....THE NOT TOO PRETTY - part 2

I was having trouble with uploading my "ugly art" earlier and my blog went out without any drawing or painting. Here is part two. It was supposed to be the conclusion but I still can't seem to upload the second image. Perhaps it is just too awful to post. We'll see...I won't let it get the best of me!

This lone orchid sat on top of the television for nearly one month before I attempted to sketch it. That is exactly the way it looked from across the room - quiet, a bit lonely, pale, but obviously full of life. You can tell by the way the bloom holds it head up. It looks straight at you and the leaves beneath it seem to curl away to form an opening for its display. The two outside leaves point slightly inward as if to say, "look, she is right here in the center of the frame we have made, how lovely!" You can easily guess, that not only do I talk to my plants, they talk back to me!

I usually sketch in graphite for the EDM challenges. If I want to add color, I transfer, or copy, the outline onto watercolor paper and paint it. There was something about this sketch that indicated I should stop at this point (before I ruined it by overworking a watercolor). Even though it is "not too pretty", it doesn't quite qualify as ugly.

This one in color, however, may be the "not so prettiest" I have ever painted. I can tell you all the qualities it lacks as a painting, and there are many. Instead, I'll say that "at least I had the guts to post the picture on the blog." It demonstrates that I am working on my skills and not giving up in spite of attempts that don't thrill me.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE NOT SO PRETTY

We live at the end of a private lane, unpaved, surrounded by very old trees. Many of them are live oaks and are in need of either, radical trimming, or removal. To be truthful, when the wind blows more than 20 mph, the house is in danger of being eradicated by trees at least 75 feet tall and 100 years old. It's quiet here though, if you don't count the hum of the road nearby, the chatter of the squirrels, or the barking of my dogs. Since our neighbors moved to rural Alabama, there is one less annoyance because their very tiny, but loud, dogs have left the scene.

Something new is on the horizon here at Anchor Lane. Actually it is not the horizon, but the other end of the lane. What used to be a large empty lot filled with old trees - pine, oak, palm - is now bare land, scoured by bulldozers and cranes. The trees have become a large pile of mulch, which I hope they will use to landscape when they are finished building.


We have heard that the property is to be a cluster of high end apartments, perhaps for senior citizens. That would be nice, would increase our property value, and provide a place for us to move in a few years. It would also increase the clientele of the Publix (Supermarket) that most of us from this area, use. One potential, and very real, problem that will affect our daily life, is the traffic that the development of the property will create. I wonder where the entrances and exits for the new construction will be. There is only a short left turn lane leading to my street and it requires crossing two lanes of a very busy thoroughfare. During rush hour, it is only by the good will of a few drivers that I get across those lanes alive. It won't work to have several hundred cars trying to make that life or death crossing with me.


The trees are gone, the vines that hugged them are no more, the wildflowers and colorful weeds have been plowed under or shoved into piles to be removed. It is just plain ugly at the other end of the lane. Lest you should think that today's blog is only words, I have some ugly art to add.