Last day

Tomorrow morning it is back on the hobo train to the airport. Figuring I should pack in all the Portland I could into my last day, I walked up to one of the famous donut shops and bought a gourmet blueberry bourbon donut and a cup of locally made coffee. It tasted like a cold donut and a cup of thermos coffee. I have not been doing phenomenally on my phenomenal meals endeavor.

Meh 

Picked up a loaf of apple monkey bread at Trader Joe’s to share with the other painters. They are happy to see snacks, but they do that weird polite thing where nobody eats the last tiny sliver of whatever it is. We don’t have that rule in Hawaii; polite people hork everything down to show how good it is. I did them all a favor and ate the last bites of everything. Painted industriously, fixing some of the problem areas on my piece; making other areas worse. Took notes as Jen came and commandeered my brush for corrections.

Buildings get more muted as they go down, because of dirt.

Work on the part of your painting you are trying to avoid FIRST. Take your medicine, the rest will be more enjoyable.

Warmer lights, even if they don’t look that warm in life. 

Cars are just two boxes stacked on top of each other. Get them done and move on.

Vanishing point is at head level of the people in the scene.

Oversimplify shadows and leave the complexity to the light.

Neutralize colors as they recede.

Use more paint on your palette. MORE PAINT. (I have a hard time with this one, because that shit is expensive and you have to scrape it off when you don’t use it.


By the end of the day, I wanted to frisbee the painting out the window, but I carefully packed it up, instead. It’s the most important of the pile of shitty paintings you have to paint through to get to the good ones; it is the very first. I will be braver in my use of backgrounds now, with a bit of pushing on.

The room cleaner has gotten used to my minor clutter and didn’t bother replacing all the coffee pods, knowing how many I drink. She emptied the trash, folded the bath mat, and moved on. I ditched my gear back in the room and set out to meet one of my online mom-friends. She took me to Lardo, where we ate the best damn meal of this entire trip, and I bought a shirt with a pig on it.

We walked up and down Hawthorn and visited Powell’s, picked out this year’s commemorative Christmas ornament to mark the trip, and she hugged me goodbye back at my hotel room.

Packed my suitcase, taped up my painting for transport, and that is that.

Hearing  the call of that lonesome train.