October

Well October is ending and November is upon us! How fast the year has passed....  Melissa and I got our Moderna booster shots this week, and are grateful and glad to have that done. 

October was my first month of scaling back my painting routine to 2 - 3 days a week from 5 - 6. I felt  somewhat "lost" on the days I did not paint - not knowing what to do with myself and feeling very bored and restless. I like to read fast-paced mysterious and cop stories, like Michael Connelly's Bosch series, but the authors I like can't write fast enough for me. So, now I'm reading James Patterson's Alex Cross series and that is helping me with the excess time I have on my hands and mind.

Anyway, back to painting....I've been painting for more than 25 years now - ever since I retired early from banking. I've had my own gallery, done MANY outdoor art shows and been in juried shows and galleries all over the country. I've sold paintings, donated paintings, and thrown away paintings.

Painting has been - and is - my creative calling, but it's also been a business, and neither Melissa and I have the capacity now to manage the business of it. So, as of the end of this year, I won't be promoting or marketing my work anymore. It will become a "hobby." 

Having said that, we have a lot of paintings that haven't sold but that I haven't had the heart to get rid of, because I think they are pretty good! So, we will have one final sale for the fall, hoping to place some of them in good homes. Melissa will share them on Facebook, and the prices will be LOW.

After that, if you see something I put here on the blog and would like to buy it, you still can. It will just be case by case, rather than me promoting my work for sale.

Here's what I did in October. Sometimes I struggled and lost my way a bit, but I ended up with some pieces that I am very pleased with! If you are interested in one, just email me or contact Melissa on Facebook, and we'll see if if we can work something out.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Across the Menai Strait from Beaumaris, Wales

9 by 12 

on heavy linen watercolor paper

Blue Reflections on Mesa

9 by 12 on heavy linen watercolor paper

High Country Magic

9 by 12 on heavy linen watercolor paper

Sparkling Sedona

12 by 16 on linen canvas panel

Storm Movin' In

9 by 12 on heavy linen watercolor paper

This is a diptych - which is a painting done in two sections. You can frame them to hang side by side and they create one scene, as shown in the second photo where I've brought them close together.

Watching over the Young Ones

10 by 20 each panel

on heavy linen watercolor paper

September

Hi Everyone!

I'm happy to report that October arrived with a cool spell for us down here in Florida. We finally got to the beach, and what a perfect day it was! We like to get there early  with coffee and a treat, and leave when it starts to heat up around noon. It was very quiet, with only a few others there, and that's the way we like it!

You see what I mean - I wasn't lying!

I've reduced my painting schedule from five days a week down to three, mainly because of the progession of my Parkinson's. It's not as much a physical issue as it is that Parkinson's makes me very mentally tired. It takes much more concentration now, and I get fatigued quickly. So it takes longer for me to paint, and takes more out of me.

Nevertheless, it's my joy, and on the days when I don't paint, it feels like a very long day!

Here's what I managed in September. If you see anything here you like, email me or contact Melissa via Facebook - believe me, I'll make you a good deal! That goes for any paintings in previous posts or in my galleries (see across the top of the page).

As ever, thank you for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to - it means a lot!

Acadia National Park

Across the Mangrove

Aspen Stand

Chamisa Field, NM

Country Barn

Early Morning on the Marsh

The Old Red Barn

All the best,

JR

August

New Mexico Colors

9" by 12" 

Heavy Watercolor Paper

Hi Everyone!

Well, Labor Day is upon us. I have to say that I am very tired of COVID still being an issue, and it's weighing me down! It's not like I want to go out and party, but I would like to be able to go out to breakfast!

I painted a lot in August, but I think I have to start to slow down because my Parkinson's seems to be progressing. I tire very easily now when painting, but the worst part is that my concentration is not as good as it was. Each painting becomes a longer journey than the last, requiring more concentration, and it's the concentration that makes me tired, not the physical effort.

I am lucky though, that my hands do not shake much. I paint with my right hand and my thumb twitches and sometimes the hand shakes, but never when I am painting! I think that has to be because painting is a happy thing for me, and that affects my neurological system. It's like when I do what makes me happy, my body forgets to be sick!

So it's a Catch-22, kind of, because painting makes me happy, but it also makes me tired! So, I'll be cutting down to 2 painting days a week from 5, and we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I continue trying new techniques, and am back to using the palette knife. I watch several artists who have good videos on YouTube - I could watch them paint all day!

That brings to mind the question, "What is an artist?" I found this quote that sums it up nicely:

Below are some of my August paintings. As ever, thanks for stopping by. I'm still in the mode of "If you see something you like, make me an offer," as far as pricing and selling goes. You can email me or contact Melissa through Facebook. 

Take care, my friends. Stay safe and enjoy life.

JR Secor

Between the Rocks

12" by 12"

Linen Canvas Pane;

Distant Mangrove

10" by 20" Gallery-wrapped Canvas

Summer Waves

12" by 16"

Linen Canvas Panel

Sunset Waves

12" by 12"

Linen Canvas Panel

Toward the Canyon

12" by 16"

Heavy Watercolor Paper

High Country Autumn

10" by 10"

Linen Canvas Panel

New Mexico Gray Skies

12" by 16"

Heavy Watercolor Paper

 

July

 

Pasture

10" by 20" on heavy linen paper

As August begins, I realized that although we've pretty much been confined to the house for the past 16 or so months, the time has gone by fairly quickly. The thing that I miss most is going out to breakfast! We had a ritual of going to breakfast after seeing my chiropractor down in Fort Myers - there's a great place right on the road that takes us there. I am finally going back to see him again, and thought I might be ready to try a breakfast out - being fully vaccinated and things looking up, but I chickened out! And now we've got another go 'round with the Delta variant, so I guess it will be a while longer. I've been saying to Melissa all along, "We'll go out to eat again sometime in 2022!" Sorry to say, it looks like I was right!

