A photograph...

A scenery photo that, as usual, is too blue, too dark, too blurry. And what happened to the fish?

This is "West Wall", Salt River Canyon, St Croix, US Virgin Islands. A gothic place, the terrain is that of rock breaking off the land into pinnacles and steep arroyos, tumbling into the depths of the sea in incomprehensibly slow geological time. Speeded up, it might look like the ice falling off a melting glacier. But to us humans, it is frozen in time.

The top of this feature has twenty five feet of depth, an underwater plain stretching toward shore, flat and solid looking. The edge drops off as sharply as the edge of a table. Whenever I'm there, I always wonder what happened to jolt the rock loose to form this drastic terrain.

Geologically, Saint Croix is an ocean upwelling, a chip off the bottom of the sea. Scientists say it may have wandered all around before becoming lodged against the Caribbean Plate where the island is now.

Hello!

By the numbers, I see I'm not the only one looking at this page. Thank you for visiting! I am starting to snarl and gnash my teeth at myself that I am not painting and posting a daily fish, or a coral. Folks seem to prefer fish. By Thanksgiving, the end of November, I will have joined the "Daily Painters". They require me to have a new painting nearly every day posted here, for two months. This blog was begun with that in mind. I will persevere! Or something.

Daily Painters can be seen at: http://www.dailypainters.com/index.php

I guess I will be forced to use an airconditioner in this house, it's just too hot. OK, enough whining and winjing. Off with me to fill my poor car with potted plants that are waiting at the old place to come with me to here. See you later!....Melissa

OK, getting down to the finish line...

My neighbor wanted to help me finish moving. She got to the old place and launched into 50,000 questions. No help, we seemed to stand around in different places while I explained everything to her about everything I do and have.

I'm just about done with the move. I cannot believe how much stuff I have. And next week my dearest brother will be here...

Maybe in a year or two, I'll leave it all behind, just carry a little bag with one change of clothes, and go off back packing with my buddy Chrissi. I will make the both of us write for one hour every morning about our wanderings and adventures, and that'll be a first book. I'm really looking foreward to it.

Catch you later! And I'm dismayed to be not painting. Soon come!

Melissa

Moooving!

The new three bedroom house seems immense! I usually have tiny spaces for living. My legs are sore from carrying stuff up two flights of stairs, so no grunt work today. I think I might come back to this old place and finish the Botanical Gardens 'try #2" this evening, and bring my camera so I can post a new painting for you! I am not really enjoying painting trees and buildings. A purely commercial effort.

Talk to you later, and thanks for stopping by!....Melissa

Wheee, an annoying, half done painting! About two hours' struggle, starting with blank paper, no value sketch(black/white/gray for shadows), no drawing to fill in. Full sheet of watercolor paper, done on location, Plein Aire, at the Botannical Gardens. The main entry way. I'll go back tomorrow and try again! Finish this messy one tonight. It's kind of dribbling off the bottom of the page, can't fix that! Had to quit as noonday sun is just too blazing hot.

Photographs??

Here is not for photos. I had taken some scenes at my local beach, for comparison to the Weather Channel. ...There is a marvelous fish face I want to paint. I'll do a bit more Camwork, although I need to limit painting from copyrighted images that I must give away. But it sure is fun!

Anti-Weather Channel!

This is Calvin's Spratnet Beach Bar on St. Croix.

Patrick's Cam Ham

Patrick is another cyber friend from the BonaireTalk webcams. He's been SO excited about his trip to go diving on Bonaire. He just got there this morning, and I thought he'd like a little scribbly picture to remember his first morning's hamming it up on the street cam in Diver's Paradise. The fish were all taken from the underwater pier cam of the last week or so, so he's already seen them! Here's wishes for a GREAT week on our favorite Island, Bonaire!

Kathy's snorkel

Well, this one is almost finished. Some minor adjustments.

This is from the Bonaire webcams, and has a bit of a story behind it. I'll just say that Kathy is delighted. I'm packing the painting and mailing it to her Monday. Since I am copying copyrighted images, I cannot sell this picture. Another person on that discussion group is to make cards for sale, and this image might be amongst them. Procedes will benefit Bonaire schools. See BonaireTalk.com, community chat.

This is the most fun painting I've ever done. Several people on BonaireTalk were cheering me along, and helped greatly with posting separate photos of the eyes behind the mask.

Friday

I worked on Kathy's painting for four hours this morning--- until my feet hurt, my back was killing me, and my painting got really sloppy.

I must find a way to paint that's not painful! See you at lunchtime Friday, Sept 7!

Room for Improvement!

With a little help from my friends! I named this one "Room for Improvement" It's an image taken by the underwater pier cam in Bonaire. I'll be doing a long series of this view, as the fishes change, and there are snorkellers and even divers to see and paint.

I've been searching the Internet for a beach cam resembling the one I've painted, but woe, they all seem to be a view of a walk wwith hundreds of people, or just the front of a resort. If anyone can send me a link to a PRETTY beach cam, I'd be much obliged!

That was fun.

Four quick watercolor sketches from the Bonaire web cams, using the OK middles of some of that ruined paper.

I knew the beach and coconut tree would be the same, but with each 'Refresh" the figures were a surprise. But almost always, the cam is pointed at a much less (to me) interesting view straight off the beach, so the sailboarders are more in view. No coconut tree. I guess the next time I do this little game, I'll be scribbling only boardsailors zipping by, or standing around like they seem to do..

O Boy!

Wowee, I let that stop me! Aha, another fish in a bit. The daily painting that I'm aiming at shouldn't be so detailed and complicated. Just a fish is on it's way!