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Our Sailing Hideaway Blog and YouTube videos will remain active. Join the HideAways as we tell, through blog stories and videos, what life really is like on a small, 23' Com Pac sailboat. We'll show the joys, thrills and chills of the sailing life, but also what it takes to maintain a boat, trailer and truck. You are just as likely to learn how not to do something correctly as to do it right. That's important too! New! The Hideaways take to the road! Follow Traveling Hideaway: Winds of Wanderlust Transitioning from Sailing Hideaway to Traveling Hideaways as sailors learn to travel without heeling, well, not much, anyway. The Paint Wasters Society unlocks the art of paint squandering with sheer delight, free from the shackles of remorse or guilt. Trust me, a century down the line, nobody's going to bat an eyelash, so why not indulge in some paint splattering shenanigans today? Let's turn those pricey pigments into a canvas of laughter and joy.

Thursday, August 1, 2024

Paint Wasters Society: Rediscovering Water Colors

 

Splashing Back to Water Colors

I’ve been away from water color for the better part of 15 years.  Lately, my wife has taken up the sport reminding me of the joys of transparent water color.   

The effort would be easier had I’d remembered that, while they are cousins, water colors and acrylics have different personalities. 

Most Survived 

In my water color days I acquired a startling number of paint in tubes of various sizes and expense. I hadn’t fully realized, to the glee of various suppliers, that all colors come from the primaries.  

Tubes were stored in a fishing tackle box and lost in a closet. Could they still be useable after all years?  Large tubes and small, most were reasonably soft to the squeeze, although, some of the smaller were rocks. 

Surgery was necessary and the rehydration mostly successful. "Professional" grade water color grade paper not so much.  At least, that’s my excuse.   


I've added hot melt glue lines to corral the colors 

As most artist do, I’d acquired several pallets as my need for space increased. I found the best one only after refurbishing the others. (Where did the drywall mud particles come from and why?)  


Paint soaked into the paper- No rescue

I practiced on substandard papers for a while. Frustration the only result.

Where was the sublime joy of color flowing from my brush in a perfect line, dab, or arch?  The effortless perfect stain on the paper – just enough - not too much.    What happened to the transparency you hear so much about?

Searching for answers I came across dozens my early paintings buried in the dregs of the Failure Box.

There's a keeper on the flip side

I’d just received two expensive sets of water color brushes at a low price. Eager to try them, I sacrificed one of my unhappy accident paintings to odd lines, circles and dabs.

What fun!  No pressure! No cost and no worries about failing. After all, the paintings were ready for trash bin anyway.  Occasionally, you may rescue a memory.


Bingo!

I read somewhere that paintings of any kind should be viewed from six feet away and hung at standing height.   In my case, twenty feet seems to work pretty well.  Or at least in a darkened room during a lightning storm.  


Sailboats On Beach- Original Water Color Paperweight

Sailboats On Beach- Original Water Color Paperweight
by SailingHideAway


                                       by SailingHideAway



Wednesday, May 22, 2024

The Art of Being Unprepared


We are approaching the sweaty, sticky days of summer. The cooling breezes of winter left with the snowbirds weeks ago. It's still a nasty hot morning, though the ant-under-a-magnifying-glass sensation doesn’t start until the sun clears the tree line. It's time for a quick sketching walk in the woods by the lake.

 

My sketch bag is an old cloth emergency first aid kit acquired from a drug store. It’s red with a large white cross on the front, double zippered with a handle, and my added belt clip.

 




It contains two sketchbooks. The larger, a gift, performs poorly with watercolors but is passable for ink, pencil, and charcoal. The other, smaller version is made for both. There’s also a watercolor field kit and old film container filled with extra water, an assortment of pencils, brushes, cut-up credit cards, paper towels… you know the rest.

 




People tend to make way for me when met on a trail. Seeing an old man with a red emergency kit with a big white cross on it, they tend to step aside, not wanting, I surmise, to be the one to apply first aid when the geezer stumbles and can’t get up. They are right – sketching is essential to my well-being, not to mention what’s left of my older right brain.

 

With my bag on my hip, I found a little wooden bridge among the pines and palms, arching over a creek leading to a small lake. I sat on a nearby warped wood bench, the one with short, uneven legs buried in the sand. I opened my kit to find only one sketchbook and one indelible ink pen. No sanity saving erasable pencil. Forgetting to check my bag ruined the entire known universe!

