It's going to be all right!

My daily walks start with a decision to head north, south, east  or west.  Recently, my homeward route took me by the best rainbow I've come across -- the second I'd seen with this message that signalled more francophones in the neighbourhood than I'd been aware of.  (Click here to learn how Quebec's "ça va bien aller" rainbows derived from Italy's "andrà tutto bene"originals.)

The rainbows abound, and all of them are cheering -- but this one had a special meaning for me, linking my walks and my French studies and my art, all of which need some  "going to be all right" encouragement.   Not that I'm just sitting around in my studio, eating chocolate and savouring the links between French and art.

In fact, I've been mulling over a lot of things lately -- for one, how much I enjoy having a series of paintings under way.  A friend's reference to a BC wildflower -- the opulent and unfortunately named "Skunk Cabbage"  -- reminded me of how much fun I'd had in 2010 (ten years ago!!) with my series, "Astrological Plants of the Squamish Valley."  The first to kick off the zodiacal year was the hops plant, prickly and stickly enough to symbolize Aries.

Ta tum! - the lightbulb went on as I walked one of my walks.  I've been so involved with features and faces lately, why not do a series on astrological physical types?  And in reminiscence of the coffee meet-ups I'm missing with friends, I'd call it, "The Zodiac Cafe."

I couldn't wait to again delve  into the book that guided my botanical series -- the best seventy-five cents I ever spent at a 2^nd-hand bookstore!

This little compendium distills an encyclopedia's worth of the traditional correlations of almost anything to zodiacal signs and planets, and I knew I  would find what I needed in the section "Physical Characteristics of the Twelve Signs."   It only made sense, again, to begin my series with Aries, especially since we were in the midst of its cycle:-- March 20 to April 20^th.

And oh, the signs were right!  Another bulb flashed when I reviewed Aries' physical characteristics: 

"Head and neck long; face angular; cheekbones high; temples broad; chin narrow; eyes grey or brown; hair red, sandy or dark; mouth thin; body slender."

Here was my chance to try once more to reclaim a fascinating face I'd seen last fall -- a young teenager among a crowd on the sidewalk waiting for a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performance.  I've never seen such deeply set eyes, such high strong cheekbones, such a commanding visor-like forehead -- and by the way, such bushy red hair.  Definitely my Aries girl!!

Aries' key colour is red, of course.  And as I planned my colour scheme, I went back to a simple silhouette I'd done on cardboard for my 2018 on-line "Faces" class:

My final painting, titled "The Zodiac Cafe - Aries" (copyright 2020), is the closest I've come to capturing a real likeness -- believe it or not.   And the question to ask of this young woman is not, "Would she make a good coffee-buddy?" but "Can she command?"

  

As I came into the home stretch, I kept thinking that "Aries" reminded me of a face done by Picasso.  As the paint dried, I flipped through my art books without success.  Except -- just maybe -- there's a hint of one of my favourites among his paintings, "Woman with Crow."

Hey!  I'll take all the camaraderie I can get -- with confidence that It's Going To Be All Right.

Not your Grandma Moses’ palette

-- neither her palette nor her palate, either.  (This delectable dish is from a little-known New York City eatery -- fine dining with all the comforts of home).

This "Pallet" is a nearby coffee shop, which I regularly pass on my way to the library or grocery store.  In ordinary times, its window bench is fully occupied with customers variously engrossed in laptops, cells, books, newspapers, or just their own dreamy ruminations. 

Every time I've walked by, I've mentally collected a couple of figures for follow-up memory drawing.  The  people at the window bench seem most often to be on their own -- but elbow to elbow, they often make accidental twosomes that I've thought of as "Improbable Pairs," a title I might someday use for a series of  related paintings.

With the coffee shop closed and no new subjects, I went back to my sketchbook for some earlier models.

They were there on different days.  He was rough-and-tumble; she was a dreamy Alice in Wonderland.  An improbable pair, to be sure -- but she's thinking things over and, as I've called it, "Considering the Possibilities."

There's ample elbow room for improvement, but I'm calling this "DONE." .  The guy's face was even more unusual than in my small memory sketch -- he had quite a flat broad forehead and widely spaced eyes, which I kept fiddling with.  One day, when I was still working on it, my daily walk took me by a front-yard statue of St. Francis.  OMG -- the Pallet guy *did* look a bit like him!

  

And St. Francis reminded me of a few characters in an article I came across, "Most Bizarre and Completely Outlandish Art Fails of All Time."  It's hilarious, if not here and there a bit tragic --with  almost unbelievable examples of art restorations that have totally screwed up the original work.  Pallet Guy and St.  Francis remind me a bit of #5 and #6 in the line-up.

Meanwhile, here in The Yellow House, time for a fresh start -- it's always a work-in-progress.