on Scripps campus, still working on that one.

And on the plane and in the hotel, I played with a vintage portrait from Artist’s magazine – another example of how many colors go into red hair! –  and a slightly absurd moose photo from the airline magazine that provided another water challenge.

All in alll, a good trip, and I hardly cried at all during the ceremonies!

Tomato Chairs

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chairs serve as tomato cages

"Tomato Chairs", mixed media by Kerry McFall

Done!  Not only did I get the basil and tomatoes planted, I spray-painted the old metal chairs I’ve been using for tomato cages… I now pronounce the garden ready for a visit from the Queen.  The chairs were part of a patio set left on the curb by a neighbor years back, with metal crossbars in the place where the seats used to be.  They are perfect to use as substitutes for tomato cages, but far more elegant – a nice bit of re-purposing.  Here is a birds’ eye view photo if the sketch doesn’t quite make sense:
chair as tomato cage

Tomato Cage Chair - Bird's Eye View

 

Basil

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"Basil", mixed media by Kerry McFall

It’s now or never in Willamette Valley gardens – either plant it, or resign yourself to eating the neighbor’s zucchini all summer without benefit of spicy/sweet basil.  It’s still down to 37 or 39 at night, and the sun shines only on Sundays whether it needs to or not… but the weather guessers keep promising us that someday, we’ll get some summer.  So with the surging optimism brought on by two clear dawns in a row, the basil and tomatoes are going in the ground today!  Plus a whole box full of “assorted shade perrennials” which I had forgotten I ordered from the cub scouts several weeks ago… and the fuchsia I couldn’t resist at Schmidt’s on Saturday…

May Day Tradition

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"May Day Tradition", mixed media by Kerry McFall

For almost 20 years, my friend Tracy and I have upheld the Flowers on Your Porch tradition each May 1st.  Some years the bouquets have been lavish with peonies, tulips, lilacs.  Others, there are just a few tiny forget-me-nots or lilies of the valley, depending on the whims of Mother Nature and what we planted the previous year.  This year, she remembered, I did not, so Tracy, here are virtual May flowers on your front porch, a day late but better late than never… yes, they look suspiciously like the bouquet I found on MY front porch!  And thanks to her reminder, I realized what day it was, and took flowers in the afternoon to a sweet old lady who used to be our neighbor and has recently moved to assisted living.  We always “surprised” her with May flowers also, with little Corey sneaking up to her front step, ringing the bell, and sprinting off with the giggles.  Traditions are such fun!

One Among Many

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"Horsetail Fern", mixed media by Kerry McFall

Funny how a meadow filled with horsetail fern looks like a mountain covered with Douglas Fir, especially through the camera lense.  I found these Saturday at Snag Boat Bend, in the area near the parking lot – which was as far as I ventured because it was a spur of the moment stop and I didn’t have my mud boots with me.  The negative space between plants is exactly a vertically flipped mirror image of the plant itself.  I find that I am always looking for patterns now, ways to abstract the plants and animals I’m focused on and turn them into patterns… this one may take me to some 1960′s sci-fi “Jetsons” kind of shapes.

"Nearly Normal's Outdoor Dining", mixed media by Kerry McFall

And in a completely unrelated sketch, here’s one for Alice, who misses Nearly Normals in Corvallis, but apparently not enough to come back here after she graduates!  The patio this summer features one plastic owl statue lurking among the pink flamingos near the water feature… to frighten away the sparrows and other crumb-seekers I assume, with limited success.   Let us know the next time you’re home, dearie, and we’ll treat you to something “normal”!

Desdemona

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"Desdemona, Bride of Othello", colored pencil by Kerry McFalll, costume by Corey Jay

I should be doing laundry, paying attention to an upcoming exhibit, any number of other necessary things – but ultimately, this is the most necessary thing at the moment.  To draw.  Every drawing is one step closer to where I want to be, which is where I don’t have to erase holes through the page to get the mouth right.  But the hair flames, the gown floats, the coat feels like velvet and satin, so I’m getting closer.  I salute the actress, Allison Ocha Lawrence, who smiled the smile of confusion and arched her eyebrows with, “Oh, really?!” so well, who clenched her lovely fist with subtlety and conviction, who played the Beauty to the Beast without the happy ending.  I can only imagine what life would be like with that glorious head of hair.  And I salute the costume designer, and her vision, and I am so proud of her.  SO proud.

Othello the Moor

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Othello the Moor, mixed media by Kerry McFall

One of the drawing schools in London (called London Drawing aptly enough) specializes in life drawing using actors and actresses in costume, live and in the theatre.  This was the group who orchestrated the Tower Lock-In at the Tower of London, which I absolutely loved.  I thought it would be fun to try that approach with the production of Othello that my daughter Corey Jay costumed at Pomona College.  I saw the play last week and met the actors, now working from photos courtesy of Corey and the other cast members, my plan is to sketch the main characters.  I wish I could have sketched ”live” during rehearsal, I’ll have to figure out how to make that happen someday…

So here is Othello the Moor, as portrayed by Marshall Anderson.  A bit of self-critique now, thinking out loud so to speak.  Portraits… tricky.  He is angry, hurt, frustrated, sad, confused.  But he is inescapablly so very Large and In Charge that he leaves himself no options… nothing like some simple body language to catch in a few angles, but I’m liking it.  Skin tones… pretty good, although amazing how many individual colors went into producing something akin to brown skin.  Face… aargh.  The actor is far more classically handsome than I was able to convey here - obviously, I opted for a deep shadow to make up for not being able to really puzzle out how to get the left side of his face properly, especially his eye.  Plenty of room for progress here.  Fur collar… really fun to see that silvery gray (presumably fox?) fur can be drawn effectively using pink and lavender.  And the icing on the proverbial cake: talons on the epaulettes.  If all else fails, simply squeeze the life out of your prey.  The essence of a tragic character conveyed right there on his massive shoulders.  Way to go, Corey Jay, Costume Designer!  Up next: Desdemona

Forget Me Nots

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"Forget Me Nots", mixed media by Kerry McFall

The smaller the flower, the more detail seems to be called for.  These are such simple blossoms that they lend themselves well to abstracting and incorporating into patterns.  The only real challenge here was that I haven’t quite managed the shape of this tiny clear glass vase (but I just read an article about how to better deal with symmetry in such attempts), and I didn’t have the exact shade of blue pencil I wanted… the perfect excuse for a trip to the art store.

Forget Me Nots do a little trick called “self seeding”, which means there are waves of blue all over the yard and garden until the foliage begins to get grungy, then I yank them all up.  The miracle is that next year, there will be even more!

Thunder in Paradise

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Just when you think you’re going to get away for a sunny weekend – BAM! Thunder and Lightning… and cold wind, and gray cloudy skies.  Dang. It was as if we had brought along our own personal storm clouds… Birds of Paradise plants were everywhere, and they all seemed to be looking skyward as if to say, “Dude!  Is that rain!?”  But all was not lost – we had a fabulous time with Corey and her friends, and I got in lots of sketching time:

The main purpose for the trip of course was to marvel at Corey’s costuming of Othello.  This was her Senior Thesis Project.  The Moor was intimidating in his fur-collared cloak, featuring epaulettes of eagle claws and green leather scales, Desdemona was luminous in burgundy silk and velvet, Iago oozed just the right amount of slime in his Nazi Youth-colored military garb – breathtaking all the way around.  Unfortunately, even the lovely costumes didn’t keep everyone from getting killed in the end – those tragedies always leave me wondering if we couldn’t just once have a Do Over for the plot of the final chapter.  Hopefully I’ll be able to capture some more of the costumes and characters soon.