 

But it didn’t.

 

Instead, it freed me to make mistakes. After all, I’d already made the creation of good art unlikely. With no expectations, I had a great time.

 




 Isn’t that what it’s all about?


The Paint Wasters Society of Dog Moon Bay 


White Rose Heart Paperweight
White Rose Heart Paperweight
by MACmedia

A Sailing Hideaway Zazzle Store


Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Of Strawberries and Butterflies

 

 From the Traveling Hideaways- Tales of Our Trails Blog


                                                              Black Plastic Netting


Our elevated strawberry patch has become a haven for strawberry enthusiasts of both wing and paw varieties. To deter unwanted visitors we draped half-inch soft black plastic webbing, supported by bamboo stalks with their small branches still attached to admit only honey bees for pollination.

 

We Didn't Expect the Butterflies

 

During a recent stroll by the patch, I observed six or eight butterflies frenetically fluttering around one of the nets attempting to rescue a trapped comrade. These native Florida butterflies have a two-inch wingspan with tan wings and colorful decoration. I do not recall their name, and my cameras were inside enjoying the air conditioning.

 

Without hesitation, I joined the rescue mission.

 

At first the butterflies wouldn't let me help, constantly getting in the way of my effort to untangle the flimsy net without injuring the victim. Encircled by the butterfly brigade, I sensed their determination, (is that possible?). Some briefly rested their heads on the trapped butterfly’s, perhaps offering silent comfort.

 

As the hot sun weakened the captive, hope dwindled. They wouldn't give up, those butterfly friends, so neither would I. My clumsy fingers fumbled over the net, frantic to find a solution. In a moment of frustration, I reached for my knife, only to drop it. Stooping to retrieve it, I inadvertently freed the entangled butterfly. A swarm of butterflies surrounded their freed companion, and as strength returned, they departed in a flurry of wings.

 

But they returned.

 

As I tore down the remaining nets, the butterflies reappeared, swirling around me for some time in a vibrant display of color and energy before departing once more.

Interpret this as you will, but there will be no more netting in our garden and I have a new appreciation of butterflies.  And, dare I say it? Some butterfly friends!


Lighthouse Spiral Staircase Poster
Lighthouse Spiral Staircase Poster
by SailingHideAway


Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Jaguar Pick-Up Truck -The Latest News

 

Hot on the trail of a tow vehicle for our soon to be purchased travel trailer, we were checking out a lead at our local Jaguar store.  We didn’t know if there was such a truck, but if there were, a Jag pickup would be worth checking out. 

We sheepishly snuck our old land yacht into the lot and parked next to a large Land Rover.  Later we learned that the custom built Land Rover had a window sticker of $250,000. We were extra careful with our doors.

We entered a building full of white vehicles with their lights left on.  The ultra-modern building was staffed by people ultra-eager to please – coffee, tea, doughnut -Sir?

The show room contained eight Land Rovers and one gorgeous Ferrari two-seater sports car. No Jaguars in sight, let alone an RV tow vehicle.

I asked our assigned representative if he had a Jaguar pick ‘em up truck in stock.  His response was slow to develop, not knowing, I suppose, if I really had any money or if I did and was joking.  

He told us it was hard to get Jaguars to stock because they all are special order and production was nearly sold out.   Only that very morning he had taken orders for three, he declared.  Hard to imagine I know, but the entire line of Jaguars will be electric next year.  Get your 2024 order in soon.

We studied each other for a short while until he remembered that he did, indeed, have a “pick ‘em up truck” in the back lot.   Sure enough, surrounded by a Bentley Coupe, a Lamborghini, a new Corvette, and a Ford Shelby stood a custom Jaguar RV Tow Vehicle, cleverly disguised as black metallic Ford F150 Lariat.    

They hemmed, we hawed. They agreed to fix a few things. We agreed that our land yacht was a bit sorry after the 9,000 mile road trip last year.  It needed tires, only one of the power windows worked and if you drove it awhile it threw the code-$$$.  

Oddly, I haven’t found the button to uncloak the Jag, but you can hear him roar when the blower kicks in…..

                                                    Custom Jag RV Tow Vehicle- Cloaking on.



https://www.zazzle.com/z/aw7l9zdy?rf=238787816549313732