New painting in progress

I have a degree in art from Siena Heights University (then it was College), in drawing and printmaking. While there I took a few classes in clay, one painting class with Teng Beng Cho, but most were in design and drawing. The thing about it is, they never really taught you how to paint, or draw, you just did it.

It wasn't like going to a painting workshop. Here's what you do and why. It was paint and I'll tell you what's wrong with it.

What I came away with was a great sense of design.

They said, pick a medium and stick with it.

So I did.

I worked in pencil and did various types of printmaking after getting out of school. I took my work to outdoor shows across Michigan and northern Ohio.

I can't say my work was fabulous, but I did sell it. Once in a while a  kid would come along and say "I can do that!"

One day a kid came along and said, have you ever used a Rapidiograph? No, I said and went home and bought one. I used it to do pen and ink drawings, generally of architecture, exclusively for the next 15 years, still use one on occasion.

When Michael and I moved to Aspen, Colorado I continued working in ink but started drawing birds in addition to architecture.

Towards the end of our time there I began toying with the idea of adding color just to the bird.

We arrived in New Bern in 1989. We lived on a boat on the Trent River. I started drawing our skyline out of the window of our boat.  Shortly after I began to add color to my drawings of New Bern. I was nervous about it, I hadn't mixed color in 20 years!

This is turning into a longer story than I intended! I'll finish it in my next post.

The question here is. Do I put a guy on a bicycle in this painting or leave it alone?

I'll finish my story on Sunday!
- Janet Francoeur

Again, Where does the time go!

I really don't get much time to go kayaking but I seem to write about it a lot. I guess I love it when I get to go.

I just ran across these photos of a kayaking trip I took to Merchants Millpond last summer.

This is an amazing place near the North Carolina - Virginia border, about 2 hours north of New Bern.

It is a huge pond full of cypress trees. There are marked trails throughout the pond. It is totally silent except the sound of birds or turtles splashing into the water.

One really great thing about it is there are no mosquitoes, too much tannin in the water I'm told.

They rent canoes there, very reasonably priced, I think we only paid $11 for 1/2 a day.

If you ever get the chance this is a must see.

In the early 1700s, Hunters Millpond was built at the head of Bennetts Creek to provide a means of processing and marketing regional produce. Highway construction destroyed this millpond in 1922. But further downstream, Norfleets Millpond, which was built in 1811, thrived. Gristmills, a sawmill, a farm supply store and other enterprises made the area the center of trade in Gates County. Thus, the pond became known as Merchants Millpond.

Shortly before World War II operations around the millpond came to a halt and millers sold the land to developers. In the 1960s, A.B. Coleman of Moyock purchased the property and later donated 919 acres, including the millpond, to the state. His generous donation led to the establishment of Merchants Millpond State Park in 1973. In the same year, the Nature Conservancy contributed an additional 925 acres of woodlands to the park that now encompasses more than 3,250 acres.