This is a photo Melissa took at the cafe...well...a long time ago now. It doesn't tell you much about the place, but it's a cool photo. You'll have to take my word for it that the food is good.

Red Umbrellas at the McGregor Cafe

It's good to be seeing the Doc again, because he adjusts my cervical spine to line everything up so the messages from the brain can get through to the body. When I'm "out," my mind does not work so well, and neither do my feet!

On to the update about my July painting efforts!

I painted quite a lot in July and was again trying something new. I wanted to loosen things up even more, and like using a "dry brush" technique. This gives the work a mellowed appearance.

Usually, acrylic paint is applied using a dampened brush, but the dry brush (as you may have guessed!) means you don't use any water! The paint is applied straight from the tube, thinly and quickly, with a kind of staccato motion. For someone with Parkinson's that's kind of helpful! I've also returned to doing more work with the palette knife, which I love.

Sometimes I get discouraged because I look around and see how many paintings I have hanging and stored in my studio. Then I saw an article about a well-known artist in one of my art magazines, and he had hundreds of paintings, framed and unsold, on his wall, and hundreds more stored. So I felt a little better...just a little!

We're at the point where we need to winnow down the collection again, so if you see a painting here that you like, just make an offer! Don't worry about insulting me, I'd rather have a good piece find a home for a modest sum than get stored away - or thrown away! 

Let's just say the minimum offer on anything you see here should be $40 - so throw something out there, and let's see if we can't find homes for some of these. If you aren't local to us, you will have to pay shipping, so we can figure that out. Email me or ask Melissa via Facebook. Paintings on linen canvas panel can be displayed on easels, which saves on framing. Or frame them! If you buy one, do whatever you want with it!

Okay, here's what happened in July!! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Calm Surf

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Dusk in the High Country

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

High Desert Sunrise Magic

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Nightfall Descends

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Pasture

10" by 20" on heavy duty linen paper

Sedona Blue

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Storm Forming

12" by 16" on linen canvas panel

Summer Waves

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Taos, NM Plateau Volcanic Field

16" by 20" on heavy linen paper

June

Foggy Day

 Anne's Point

Bass Harbor, Maine

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!

As I write this, we have both eyes on a developing storm called Elsa. Such an innocent, Disney-sounding name, right? Let's hope this Elsa is a minor event and moves away from shore. We've got the lanterns and a lifetime supply of batteries at the ready, and over the next two days we'll get the hurricane shutters closed. 

Got Batteries???

We always seem to be the only ones in the neighborhood preparing, and it makes me wonder if we are being overly cautious, but I always come back to the old wisdom: BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY! Shingles blowing off a neighbor's roof can become projectiles that can smash your window, and who wants that!

Over May and most of June, I was using a Cpap machine for sleep apnea. I had told the doctor that I feel exhausted during the day, so he said, "take the test," which I did, and which revealed I have a severe case. It was hard to get used to, but when I decide to do something, I do it. But then in early June, I completely lost my voice! So we tried using it without the humidifier, which was better, but not totally. Then I tried not using it for a few nights, and my voice improved a little. Long story short, I seem to have ended up with a sinus infection, and that Cpap is history! Funny thing is, now I am sleeping very well by lying on my side and feel more rested than before!

Despite these trials and tribulations, (Woe is ME!) I had a pretty good painting month! Still using and loving the excellent and affordable SOHO paints. Here are some of my favorites from June. Thanks for coming by, and enjoy the art!

JR

Vermillion Cliffs

Balmy Day

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

San Antonio, NM

End of Day

Splash!

May

Today is Memorial Day, so I hope everyone has a good day remembering loved ones and honoring those who served our country. We have much to be grateful for. 

May was a pretty busy month for me. I turned 81 on May 15th, and celebrated by doing quite a lot of painting! 

Melissa has been on a roll recently with ways to be less wasteful and more eco-minded, with a focus on "re-use, recycle and repurpose," so I figured I would get in on the act. After working on small pieces - 8" by 8", 10" by 10" and 12" by 12" canvas panels - I suddenly felt the need to paint BIG, so I pulled out a box of large paintings that I did a long time ago, and started re-purposing them into completely new scenes. 

This is the first one I did - I painted over a southwest landscape scene and now we have ocean!

This one is called Summer Day, and it's 22.5" by 30.25" on heavy watercolor paper, which holds up well to water-based paints like acrylic, with no buckling.

Then I repurposed this one - it was another southwest landscape and still is - I just re-did the foreground and sky to create a completely different effect. Next time I'll remember to take a "before" picture so you can see the change.

This is called Reflections of the Arizona Badlands, also 22.5" by 30.25" on heavy watercolor paper.

I'm still very happy with the new SOHO paints I've been trying - the depth of color is terrific, the tubes are big and they are a great value.

Here are some smaller works I did earlier in the month:

High Country Sunset

8" by 16" on heavy watercolor paper

Along the Mangrove

8" by 16" on heavy watercolor paper

Oh Happy Daze 

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Foothills, Carefree, Arizona

10" by 10" on linen canvas panel

Sunset Waves

8" by 8" on linen canvas panel

Across the Plains

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Across to the Canyon Walls

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

Nightfall Descends

12" by 12" on linen canvas panel

As always, thank you for stopping by to read my blog and check out my work. You can also click on the "pages" along the top, which have my various collections - Southwest Landscapes, Seascapes, etc.

Take good care, everyone, and continue to stay safe. 

JR