Sunday Morning 9am

This is for your own works!!!
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vern.silver
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:58 pm
Location: Sault Ste Marie, Canada

Sunday Morning 9am

Post by vern.silver »

This is the first time I have posted here in quite a long time. What follows is a song lyric that came to me while searching my photos for something to paint. I was strumming my guitar while doing so and the lines from the second verse jumped into my head and a half hour later I had the song. hope you enjoy it.

Vern

Sunday morning 9am

Sunday morning 9am
Knew I won't see you again
But something held me and here I stand
A silent effigy of man

I had no trouble with your eyes
They told stories without lies
Though your face was in disguise
Hidden in quiet alibis

Something beautiful and sad
Something I could never have
Something cold and hard and bad
Always leaving always leaving
Almost going mad

Beauty leaves no doubts behind
Tracing edges well defined
Operates in perfect time
Always open always fine

Should I listen to what I know
Isn't that just getting old
Sunday morning 9am
I'm back to wanting you again

Something beautiful and sad
In this silence that I have
Something cold and hard and true
Always ending always ending
Almost loving you

Something beautiful and sad
In this silence that I have
Something cold and hard and cruel
Always ending always bending
almost loving you
________

This is the first song I've completed since I had throat surgery in 2012 just prior to the Madison event and my voice has never really recovered. I've taken up painting as a alternative and discovered I have a knack for it. Mostly landscape but some portraits.

Vern
"Clarence said a striking thing about rowing that I've always valued ... that he liked rowing because you were approaching life backward. You could clearly see the past, and you glanced quickly at the future over your shoulder.' Jim Harrison.
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Geoffrey
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Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by Geoffrey »

vern.silver wrote:I've taken up painting . . . and discovered I have a knack for it. Mostly landscape but some portraits.
would it be possible to see some of the portraits, please?
vern.silver
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:58 pm
Location: Sault Ste Marie, Canada

Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by vern.silver »

Geoffrey,

Apparently the photos need to be posted online somewhere for them to be 'posted' here. As I generally do not do this I will have to figure out what to do. I could just email to you directly.

Vern
"Clarence said a striking thing about rowing that I've always valued ... that he liked rowing because you were approaching life backward. You could clearly see the past, and you glanced quickly at the future over your shoulder.' Jim Harrison.
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Geoffrey
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Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by Geoffrey »

vern.silver wrote:Geoffrey,

Apparently the photos need to be posted online somewhere for them to be 'posted' here. As I generally do not do this I will have to figure out what to do. I could just email to you directly.

Vern
that's what i used to think, but you can post them here directly from your hard-disc if you want. this is how i do it, from the old blue site (prosilver, they call it): when you click on the quotation mark (") to answer someone you will get an 'attachments' option below the writing box. click on that and you will get an 'add files' option. then you just load it up from your computer. the maximum size is 256 kb, and the maximum number of images per post is 3. if your file is bigger than 256 kb you can just reduce it in 'paint' - or a similar programme. :-)
vern.silver
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:58 pm
Location: Sault Ste Marie, Canada

Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by vern.silver »

Geoffrey,

I don't see any quotation marks.

Vern
"Clarence said a striking thing about rowing that I've always valued ... that he liked rowing because you were approaching life backward. You could clearly see the past, and you glanced quickly at the future over your shoulder.' Jim Harrison.
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Geoffrey
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Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by Geoffrey »

vern.silver wrote:I don't see any quotation marks
maybe you have a different configuration, vern, but using the old style interface my screen looks like this:
Attachments
screen grab.jpg
vern.silver
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:58 pm
Location: Sault Ste Marie, Canada

Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by vern.silver »

Geoffrey wrote:
vern.silver wrote:I don't see any quotation marks
maybe you have a different configuration, vern, but using the old style interface my screen looks like this:
Geoffrey,

Okay, thanks. Now I've got it.

I have done two other portraits one of Leonard and on of Joe Way's grandchildren that I did from a Christmas card they sent a few years ago. I am working on other portrait/people paintings but am trying to improve my techniques first. Right now I'm trying the grisaile method and am still trying to develop a decent palette.

I have been painting since I decided to try it after I retired in 2012. I have done maybe 50 paintings so far.

