Sunday, January 15, 2012

Painting and Reading

my palette.
(both photos on this post were taken by Elena Ray.)

It's super windy outside, making it easy to spend the day indoors painting. After an absence from the studio, sometimes the first couple of days back are, well, agonizing. It's as though I have forgotten how to paint. The hard part is staying with it, when things are like that. When you do, good things will happen. They will.

Robyn asked me to tell more about the book I am reading - The Lacuna. Written by Barbara Kingsolver. I am not the kind to go into too much detail about a book, but I will say this: If you don't find a copy of this book and read it, I am not sure we can continue to be friends. It is a delight. It is the sort of book one wants to savor, in the way you would a box of fine chocolate. Hide it in a safe place and take one bit out. Read it slowly, swallow it down. Then, spend the next 5 or 10 minutes thinking about how good it is. You fight the urge to sit down and devour it at once. Some may succumb to the overwhelming urge to do just that. Not I. I have been trying to make it last as long as possible. I do carry it around the house with me, so I can look at the cover. Take another divine little bit in. Like that. So, are you convinced yet?

Today, I got two disks with photos taken by Elena Ray of me yesterday. They sat on the table for a couple of hours. I am not the kind of person who usually likes pictures of myself. I admit, even though I know Elena is a great photographer, my own fear of what I might see kept me from putting the disks in the computer and taking a peek. FINALLY, I managed to do it. WOW! I am so happy with the photos. For the first time ever, I have pictures of myself painting. And quite a number of pictures of myself that I can actually look at without cringing. It's amazing. Elena, you are one talented photographer! My personal hero. And now I can put photos on the blog and website that are actually current. Yay!

Mixing paint.



5 comments:

pRiyA said...

the photos are lovely karine. i hope to see more eventually on your blog. so you fill up on coffee while you paint :-)

Unknown said...

Hi Priya, thanks for the comments. Actually, i am a tea drinker. I think that was lemon ginger tea. How do you like my punk rock mug?

Anonymous said...

I do love Elana's photos of you - soft and natural, even if you might prefer to be a bit edgy...the mug does that ;)

I loved The Lacuna; however, I admit I love listening to book cd's and Barbara Kingsolver reads this one herself!

Janis Commentz

Patty said...

Fantastic photos Karine, and tantalizing book review!

ArtPropelled said...

Lol .... okay I'm convined :-) I had better find the book!
Beautiful photo of you working Karine. I can relate to the holding on to the disc for days before having the courage to look. I had to have photos taken for a book and unfortunately I will groan every time I see my face in it. Ugh!