A Visitor from Baltimore

Fall is around the corner, bringing an end to our hot summer. One of my favorite happenings this time of year is the annual migration of birds. We get many transient visitors; some stay a day or two, others several weeks. Jack and I have never seen this fellow, a Baltimore Oriole, here before so we are pretty excited. He doesn’t look a bit like the Baltimore Orioles we’ve seen at Baseball Games, I keep thinking he should have a tiny baseball helmet and bat! If you’d like a closer look, just click on the picture.

Today I’m working on the terra-cotta tile floor. The colors in rows on the left side of my palette are left over from previous painting sessions. The basic tile color is mixed from Cadmium Orange + MUD + a tiny touch of Pthalo Blue. White is added for the lighter shades, more MUD is mixed in the darkest ones. A few blues are pulled out from my left overs to use in the floor.

The shadow patterns are painted first. Notice how much cooler, or bluer, the patio beyond the steps is. This makes it recede.

The light area where the sun streams across the floor is now painted in.

The curved perspective lines are drawn into the wet paint with a fine liner brush. This is done freehand. Using a mahl stick would limit my movement and I couldn’t make a smooth line.

After the horizontal lines separating the tiles are drawn I sign the painting. It is much easier to “cut” the signature into the wet paint. If I waited until the area was dry it would be difficult to sign over the bumps and ridges of the thick, floor paint. Have a great day and see you tomorrow. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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