Vern
Attachments
From a photo I took at a wedding in 2010 of my sister Maureen who passed away in February 2014. I did the painting as a way of greiving and is my 3rd attempt of a portrait.
From a photo I took at a wedding in 2010 of my sister Maureen who passed away in February 2014. I did the painting as a way of greiving and is my 3rd attempt of a portrait.
What I'm working on now.
What I'm working on now.
"Clarence said a striking thing about rowing that I've always valued ... that he liked rowing because you were approaching life backward. You could clearly see the past, and you glanced quickly at the future over your shoulder.' Jim Harrison.
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Geoffrey
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Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by Geoffrey »

impressive work, vern - thank you. low-key facial tones have been successfully used by several well-known portraitists, one of the most notable being modigliani. i have tried it myself but achieve only anaemic faces. fantastic details in your paintings, you have the patience of a modern day canaletto, albeit with a style of your own.

by the way, thank you for the poem - sad though it was. "pain sure brings out the best in people, doesn't it!" - as one song lyric goes.

from what you wrote i understand you have been through a harsh time, but you possess a creative soul - and have much to offer. jolly good to have you back here, and i hope you continue to share your work with us. as you no doubt know, people here can be reticent about expressing appreciation for someone's art - often too timid to emerge from the shadows - but the number of 'hits' betray their presence :-)
vern.silver
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Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:58 pm
Location: Sault Ste Marie, Canada

Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by vern.silver »

Geoffrey,

Thank you for your comments. I am still learning (as we all really are.) Prior to 2012 I have never tried my hand at visual arts other than what I call doodles. My first painting course was in the Bob Ross method when I found a nearby instructor. I quickly became tired of that system and took a landscapes in oil class at the local community college. When I showed up at the second night with the homework we were given, fellow students thought the picture I had on the easel was the picture I was painting from when in fact it was the painting itself that I had started. Talk about encouraging.

The poem/lyric was not in fact inspired by recent emotional events in my life. It more or less just happened - though to be truthful life history probably played a role. You can say that the lyrics fit the melody I had come up with. Most of my song lyrics do come from my life: I wrote one called I ride the Dark Trails after reading most of Louis Lamou'rs westerns. I have written some when my close friends were going through difficulties and I was their shoulder so to speak.

I'm well aware of what posting here can be like. But walking out the door into the sunshine can be that way too.

Vern
"Clarence said a striking thing about rowing that I've always valued ... that he liked rowing because you were approaching life backward. You could clearly see the past, and you glanced quickly at the future over your shoulder.' Jim Harrison.
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Geoffrey
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Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by Geoffrey »

vern.silver wrote:I quickly became tired of that system and took a landscapes in oil class at the local community college. When I showed up at the second night with the homework we were given, fellow students thought the picture I had on the easel was the picture I was painting from when in fact it was the painting itself that I had started. Talk about encouraging.
yes, always good to get positive feedback. negative feedback is almost just as good, though, because it means you have provoked a response. the most destructive feedback is when there is none, when one is ignored. i don't have the patience for oil painting. it is a far better media for mixing, especially facial colours, but it takes too long to dry - often days or weeks. acrylic is my favourite choice because it dries almost instantaneously, but it's notoriously difficult to use on portraits - most people stick to abstract, landscape or still life. the most important part of painting for me is to have fun, not really worry about the result, so therefore acrylic is ideal. it seems paradoxical, but the best paintings tend to be those that are less than perfect. anyway, i wish you good luck. it is refreshing to have an enthusiastic painter here who is not afraid to show his work!

-geoffrey :-)
vern.silver
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:58 pm
Location: Sault Ste Marie, Canada

Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by vern.silver »

Actually, Geoffrey, I am painting in acrylics as well for last 2 years. Mostly because I have a respiratory condition that made the fumes of oils and thinner difficult for me and I live in a small apartment which I share with a friend. The paintings I posted are both in acrylics. Acrylics can be somewhat frustrating, but I have begun using retarders and mediums which allows for a longer working time and makes blending a little easier. Am also beginning to use glazing as well.

I have under painted with acrylics and then finished the painting in oils. I use water mixable oils which seem to be okay, There are just some things I cannot find a way to do in Acrylics - the northern lights in particular. These paintings are popular so I keep ding them when I can. I do not usually sell my paintings -though I have sold a handful - and usually gift them.

Vern
"Clarence said a striking thing about rowing that I've always valued ... that he liked rowing because you were approaching life backward. You could clearly see the past, and you glanced quickly at the future over your shoulder.' Jim Harrison.
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Geoffrey
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Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by Geoffrey »

vern.silver wrote:I have under painted with acrylics and then finished the painting in oils.
thank you so much for all of the information you afford me; it can be used as a much needed guide to improvement. at the moment my clumsy impatience employs no consideration to drying retarders, under painting, or any any such tools or technique. the colours are just hastily slapped on with little care or forethought. i know i need to harness this creativity, use discipline - but like popeye says: "i yam what i yam" ;-)
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lizzytysh
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Re: Sunday Morning 9am

Post by lizzytysh »

I love the love the one you did of your sister, Maureen, Vern. It has an Oriental look to it, and your landscape of the river is very appealing! Love the reflection of the trees in the river. Painting can be so helpful when grieving. I did it once when I lost two women friends at the same time to a motorcycle accident. They were on the same bike and a DUI driver was the cause. I painted with as bright of colours as I could. It was no cure-all, but I at least felt like I was doing SOMETHING, something where I had SOME kind of control.
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
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